Top 10 public health media bites of 2014
by: Heather Gehlert
posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2014
From sugary beverages to structural racism and everything in between, public health issues have been a dominant part of the news this year. And, knowing the power the media have to influence the public’s and policymakers’ perceptions of these issues, advocates played a major role in shaping their coverage.
Advocates wrote op-eds on the need for soda taxes as a way to combat chronic disease; they created hashtags to challenge victim-blaming narratives about domestic violence; they blogged about sexual violence data to help reporters understand the context behind the numbers; they used digital media to reframe conversations about racism and to give voice “to those without a cable outlet or newspaper to speak for them“; and, ultimately, they challenged readers to think about longstanding social issues — all of which affect the public’s health — in new ways.
Out of these efforts emerged many memorable media bites — quotable quotes that grab readers’ attention and keep them thinking about an issue long after an article’s end. While a good media bite is too short to be comprehensive and is no substitute for ongoing coverage and robust discussion, an effective one can capture a key argument, nuance, question or contradiction and put an exclamation point on it.
Here are 10 of BMSG’s favorites, listed chronologically, and why we chose them:
- “Getting diabetes is a lot more expensive than paying a sugary beverage tax.”
—Scott Wiener, member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a co-sponsor of the city’s sugar-sweetened beverage tax measure. Appeared in SF Gate, Feb. 1, 2014.
Why we like it: This pithy media bite reframes the concept of cost, which was a key theme of the soda industry’s multi-million-dollar campaign to oppose San Francisco’s soda tax. The industry continually appealed to residents’ concerns about the Bay Area’s high cost of living in its messaging. Here, Scott Wiener offers a powerful response and turns the conversation back to the issue at hand: health.
- “We’ve come to the conclusion that cigarettes have no place in a setting where health care is being delivered.”
—Larry Merlo, CVS Caremark president and CEO. Appeared in Crain’s Chicago Business, among many other news outlets, Feb. 5, 2014.
Why we like it: Advocates often talk about shared responsibility for protecting the public’s health. Said by the head of a major corporation, this statement embodies that sentiment. It also reveals a contradiction between the mission and the practices of companies that say they want to improve health but sell products that damage it. - “The right to be healthy trumps the right of corporations to promote choices that lead to premature death and preventable illnesses.”
—Nicholas Freudenberg, Distinguished Professor of Public Health; Director of the Doctoral Program at CUNY’s School of Public Health at Hunter College. Appeared in The New York Times, Feb. 25, 2014.
Why we like it: One of the most persistent arguments used to derail efforts to stem corporations’ health-harming practices is the idea that doing so somehow tramples our freedom or rights. This media bite takes the “rights” frame and flips it on its head. In doing so, it reveals another critical right that often goes overlooked. - “[I]n the U.S., patients may get top notch medical care and then return to a life guaranteed to keep them in ill health — because where we live, learn, work, and play can have a far greater impact on our well-being than the treatment administered in a clinic or hospital.”
—Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Appeared on LinkedIn, June 12, 2014.
Why we like it: Too often, the media conceptualize health narrowly, in terms of individual behavior and access to health care. But, as this quote shows, our surroundings shape our health much more. It moves the conversation further upstream to include social determinants of health, minus the jargon. - “Sweeping rhetoric about the value of marriage and father involvement is not just incomplete. For victims of domestic violence, it’s dangerous.”
—Sara Shoener, public health researcher. Appeared in The New York Times Sunday Review, June 21, 2014.
Why we like it: This media bite shows that there are real-world consequences to the language we use and the cultural narratives we weave. Used as the closing to a thought-provoking piece on the stigma of single motherhood, it shows that something our dominant culture puts a premium on — two-parent households — can actually be a threat to safety. It’s an angle many people may have never considered. - “Ronald McDonald is the Joe Camel of fast food.”
—Casey Hinds, children’s health advocate and blogger, US Healthy Kids. Appeared in Common Dreams, among other places, July 29, 2014.
Why we like it: This media bite is an exercise in simplicity. It connects tobacco and fast food industry marketing practices used to target children and, using just nine words, shows that Ronald McDonald is far more insidious than he may seem. - “Part of the ability to win these struggles is the belief that we can. The soda tax victory in Berkeley has shown us that Goliath isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.”
—Jeff Ritterman, MD, vice president, Board of Directors, San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Appeared in the Huffington Post, Nov 13, 2014.
Why we like it: It’s hard to not have a spring in your step after reading this. Advocates regularly take on corporate giants with pockets much deeper than theirs and staffs much larger. It can be easy to feel defeated, but this media bite, infused with a can-do spirit, is an important reminder that victory is within reach. - “To public health practitioners, the gun is to gun violence as the mosquito is to malaria.”
—Philip Alpers, adjunct associate professor at the Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney. Appeared in Pretoria News, Nov. 14, 2014.
Why we like it: This media bite shows the power of a single analogy to take a complex — and controversial — social issue and make it instantly understandable and relatable. - “We need to clean up the food environment the way environmentalists have been cleaning up our natural environment.”
—Jessica Almy, senior nutrition policy counsel, Center for Science in the Public Interest. Appeared in the Canadian Medial Association Journal, Dec. 3, 2014.
Why we like it: I’ve written about why the phrase “food environment” can be problematic for public health advocates. This is an exception. Here, by likening it to our natural environment, an already understood concept, CSPI’s Jessica Almy shows exactly what the term means. Immediately following this statement, she further solidifies the parallel by talking about the “pollution” — e.g. junk food — in our food environment and suggesting a starting point for a solution. - “Every time a person of color is unjustly profiled or, even worse, killed at the hands of law enforcement, a not-so-subtle message is sent to the world that some lives matter more than others. … That message is a threat to the health and safety of us all.”
—East Oakland Building Healthy Communities Leadership. Appeared in Oakland Local, Dec. 9, 2014.
Why we like it: This media bite shines a light on the socially constructed line between “us” and “them” — and then erases it. Written shortly after the police killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice — all unarmed black males — and the protests that their deaths prompted, it demonstrates how all of our lives are interconnected and matter.
What were your favorite public health-related media bites of 2014? Let us know on Twitter @BMSG. And, as we enter the New Year, help us create our 2015 list by sharing compelling media bites with us on Twitter or at info@bmsg.org. Be sure to tell us where the media bite appeared, who said it, and why you like it, and we’ll consider including it in next year’s blog. Happy New Year, advocates!