REPORTING PILL PANIC - A COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF HEALTH SCARES ABOUT ORAL-CONTRACEPTIVES

This paper compares British media coverage of two 'health scares' conc erning oral contraceptives: the alert about a link between some brands of the Pill and venous thromboembolism, in October 1995; and that abo ut the link between the Pill and breast cancer in June 1996. A content analysis of media reporting examines how - although the risk involved was small in both cases - the October alert Escalated quickly into pa nic, whilst in June a very clear 'low risk' message came through. In b oth cases, the Department of Health and others attempted to combine a 'risk' message with a reassuring 'don't panic' message. In June 1996, nor only was the content of the message more 'positive' and less drama tic, but it was also handled in a way which minimised the possibility of it escalating into a scare story in the media. In October 1995, by contrast, a story which itself contained the elements of risk necessar y for a scare story was released to the media in such a way that its d rama was emphasised, and panic ensued.