CONTENT-ANALYSIS OF PRIME-TIME TELEVISION MEDICAL NEWS - A PEDIATRIC PERSPECTIVE

Objectives: To assess child health news broadcasts by a major regional television station and to evaluate the attitudes of parents and pedia tricians about the content and value of television news reports. Desig n: Videotaping 6 months of consecutive evening news telecasts (Monday through Friday). Self-administered surveys given to a convenience samp le of parents and mailed to community pediatricians. Setting: Local an d national newscasts of prime-time coverage by a major metropolitan te levision station. Participants: One hundred forty-four members of the Buffalo (NY) Pediatric Society and 87 parents of children in the outpa tient or inpatient departments of The Children's Hospital, Buffalo. Re sults: Pediatric issues were presented in 15% of local and 21% of nati onal medical news stories. Adult-specific issues were addressed in 48% of local and 33% of national medical news reports. Local pediatric ne ws reports focused on behavior (22%) and major illnesses (22%); nation al pediatric news concentrated on nutrition (30%), allergy (21%), and major illnesses (21%). Seventy percent of local and 85% of national pe diatric news reports referenced an informative source. Fifty-one (59%) of the 87 parents and 69 (48%) of the 144 pediatricians consider tele vision news to be an effective means of increasing awareness of child health issues. Parents and physicians recommended pediatric emergencie s, safety, disease prevention, and adolescent issues as important area s of emphasis for television news. Fifty-one percent of the parents (4 4) and 48% of the pediatricians (69) believed that television reports increase knowledge of how to access local health resources. Conclusion s: Television news reports are important sources of child health infor mation. Pediatric topics on local and national news programs often do not focus on topics considered of highest priority by parents and pedi atricians. Greater awareness by pediatricians of the potential value o f television news as a tool for public health education is warranted.