'It's disgusting how much salt you eat!': Television discourses of obesity, health and morality

International Journal of Cultural Studies

Volumn 13, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 83-100

  Inthorn, Sanna ^a   Boyce, Tammy ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA   (United Kingdom)

^b KING S FUND   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Expertise; Government policy; Media coverage of health; Obesity; Television

Indexed keywords

EID: 73549088968     PISSN: 13678779     EISSN: 1460356X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1367877909348540     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006) National Health Survey: Summary of Results, URL (consulted July 2008): http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4364.02004-05?OpenDocument.
2. Bartky, S.L. (1990) Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of Oppression. London: Routledge.
3. Beckmann, A. (2005) Representing Healthy and Sexual Bodies: The Media, Disability and Consensual SM, in M. King and K. Watson (eds) Representing Health; Discourses of Health and Illness in the Media. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
4. Bell, K. and D. McNaughton (2007) Feminism and the Invisible Fat Man, Body & Society 13(1): 107-31.
5. Bordo, S. (2003) Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. London: University of California Press.
6. Boyce, T. (2007) Health, Risk and News: The MMR Vaccine and the Media. London: Peter Lang.
7. Branca, F., H. Nikogosian and T. Lobstein (2007) The Challenge of Obesity in the WHO European Region and the Strategies for Response. Copenhagen: World Health Organization.
8. Bratich, J.Z. (2006) Nothing Is Left Alone for Too Long: Reality Programming and Control Society Subjects, Journal of Communication Inquiry 30: 65-83.
9. Brown, W.J. and M.D. Basil (1995) Media Celebrities and Public Health: Responses to Magic Johnson's HIV Disclosure and Its Impact on AIDS Risk and High-risk Behaviors, Health Communication 7(4): 345-76.
10. Butland, B., S. Jebb, P. Kopelman, K. McPherson, S. Thomas, J. Mardellet al.(2007) Foresight. Tackling Obesities: Future Choices Project Report. London: Government Office for Science, Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2005) Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2003-2004, URL (consulted July 2008): http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overweight/overwght_adult_03.htm.
12. Conrad, P. (1999) Uses of Expertise: Sources, Quotes, and Voice in the Reporting of Genetics in the News, Public Understanding of Science 8: 285-302.
13. Corner, J. (2002) Performing the Real: Documentary Diversions, Television and New Media 3(3): 255-69.
14. Department of Health (2001) The Expert Patient: A New Approach to Chronic Disease Management for the 21st Century. London: HMSO.
15. Department of Health (2004) Choosing Health: Making Healthy Choices Easier. London: HMSO.
16. Department of Health (2008) Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross-government Strategy for England. London: HMSO.
17. Department of Health (2009) Change4Life, URL (consulted January 2009): http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/Currentcampaigns/Change4Life/index.htm.
18. Elliott, F., P. Riddell, L. Davidson and S. Coates (2008) David Cameron Tells the Fat and the Poor: Take Responsibility, The Times 8 July, URL (consulted August 2008): http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4290298.ece.
19. Fairclough, N. (2001) The Discourse of New Labour: Critical Discourse Analysis, in M. Wetherell, S. Taylor and S. Yates (eds) Discourse as Data: A Guide for Analysis. London: Sage.
20. Gard, M. and J. Wright (2005) The Obesity Epidemic: Science, Morality and Ideology. London: Routledge.
21. Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-identity. Cambridge: Polity.
22. Giles, D.C. (2002) Keeping the Public in Their Place: Audience Participation in Lifestyle Television Programming, Discourse & Society 13(5): 603-28.
