Representing Health - Discourses of Health and Illness in the Media

Citation

(2005), "Representing Health - Discourses of Health and Illness in the Media", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 18 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2005.06218cae.002

Representing Health - Discourses of Health and Illness in the Media

Representing Health – Discourses of Health and Illness in the Media

Martin King and Katherine WatsonPalgrave Macmillan2004ISBN 0 33399 7875

Keywords: Public health, Public opinion, Information media

Representing Health addresses the importance of the media in shaping and reflecting public perceptions and attitudes of health and illness. Bringing together contributions from a variety of academic disciplines, this lively text examines contemporary theoretical debates and analyses media as diverse as television, cinema, literature, print media and the internet. Centring on themes of “virtual” bodies, audiences, representations and public health, it examines discourses of sexuality, gender, race, disability, childhood, medico-moral panics, regulation and governmentality.

Contents include:

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  Dope fiends: the myth and menace of drug users in film; and

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  Disease, decay and dread: literary constructions of illness.