Journalism's coverage of weight and size
In 2013, the American Medical Association officially changed its position on obesity, advising medical practitioners that the condition is a chronic disease requiring medical treatment, not an individual's failure. In 2018, the National Institutes of Health published a paper pointing out that the media had not yet caught up to the AMA, and instead continued to perpetuate the false belief that obesity is only a matter of self-control.
In 2023, health journalists everywhere are finally catching up with the science, as well as exploring and explaining the social baggage that often prevents us from having fact-based conversations about body size.
Today we address two listener letters about NPR stories. The first story is an interview with an author of a newly released book on cultural myths about "fat" people. The second story is a look at a new and expensive weight-loss drug getting results, but not always covered by insurance. Both listeners offered comments and asked questions that poke at this gap between cultural assumptions and medical knowledge.
We looked closely at both stories, as well as NPR's work on the topic of obesity. Read on to
