ABSTRACT
The Medias representations of obesity and eating disorders by conceptualizing them as closely interlinked, rather than distinct, public health and social phenomena. Far from being mutually exclusive, obesity and eating disorders, at times, co-exist, and the clinical literature has long recognized connections between the two conditions. The newly published fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) recognizes binge eating disorder which often leads to obesity as one of the three specified eating disorders, alongside anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Bridging the clinical and lay realms are the news media. The news media, importantly, broker knowledge, making visible selected scientific findings and policy decisions, while leaving many others obscured: even to the well-versed lay reader, most scientific and policy papers remain inaccessible, such that the public beyond certain academic and government circles must rely on news media to learn about scientific and policy work.
