The commodification of prevention

In the 1980s Australian television viewers were stuffed with a diet of big budget, government sponsored, health promotion campaigns. Most of these have now been pared to the bone, partly because of government austerity but also because of a growing recognition that huge media coverage can be obtained without cost via “infotainment” programmes, help with soap opera scripting, and the media's appetite for health as news.

A recent study of a full year of the Sydney Morning Herald's front page found that 38% of editions contained at least one health story. After politics, health and medical topics consistently rank highest of all news categories, and for virtually any health issue the public will nominate the news media as their …