CMH discusses role of the media at special symposium of Center for Ethic and Health

12 November 2013
On October 10th, the Dutch Center for Ethics and Health (CEG) celebrated her 10th anniversary with a special symposium. The Center for Media & Health (CMH) attended this symposium and talked to various ethicists and researchers about the role of the media. How to deal with the portrayal of health (care) issues in reality television series and entertainment programs? Which role can health care providers and patients play in addressing health care issues? Which (ethical) logics play a role in the collaboration process of health care providers and the media? Since (entertainment) television programs and web based media technologies play a key role in everyday life, these and other questions are becoming more and more important.

The focus of the CMH is to bridge the world between the health (care) sector and the media and to stimulate collaborative partnerships. She advices the CEG to involve media stakeholders right from the start in the designing of their research and monitoring agenda on ethical questions.

Speakers and contributors at the symposium were, amongst others, Edith Schippers (Minister of Public Health, Well-being and Sport), Prof. Dr. Els Borst (former Minister of Public Health, Well-being and Sport), Prof. Dr. Inez de Beaufort (Professor for Medical Ethics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam), Rien Meijerink (Chairman of the Council for Public Health and Care (RVZ)), Prof. Dr. Pim van Gool (Chairman of the Council of Health (GR)) and Prof. Dr. Dick Willems (Professor for Medical Ethics at the Amsterdam Medical Center and Chairman of the CEG forum). In his presentation Dick Willems referred to the CEG publication “Met een camera aan het ziekenhuisbed” (Struijs & Olthuis, 2009). This publication is only available in Dutch and discusses moral dilemmas in the collaboration process between the world of health (care) and the media when creating television programs.

Click here to read an overall article from Dr. Martine Bouman and Dr. William Brown on ethical dilemmas in lifestyle interventions.

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