Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1929

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Sweet M.
Australian media raises alarm over meningitis
BMJ 2002 Aug 14; 325:604
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7364/604

Abstract:

Recently, Australian media have bombarded audiences with distressing stories of children who have died or been disfigured by meningococcal disease. But the media reports have often failed to note that the disease is relatively rare. Public concern driven by front-page headlines and prominent television coverage resulted in the federal government announcing a programme of vaccination against serogroup C which accounts for about 33% of cases. Questions were raised about public health priorities and as to why media attention was greater this winter than previously. One proposed answer is that awareness groups were at work while a new vaccine was being marketed. The vaccine manufacturing company Wyeth was funding some activities of a public relations firm involved in raising public awareness, as well as partially funding a vocal pressure group, the Meningitis Centre. Wyeth later expressed concern about the media coverage as being unhelpful. The Australian Communicable Disease Network called for widespread debate on the role of the industry in providing information. The author comments that the intensity of the media coverage reflects not only the interests at work but also the values which drive news production.

Keywords:
news story Australia