23. Harris, S. (2007) Lazy Lifestyle is Turning Our Children into Couch Potatoes at 3, Daily Mail 26 December, URL (consulted August 2008): from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-504638/Lazy-lifestyle-turning-children-couch-potatoes-3.html.
24. Henderson, L. (2007) Social Issues in Television Fiction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
25. Hill, J.O. and J.C. Peters (1998) Environmental Contributions to the Obesity Epidemic, Science 280(5368): 1371-4.
26. Hill, A. (2007) Restyling Factual TV: Audiences and News, Documentary and Reality Genres. London: Routledge.
27. Himes, S.M. and J.K. Thompson (2007) Fat Stigmatization in Television Shows and Movies: A Content Analysis, Obesity 15: 712-18.
28. Jones, J.P. (2006) A Cultural Approach to the Study of Mediated Citizenship, Social Semiotics 16(2): 365-83.
29. Kim, S. and L.A. Wills (2007) Talking about Obesity: News Framing of Who Is Responsible for Causing and Fixing the Problem, Journal of Health Communication 12: 359-76.
30. Lawrence, R.G. (2004) Framing Obesity: The Evolution of News Discourse on a Public Health Issue, Harvard International Journal of Press and Politics 9: 56-75.
31. Leit, R.A., J.J. Gray and H.G. Pope Jr. (2002) The Media's Representation of the Ideal Male Body: A Cause for Muscle Dysmorphia?, International Journal of Eating Disorders 31(2): 334-38.
32. Lewis, J., S. Inthorn and K. Wahl-Jorgensen (2005) Citizens or Consumers? What the Media Tell Us about Political Participation. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
33. McKinley, N.M. (1998) Gender Differences in Undergraduates' Body Esteem: The Mediating Effect of Objectified Body Consciousness and Actual/Ideal Weight Discrepancy, Sex Roles 39: 113-23.
34. Morgan, D. (1993) You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine: Reflections on the Male Body and Masculinities, in S. Scott and D. Morgan (eds) Body Matters. London: Falmer Press.
35. Nichols, B. (1991) Representing Reality. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
36. Ouellette, L. (2004) Take Responsibility for Yourself: Judge Judy and the Neoliberal Citizen, in S. Murray and L. Ouellette (eds) Reality Television: Remaking Television Culture. New York: New York University Press.
37. Palmer, G. (2002) Big Brother: An Experiment in Governance, Television and New Media 3(3): 295-310.
38. Palmer, G. (2003) Discipline and Liberty: Television and Governance. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
39. Peirce, K. (1990) A Feminist Theoretical Perspective on the Socialization of Teenage Girls through Seventeen Magazine, Sex Roles 23(9-10): 491-500.
40. Pope, H.G., K.A. Phillips and R. Olivardia (2000) The Adonis Complex. New York: The Free Press.
41. Prentice, A.M. (2001) Overeating: The Health Risks, Obesity Research 9(4): 234S-238S.
42. Pryce, A. (2005) Planting Landmines in their Sex Lives: Governmentality, Iconography of Sexual Disease, and the Duties of the STD Clinic, in M. King and K. Watson (eds) Representing Health: Discourses of Health and Illness in the Media. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
43. Silverstein, B., L. Perdue, B. Peterson and E. Kelly (1986) The Role of the Media in Promoting a Thin Standard of Bodily Attractiveness for Women, Sex Roles 14(9/10): 519-32.
44. Spittle, S. (2002) Producing TV - Consuming TV, in S. Miles, A. Anderson and K. Meethan (eds) The Changing Consumer: Markets and Meanings. London: Routledge.
45. Tjepkema, M. (2004) 'Adult Obesity in Canada Mea sured Height and Weight', URL (consulted March 2008): http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/82-620-MIE/2005001/articles/adults/aobesity.htm#1.
46. Weltzin, T.E., N. Weisensel, D. Franczyk, K. Burnett, C. Klitz and P. Bean (2005) Eating Disorders in Men: Update, Journal of Men's Health & Gender 2(2): 186-93.
47. Wilson, P.M. (2001) A Policy Analysis of the Expert Patient in the United Kingdom: Self-care as an Expression of Pastoral Power?, Health and Social Care in the Community 9(3): 134-42.