POLLEN COUNTS IN THE TELEVISION MEDIA

Allergists routinely supply pollen counts to television stations to as sist allergy sufferers and to publicize their medical practices. This investigation examined how widely pollen counts are used in television news programming. The authors telephoned the news director or a meteo rologist at 121 broadcast television stations in the nation's 30 large st Designated Market Areas (DMAs). They were asked if pollen counts we re included or would be included in news programming during the 1995 p ollen season. At least one television station in 28 DMAs included poll en counts in news programming. All five stations in the Washington, DC , DMA aired pollen counts; however, no stations in the Pittsburgh or M ilwaukee DMAs carried pollen information. Approximately 49 million tel evision households have access to pollen Counts through a broadcast te levision station. Because these data appear important to television st ations and to the public, the authors outline four measures to assure the reliability and meaningfulness of pollen information.