Some people working in the media sector, such as journalists, producers, and film-video editors, consider themselves watchdogs of government agencies or various other organizations. Therefore, they expect the authorized institutions to act transparently towards the public in terms of important decisions to be made in the field of health. If these people are restricted from access to information on some issues, they start to behave skeptically. As a result, they begin to investigate personal, political, and economic reasons that may cause the information to withhold from the public. In this study, the term watchdog is used to mean the role played by the media in health communication campaigns.
Published in Chapter:
Media and Health Communication Campaigns
Tuba Işık (Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, Turkey)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-6825-5.ch001
Abstract
Health communication campaigns are a significant attempt that makes people aware of health risks and aims to inform the public about numerous issues that threaten public health. Media is the totality of communication channels and tools used to collect, store, and convey information or data to the public. Also, the media shape the behavior of the public through advertising and entertainment in the way it uses language and images. Within this framework, media is arguably one of the most utilized and efficient tools in terms of spreading public health messages and endorsing disease prevention. As its name would suggest, health communication campaigns are a vital part of the health promotion programs and strategies. In this sense, the media have many benefits for developing great health communication campaigns. Briefly, the purpose of this chapter is to discuss the use of media in health communication campaigns and campaign processes.