CHAPTER III - SOURCE USAGE IN HEALTH JOURNALISM: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TRT AND BBC
Helin ÖZTÜRK
Cite this chapter
APA
Öztürk, H. (2024). Chapter III Source Usage in Health Journalism: A Comparative Study of TRT And BBC. In P. Özgökbel Bilis, A. E. Bilis, and K. C. Baykal (Eds.), Rethinking Media in Light of Current Discussions and Trends (pp. 67–90). Ankara, Türkiye: Global Academy Publishing House. https://dx.doi.org/10.59740/academy.70
Introduction
The development of new communication technologies has caused significant changes and transformations in journalism practices. Especially since the 1990s, the new media environment has begun to be seen as a new and convenient medium for journalism (Parlak, 2018:60-62). Digitalization has been positioned as an opportunity for journalism, focusing on the benefits it provides. While various positive features are attributed to digitalization, certain problems have also become important topics of discussion. New media, characterized by speed, interactivity, and hypertextuality, is also associated with some ethical issues. New media environments, where ordinary citizens can produce content and where misleading content can circulate, also carry the risk of spreading fake news (Wilding, Fray, Molitorisz & McKewon, 2018). The development of digital technologies and the new form reality takes in this process is referred to as the "post-truth" age in the literature. This concept describes situations where objective reality is overshadowed by emotions and beliefs (Arkan, 2022:1-3) which is especially significant in journalism. In a landscape where distinguishing between truth and lies becomes increasingly challenging, fact-check platforms have emerged to confirm the authenticity of circulating information, leading to a serious struggle against fake news (Porter & Wood, 2021: 2-3). During this process, fake news propagated through social media poses a risk to professional journalism platforms as well. Journalists, who largely rely on new media channels in the news production process, face various challenges in accessing accurate and reliable information. One of the areas where this problem manifests is health journalism. Given that human life is at stake, this type of journalism requires special sensitivity due to its nature.
New media-mediated journalism has not caused a radical transformation in the nature of news, but it has significantly altered the practice and understanding of journalism. One area where this shift is especially evident is health journalism. This type of journalism encompasses all topics related to human health and quality of life, involving journalistic activities in this field. Insights gained from interviews with health and media professionals highlight the essential role it plays in informing the public about health issues, raising awareness, and providing warnings when necessary. Health journalism serves critical functions such as educating, promoting awareness, and enhancing public health knowledge (Öğüt-Yıldırım, 2017:7). While health journalism occasionally covers rare diseases, it predominantly focuses on epidemics or health issues that impact larger populations. Although the public interest is a fundamental consideration in all areas of journalism, it becomes even more crucial in health reporting. Information on specific treatments, medications, or healthcare institutions can directly influence the health decisions and well-being of the public. As such, health journalism demands a heightened ethical responsibility, as it often addresses complex medical issues that exceed the expertise of individual journalists (Şahin, 2019). At this point, obtaining verified information and accurately conveying it to the public is of paramount importance.
Health news that directly impacts public well-being should be reported by journalists who are specifically trained in this field (Walsh-Childers & McKinnon, 2024: 2-4). Health journalism, which deals with contrasting concepts such as life and death, hope and despair, trust and risk (Çağlar, 2005:11), must be approached with the same care and precision that a doctor applies to patient care. It is important to recognize that the lack of consensus within the scientific paradigm also extends to health journalism, making it essential to include diverse perspectives and voices. Furthermore, it is critical to acknowledge that the information provided by experts or research articles carries a margin of error. Disseminating incorrect information undermines the ethical responsibility to the public and can have harmful consequences. Therefore, health journalism must be practiced with a heightened awareness of the potential risks associated with misinformation and a commitment to ensuring that only accurate, verified information is shared (Ünal&Taylan, 2017).
When the academic literature is reviewed, numerous studies are found to address the issue of reliability in health journalism from various perspectives. The study by Ünal and Taylan (2017), titled "Sağlık İletişiminde Yalan Haber-Yanlış Enformasyon Sorunu ve Doğrulama Platformları" emphasizes that the proliferation of content during the digitalization process is likely to lead to an increase in misleading health information that may confuse the public. The authors highlight the critical role of verification platforms in mitigating this issue, as these platforms serve to authenticate the accuracy of health-related content and promote the dissemination of reliable information. Zhong's (2023) study titled "Going Beyond Fact-Checking to Fight Health Misinformation: A Multi-Level Analysis of the Twitter Response to Health News Stories" highlights a significant phenomenon; tweets containing health misinformation tend to attract greater user attention and exhibit higher rates of dissemination. This finding is a critical contribution to the discourse on health misinformation, as it underscores the pervasive nature of misleading content on social media platforms and emphasizes the need for more effective strategies to combat its spread. These and other studies often focus on topics such as fake news, disinformation, and challenges that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the key findings from these significant studies is that new media environments have the potential to disseminate false health information. One of the primary methods to combat this issue is for established media outlets to provide accurate information to the public. However, the reliability of the sources used is also crucial. It is important to develop a journalistic approach that incorporates diverse perspectives, references academic publications, and extends beyond merely relying on expert statements. Recognizing this will help to identify the shortcomings in health journalism and offer guidance for improvement. There is a clear need for academic studies that critically examine news reporting in terms of the reliability and diversity of source usage.
The aim of this study is to classify the types of sources used in health news and to reveal the general situation of Turkish public broadcasting. In this study, which focused on internet news sites considering the digitalization process, a total of 208 health news published by TRT and BBC between June 2024 and September were subjected to content analysis. The purpose of choosing these organizations is to evaluate health journalism, which represents a public responsibility, within the scope of public broadcasting. Quantitative content analysis technique was used to reveal these parameters in the study, which revealed the source citation rate, subject, which sources were used, and the originality of the content in the news examined.