Issue 95 Item 4 Diabetes TV Coverage Lags Way Behind

We need to do a better job of getting the word out! CBS is the best and CNN is the worst. Imagine only 2 stations reported the results of the DCCT study. There were as many stories on Rezulin as on the prevalence of diabetes. From 1 January 1991 through 31 December 2000, a total of 77 diabetes-related reports were aired by ABC (22 reports), CBS (35 reports), NBC (18 reports), or CNN (2 reports). Because each network may carry essentially the same story on occasion (e.g., two of the networks carried the announcement of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial results and three announced the initial successes of the Alberta protocol), the number of non-overlapping reports was 62. By contrast, a total of 1,695 cancer and 2,151 overlapping heart disease-related broadcasts aired during the same decade. These overlapping totals were at least 20-fold higher than those for diabetes-related broadcasts. Non-overlapping cancer and heart disease–related broadcasts were certain, therefore, to be multifold higher than those for diabetes-related broadcasts.

Of the 23 diabetes-related stories aired in 2000 (30% of all diabetes-related reports during the decade), 12 reported the problems with Rezulin. Since 1995, 12 reported the increasing prevalence of diabetes. Three stories, including two about the death of Ella Fitzgerald in 1994, involved celebrities. The U.K. Prospective Diabetes Study was not covered. Only one story, a 1996 CBS report featuring the effects of diet and exercise on Pima Indians, mentioned racial disparities in diabetes. These disparities, however, were more often mentioned in news reports related to both cancer and heart disease.

Diabetes-related coverage by local newscasts and entertainment programming were not assessed in this study. These media have undoubtedly made valuable contributions to Americans’ diabetes awareness. The national nightly network news programs, nevertheless, have greater potential for widely and routinely disseminating diabetes-related messages. Increased coverage of stories involving diabetes research and diabetes-related people, products, and pharmaceuticals would certainly complement the efforts of the National Diabetes Education Program to improve diabetes management. Attention to diabetes in racial and ethnic minorities might be especially helpful.

The TV news data over the past 30 years suggest that national government and voluntary health organizations that advocate for cancer and heart disease continue to be at least 20 times more effective than diabetes advocates at consistently and repeatedly bringing disease-related stories to the nation. In addition, national news coverage has virtually ignored racial disparities in diabetes. We can and must do better. Source: Diabetes Care 25:607, 2002