Call Prefix : PR-AM

Call Cutter : BIC430

Location : SEARCA Library

Format : Printed

Publisher : IFIC Foundation,

Publication Date : February 1998

Publication Place : Washington, DC, USA :

Summary : The results of this 1997 analysis show encouraging developments over 1995, but also point out room for improvement. In both years, nutrition and food coverage rarely provided enough context to be useful to consumers. Stories on what to eat seldom specified how much, how often or to whom the advice applied. On the up side, stories became more consumer-friendly by linking nutrients to the foods that supply them, thus turning abstract concepts into concrete shopping lists. Although the overall amount of coverage dropped, the media agenda broadened beyond the narrow focus on fat consumption found 1995. Coverage of foodborne illness shared the spotlight with nutritional issues suchs as fat and functional food consumption. Scientific expertise found its way into more stories as reporters sought out independent experts to comment on a variety of topics and controversies. This increase in scientific expertise occurred despite a decline in the number of new research reports covered. While scientists as sources were on the rise, consumer and environmental groups were less prominent in 1997 than in 1995. By many measures. the public seems to have a great appetite for information on health and nutrition. That appetite is only partially sated by current reporting which often omits the information necessary to judge the significance of nutrition news.