Revealed: the stories that broadcasters did not want to cover

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7524.1089

BMJ 2005;331:1089 (5 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7524.1089

reviews

TV

Revealed: the stories that broadcasters did not want to cover

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Healthcare reform was a more important issue in the run up tothe 2004 US presidential election than it had been since theClinton administration health reform effort a decade ago. Yetan analysis I carried out suggests that local television newschannels—a major source of news for many Americans—virtuallyignored health policy in 2004. Viewers were far more likelyto see one-sided political ads on health policy topics runningduring the commercial breaks in newscasts than they were tosee independent coverage of health policy issues during thenewscast itself.

I monitored health policy news coverage throughout the 2004election year on three local television stations—eachof which won a national award in 2003 for excellence in televisionjournalism. The stations are located in diverse parts of thecountry—Seattle (KIRO), Chicago (WMAQ), and Tampa (WFLA).I analysed each late night newscast on each station from 1 Januaryto . . . [Full text of this article]

-->

Gary Schwitzer, assistant professor

School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis schwitz@umn.edu