Simon Chapman

Ninety four percent of new breast cancer cases in Australian women occur in those aged over 40. Mammographic breast screening programs target women over 40, especially those aged 50-69, but participation rates in this age group have recently declined. To test the hypothesis that young women, at low risk for breast cancer, are overrepresented in television news, we analyzed all televised news reports on age and breast cancer shown on five free-to-air Sydney television stations, from 3 May 2005 to 28 February 2007, to determine the age of women shown with, or at risk for, the disease. Over half (55%) of statements about age and breast cancer referred to young women stated or known to be aged under 40. Sixty seven percent of images of women in breast cancer reports were known or judged to be women aged under 40. Three cases in young celebrity women accounted for 53% of all statements and 24% of all images about young women and breast cancer. Overrepresentation of young women with breast cancer in television news coverage does not reflect the epidemiology of the disease. This imbalance may contribute to public uncertainty regarding screening policy.

Objective: To describe the content and structure of health and medical news and current affairs reportage on free‐to‐air television in Sydney, New South Wales. Design and setting: Review of content o...

A recent visit to Japan had me wondering if I had not landed in a tobacco control topsy-turvy land. In restaurants and bars in Tokyo, people smoked at will. But on the streets in several local government areas of Tokyo, many signs on footpaths in both Japanese and English (fig 1) declared that smoking on the street was banned. Smoking is also prohibited at taxi ranks and inside taxis (fig 2), but smokers can gather in common signed smoking areas in the street (fig 3) and extinguish their …

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) has little to say about the regulation of tobacco retailing, with most research and policy debate having been restricted to confining sales to adults and removing advertising displays, including packs. Tobacco retailing is largely unregulated, reflecting the historical regulatory trivialisation of tobacco products, now demonstrably anachronistic with the advent of near global support for the FCTC. This situation contrasts markedly with the regulation of pharmaceuticals, and many other goods and services subject to a wide variety of restrictions. This review proposes that the international tobacco control community should open up debate on retail regulation to examine the suitability of principles long accepted in pharmaceutical regulation. These include: restrictions on the number and location of tobacco retail outlets, the banning of tobacco retail displays, floor (minimum) price controls, restricting the amount of tobacco smokers could purchase over a given time and loss of retail licensure following breaches of any of the conditions of license. It proposes that retail licenses should be heavily restricted and tradable, becoming valuable commercial assets, where the threat of loss or revocation would act as an incentive for strict adherence to the measures proposed.

Objective: To examine the coverage of colorectal cancer on Australian television news over a 3 year period commencing May 2005, and compare it with that given to other cancers.Methods: News reports on colorectal cancer broadcast on Sydney's five free‐to‐air television channels between 3 May 2005 and 30 May 2008 were reviewed for statements by news actors. The frequency of coverage was compared with that for other cancers.Results: Colorectal cancer news reports accounted for 4.1% (95% CI 2.9–5.1%) of all cancer news reports while the cancer represents 13.5% of cancer incidence and 11.5% of cancer deaths. Compared to cancers receiving greater television news coverage, there was a near total absence of reports of celebrity diagnoses, and of representations by colorectal advocacy groups. A national colorectal screening programme received limited coverage.Conclusions: Media neglect of colorectal cancer may be an important factor in explaining low participation in the Australian colorectal screening programme. Those advocating for colorectal cancer screening face ingrained cultural challenges in gaining broad media coverage, but investment in efforts to generate news and commentary would appear to be overdue. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.