Spring 2004 Public Health Magazine: The Straight Story

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The Straight Story

Robert Davis, 90MPH, is cutting through media hype
to deliver accurate health news to the consumer.

In Framingham, Massachusetts, a group of residents are gathered inside Lloyd’s Diner—all volunteers in the groundbreaking Framingham Heart Study, which has been ongoing for more than 50 years.

“This is the story of a shoe salesman, a school bus driver, a real-estate agent, a bar manager, and other ordinary men and women who are doing something extraordinary for our health,” says Robert Davis, 90MPH, introducing the segment for the consumer health program “HealthWeek.”

The Framingham feature goes on to talk about the state of Americans’ health when the study began in 1948, when half the adult population smoked and a good meal included plenty of red meat, whole milk, and butter. Heart disease was reaching epidemic proportions, and no one knew why.

Then a group of 5,200 residents of Framingham, a town just outside Boston, agreed to a series of extensive medical tests and lifestyle questionnaires every year for much of their lives—to have their “blood drawn, fat measured, memories challenged,” says Davis. The rich data that resulted led to the current understanding of risk factors (a term that was coined in the study) for heart disease, including obesity, high-fat diets, and high blood pressure.

Because of these volunteers, Davis says in wrapping up the report, “health habits around the world have changed.”

A difference of cultures
The Framingham update, like other “HealthWeek” programs produced by Davis, was broadcast on PBS stations nationwide. It included interviews with residents in their living rooms, insights from physicians, and frank discussions with the volunteers. (“Do you feel like guinea pigs? Do you always tell the truth?”)

This is health reporting the way it should be done: thoughtful, intelligent, low-key, comprehensive, and highly watchable.

Davis, who received his MPH in 1990 from the Rollins School of Public Health and a doctorate in health policy from Brandeis University, has worked as a health journalist for more than 16 years, including stints at CNN and the Medical News Network. He also produced a series of videos for Time-Life Medical with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.

When he got the chance to create his own health magazine show for Newsweek Productions in Washington, DC, in 1997, Davis was determined to do it right.

Robert Davis’s company offers consulting on health-related media and produces health projects such as a recent documentary on cancer clinical trials hosted by Cokie Roberts.

“I wanted to avoid hyping risks or benefits,” Davis said. “Messages that people receive from the news often confuse and misguide them even more than they help.”

What is important from a news standpoint, he says, is often different from what is important from the public health standpoint.

“News is constantly looking for things that are new, novel, or contrary to conventional wisdom. Any study or scientific finding that seems to do that is held up as newsworthy,” Davis says. “In a news context, the study is turned into a discrete event which is, in itself, significant and warrants people changing their behavior. In a public health context, however, one study is almost never a determining factor, just an incremental step forward in scientists’ understanding of an issue.

“I see it as a difference of cultures.

Good TV
With “HealthWeek,” which aired on more than 200 PBS stations during its five-year run, Davis wanted to achieve the right balance: in-depth coverage without sensationalism; new angles on familiar topics like smoking and obesity.

“People don’t want to be lectured to. It comes across as didactic or instructional. We focused on real people, which made good TV. In one, a relatively young woman who had to have a lung transplant from smoking just told her story. It really resonated with our viewers.”

As did the segment in which Los Angeles trauma surgeon Juan Asenio was shown treating victims of gang shootings in the ER, then speaking passionately to a group of young male inmates convicted of violent crimes. “Asenio tells them, ‘Tough is not pulling a gun on somebody. Tough is when you use your head to survive in the streets and avoid a place like this.’”

“HealthWeek” won dozens of awards for its coverage of everything from plastic surgery to hospice care, including two Gracies from American Women in Radio and Television and five Freddies from the International Health and Medical Media Awards.

“We had the largest audience of any health series on TV. The only disappointment was that in the end, our funding ran out,” Davis says. “But for TV, five years is a pretty good run.”

Davis has worked as a health journalist for more than 16 years, at CNN and the Medical News Network, among others. He also has produced a series of videos for Time-Life Medical with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.

Cutting through the health promotion thicket
Davis is now president of Medicast Media in Washington, DC, a company that offers consulting on health-related media and produces health projects, such as a documentary hosted by Cokie Roberts on cancer clinical trials, which aired on PBS and as a half-hour special on ABC’s “Nightline.”

He also writes a weekly column for The Wall Street Journal, which appears in the Personal Journal section and addresses various health-related tests, treatments, and products.

A recent column took a look at human growth hormone nutritional supplements, a controversial practice that may have negative side effects. “If you want to boost your [HGH] levels,” Davis writes, “you’re better off exercising and getting a good night’s sleep, which have been shown to have an effect. At the very least, you’ll feel better.”

Another column explored various fruit-specific health claims made by growers, shippers, importers, and sellers: that blueberries boost memory, watermelon wards off cancer, plums contain antioxidants, cherry juice flavanoids block pain. Davis’s recommendation? “Eat a wide variety of fruits, especially ones with different colors and, therefore, different nutrients . . . all fruit is good for you, but none of it is medicine.”

“I want to help consumers make sense of all the claims out there, to cut through the clutter and maneuver through the health promotion thicket,” Davis says. Before writing about a topic, he consults with a variety of experts in the field who “don’t have a vested interest.”

A subtle line divides responsible health journalism from the rest, says Davis. “Sick people cling to any hope. Sometimes, stories aren’t actually in error, but they set a tone—such as failing to make clear that a new drug is not a significant clinical breakthrough. Or, as with anthrax and Cipro, they’re covered with a certain breathlessness as opposed to a sense of calm.”

Davis is doing his part to deflate the media hype. “I’ve let this principle guide my career––people are smart enough to apply their own standards, as long as you give them the straight story.”

By Mary Loftus, former Knight Journalism Fellow at CDC and reporter
for the New York Times, is associate editor of Emory Magazine.

RSPH Center for Public Health Communication

A newly established Center for Public Health Communication (CPHC) at the RSPH recognizes the growing importance of communicating today’s health messages to the public during emergencies as well as everyday life. Directed by Jay Bernhardt and co-directed by Melissa Shepherd, the center’s current projects include development of a graduate certificate program in public health communication, the improvement and expansion of an online tool to facilitate the translation of health communication research to practice, and an investigation of the potential of using wireless handheld computers for behavioral surveillance. More information is available at: http://www.sph.emory.edu/healthcom