ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an investigation of UK newspaper reporting of eating disorders, first making a direct comparison with US media. It discusses the differences between newspapers targeted at different social groups. Early medical evidence about the aetiology of eating disorders pointed to inner psychological factors, social factors and family factors, together with other environmental influence, such as peer group norms. The role of the mass media in influencing the development of an eating disorder has been investigated far more extensively than the media portrayal of eating disorders themselves. The Princess of Wales is to visit a conference on life-threatening eating disorders. It will be the first time that Diana, who is widely believed to have suffered from the bingeing disorder bulimia nervosa, has publicly shown her concern about the problem. Numerous studies of mass media reporting of science and medical stories focus on their tendency to sensationalize or to produce health-damaging effects.
