Who’s Deaths Matter? Essay Example

The article “Whose Deaths Matter? Mortality, Advocacy, and Attention to Disease in the Mass Media” found that certain diseases receive more media attention than others.  Diseases such as AIDS and breast cancer are prominent in the media, while others such as pneumonia and hypertension seem to be ignored.  Media attention is affected by certain organized interest groups because they are able to support political lobbyists and celebrities, while supplying information to reporters.  Special interest groups help to promote education and awareness and raise funding for cures and better treatments.

Media coverage is additionally flawed in relation to disease because varies with race, gender, age, and disease prevalence.  Diseases afflicting white people are given more coverage than disease afflicting African Americans.  Diseases that target young people are given more attention than diseases that affect the elderly.

Another problem with the media is that they often generalize results from single-disease case studies.  This generalization often affects the information that the public and health care providers receive.  The authors found that because of the media’s preoccupation with AIDS, other diseases did not receive the same amount of coverage.  However, when AIDS was excluded from the estimation sample, the other diseases were given media attention.

As a health care professional, I will not rely on social media to make my decisions.  The media is biased.  While HIV and AIDS are devastating diseases, it saddens me that African Americans, women, and the elderly may not receive the care that they need due to public misconception.  I will treat patients with dignity, regardless of their race, sex, or age, and not rely on the next whim of the media to provide me with inflated information.