ABSTRACT
The food environment includes the quality of reporting of nutritional information in the public domain. This is usually through established news sources such as printed newspapers and online newspapers and social marketing campaigns but is now frequently through unverified news sources such as blogs and social media. In the media, food, diet and nutrition are hot topics in the news but are often reported in alarmist, sensationalist ways that do not necessarily help to promote healthy food choice. High-quality nutrition-related news enables people to make informed choices and to be able to easily assess the quality of the source of the nutritional information. There are certain factors that are related to better quality reporting in the media such as providing sufficient detail about scientific studies and named authors of news articles. High-quality nutrition information based on theoretical frameworks is more likely to promote healthy choices. Change4Life, the UK social marketing campaign, is used as a case study. This chapter reviews the research in this area and looks at new emerging areas such as the impact of misinformation or fake news.
