Final Findings

     When comparing the coverage of the top two items, heart disease and cancer, on the CDC's list of leading causes of death for American males with the next two, unintentional injuries and lower respiratory diseases, there is large gap. I've found that, while the media coverage could be better concerning the top two items, media does do a fairly good job of reporting on what the average man can do to lessen his chances of dying from either of these causes. Albeit sometimes that information might require a little digging. However, the next two killers on the list are promoted in several ways.
    With unintentional injuries, the third item on the CDC's list, it was the promotion of risky behavior such as rock climbing and the article about the man who crossed the Arctic Ocean in a row boat. These dangerous sports were celebrated in Men's Journal and in an advertisement in Men's Health magazine. There also were not any stories focusing on safety in sports such as these.
     The same situation persisted as I investigated respiratory diseases, which was the fourth item on the CDC's list. Smoking, which is a contributor to lower respiratory diseases, was portrayed with an air of respect and fun When the media had a face to put with the problem, George W.H. Bush, they did not address causes, symptoms, or actually anything to do with lower respiratory diseases themselves and instead only covered the story from an angle of wishing well an ailing president.
     This gap in coverage, and probably in awareness of coverage by the media, reflects the gap in percentages in which each item on the list is a threat to the lives of men. However, men's health, in regards to the biggest killer of men, is generally underrepresented in media. It is much more common to see sexual advice, mental health advice, or muscle building advice than it is to see an article addressing heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, or lower respiratory diseases. Many of the articles that deal with these topics are buried under the aforementioned types of articles, and have to be searched for. It shouldn't be harder to find the important information that has a direct correlation with the leading causes of American male deaths. Further research should be put into this problem such as seeing how affective the articles are in making connections with the men reading them or researching how harmful promoting smoking or risky behavior is to men's self perception and therefore our health.

Lower Respiratory Diseases

     Fourth on the CDC's list of biggest killers of American males lies lower respiratory diseases.  This includes emphysema, asthma, and bronchitis. For today's blog I'll be focusing on how media representation of health concerns applies to these three lower respiratory diseases. Today, however I'm going to try something different. Instead of focusing on two particular sources of information I'm going to take a wider look at media that one might randomly happen across including the internet, commercials, music, and television. These forms of media have a large impact on how we view the world around us. This is probably even more true than that of information we seek out.

     All three of these diseases are effected by smoking. While smoking advertising is severely limited it still permeates television and music. Tony Saprano is famous for having a cigar at the ready. It often aids him in creating a silent end to a conversation or add drama to a scene. It is depicted as a tough-guy action to smoke a cigar. A symbol of power and confidence as depicted by Soprano. Portrayals such as this condone smoking as a way to achieve a certain level of respect, and suggest to viewers that they too can gain power by smoking a cigar.
     It so happens that this week George W.H. Bush was hospitalized for bronchitis. The articles dealing with his illness are slim in information at best. An article in the Huffington titled "George Bush Sr. Hospitalization: Former President in Stable Condition" consists of only 125 words, which is less than a third of the length of this blog post. The article gives Bush's age, which presidential term he served, the city where he rests in a hospital, his ailment, and whom is visiting him. Another story on ABC news lasts only twenty-two seconds before moving onto a slightly longer story about the most popular baby names. The ABC story contained much of the same information and a well wishing, but no real information about bronchitis. As news sources these information outlets have an opportunity to inform the public about why Bush Sr. has bronchitis, what the effects might be, and his danger level. Neither news source delves down these avenues.
     The lack of information with the two news stories coupled with an attitude that yes, smoking does give you an air of respect shows a dangerous trend in media concerning lower respiratory illnesses. The most frightening thing is that given the opportunity to use a famous example as a cause for health awareness the media still did nothing. To the media's credit however, after moving past the first two items on the CDC'S list of leading causes in male deaths there is a drastic drop off of percentage of deaths that are accounted for by each item. Lower respiratory diseases account for only 5.5%, while each of the top two, heart disease and cancer, account for a combined 49.5%.