This book is a collection of the best contemporary studies on health and the media. It brings together perspectives from media studies and medical sociology in order to illuminate the influence that the mass media have on health beliefs and behaviour, and on health care practices and policy-making.

The book comprises a series of contributions written by specialists from around the world. These contributions examine the production processes that shape the media's presentation of health, the messages contained in media representations of health, and the effects of media representations of health on audiences. They focus particularly on previously neglected areas of research, such as the role of the Internet, studies of production and reception, and the reporting of health care policies. The book also points the way forward for future development in this exciting new field.

Clive Seale is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Human Sciences, Brunel University. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Researching Society and Culture (1998), Constructing Death: the Sociology of Dying and Bereavement (1998), The Quality of Qualitative Research (1999), Health and Disease: A Reader (Third Edition, 2002), and Media and Health (2002).

1. Health and Media: An Overview (Clive Seale).

2. 'Radical Blueprint for Social Change'? Media Representations of New Labour's Policies and Inequalities on Public Health (Rosemary Davidson, Kate Hunt and Jenny Kitzinger).

3. Narrativity and the Mediation of Health Reform Agendas (Darrin Hodgetts and Kerry Chamberlain.

4. Going Public: References to the News Media in NHS Contract Negotiations (David Hughes and Lesley Gruffitgs).

5. 'Ignorance is Bliss Sometimes': Constraints on the Emergence of the 'Informed Patient' in the Changing Landscapes of Health Information (Flis Henwood, Sally Wyatt, Angie Hart and Julie Smith).

6. Media Activism and Internet Use by People with HIV/AIDS (James Gillett).

7. Popular Media and 'Excessive Daytime Sleepiness': A Study of Rhetorical Authority in Medical Sociology (Steve Kroll-Smith).

8. Bio-phobias/Techno-philias: Virtual Reality Exposure as Treatment for Phobias of 'Nature' (Joyce Davidson and Mick Smith).

9. Healthy Viewing: The Reception of Medical Narratives (Solange Davin).

10. 'About a Year Before the Breakdown I Was Having Symptoms': Sadness, Pathology and the Australian Newspaper Media (Rob Rowe, Farida Tilbury, Mark Rapley and Ilse O'Ferrall).

Notes on Contributors.

Index.