Making Health Public : How News Coverage Is Remaking Media, Medicine, and Contemporary Life

This book examines the relationship between media and medicine, considering the fundamental role of news coverage in constructing wider cultural understandings of health and disease. The authors advance the notion of ‘biomediatization’ and demonstrate how health knowledge is co-produced through connections between dispersed sites and forms of expertise. The chapters offer an innovative combination of media content analysis and ethnographic data on the production and circulation of health news, drawing on work with journalists, clinicians, health officials, medical researchers, marketers, and audiences. The volume provides students and scholars with unique insight into the significance and complexity of what health news does and how it is created. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Dedication 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of figures 7 List of tables 9 Preface 10 Acknowledgments 14 Introduction 17 Part I Toward a framework for studying biomediatization 35 1 Biocommunicability: cultural models of knowledge about health 36 2 The Daily Work of Biomediatization 62 3 What Does this Mean “for the rest of us?” 86 Part II Biomediatization up close: three case studies 111 4 “You have to hit it hard, hit it early”: biomediatizing the 2009 H1N1 epidemic 112 5 Finding the “buzz,” patrolling the boundaries 142 6 “We have to put that four-letter word, ‘race,’ on the table” 166 Conclusion 202 References 214 Index 226 Introduction Part I: Toward a Framework for Studying Biomediatization 1. Biocommunicability: Cultural Models of Knowledge about Health 2. The Daily Work of Biomediatization 3. What Does This Mean "for the Rest of Us?": Frames, Voices, and the Journalistic Mediation of Health and Medicine Part II: Biomediatization Up Close: Three Case Studies 4. "You have to hit it hard, hit it early": Biomediatizing the 2009 H1N1 Epidemic 5. Finding the “Buzz,” Patrolling the Boundaries: Reporting Pharma and Biotech 6. "We Have to Put that Four-Letter Word, 'Race,' on the Table": Voicing and Silencing Race and Ethnicity in News Coverage of Health Cover -- Half Title -- Dedication -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I Toward a framework for studying biomediatization -- Part II Biomediatization up close: three case studies -- Conclusion -- References -- Index -- 1 Biocommunicability: cultural models of knowledge about health -- 2 The Daily Work of Biomediatization -- 3 What Does this Mean "for the rest of us?"--4 "You have to hit it hard, hit it early": biomediatizing the 2009 H1N1 epidemic Pt. 1. Toward A Framework For Studying Biomediatization -- Pt. 2. Biomediatization Up Close : Three Case Studies. Charles L. Briggs And Daniel C. Hallin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.