TV Health Information

Local TV stations now carry a lot of health ‘spots’ with short information on new health information. Trouble is, the spots don’t last more than 33 seconds, on average, although one in four carried a an interview with a health professional, and the same proportion included specific recommendations for how to prevent or treat a medical condition. Only one in eight gave information on the prevalence of the disease in question. All too often, the story is based on laboratory results that haven’t been studied or confirmed in humans; and everyone knows how great the leap is from the test tube to the human body. (These numbers come from an excellent report in the American Journal of Managed Care.)

The power for good TV health information shouldn’t be underestimated. After Katie Couric ’s discussion of colon cancer in 2000, colonoscopy rates increased by 27%. The sources for many health stories, however, are press releases from health organizations – governmental, educational, or even commercial organizations. Indiscriminate selection from such sources, made under the time pressures of local TV, means the true story rarely gets through, with its important message for health education and possible action by viewers.