Re: How does media affect bioethics?

Description: For better or for worse, the media is a filter for understanding medicine.

Transcript: Oh just hugely! I mean what is a problem? How they address problems; how they can sometimes do tremendous job educating people about the complexities of the problem; how sometimes they can do a terrible job because of the shortness . . . that they don’t allow the complexities and the subtleties to get through. In general actually, I think reporters have really been very interested in trying to understand the details.

I would say that the second problem with the media is the attention span problem. That’s a general problem in our culture. You gotta say it in 250 words or less; but also once you’ve said it, you know . . . How much coverage do we now have today in July 2007 on pandemic flu? The threat hasn’t gone away. If anything, the threat has gotten worse. And yet, you know, you talk to a reporter, “Well we did that last year.” You know? And that, I think, is a terrible problem. Because some of these problems require a long-term focus on an issue. Healthcare reform is another really big issue, which you’re not gonna solve it in a year. You’re not gonna solve it in the next five years. It’s gonna take a long time to focus on the problem; and yet the media doesn’t have that attention span.

Recorded on: 7/4/2007 at The Aspen Ideas Festival