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%.
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%.
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