ABSTRACT

It has been observed in recent years that a special and increasing awareness of health reporting issues by the media in Turkey has been in evidence. Criticism aimed at media items has widely been reviving the questions of how healthy' these publishing contents are, in other words how informative they are' and to what degree they are in the general interest'. In fact, if health-themed publishing is practised correctly it has the potential to improve people's health and life quality. Very positive and important consequences in the public realm can be obtained through the media. Education and Health Reporters' Society (ESAM-DER) was founded in 1991 in the interests of educated journalist/healthy news' in Turkey. It aims at improving the quality of journalism in the branch of education and health, at professional solidarity, correctly informing the public and helping in the application of ethical rules. Media and health professionals state prominently the comment partly' concerning the reliability of health-themed broadcasts.