The New Health Journalism: Challenging the Status Quo

By Peggy O'Mara

This article was the opening speech delivered by Peggy O'Mara for the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination put on by the National Vaccine Information Center in Washington DC on October 2, 2009. Visit Peggy's blog for more information about the conference events.

Ever since Barbara asked me to talk on “The New Health Journalism: Challenging the Status Quo” I have been struck by the irony of this title. What we call “new” journalism is actually a return to the old, to the very roots of journalism. This return to the roots of journalism is inspired by personal healthcare experiences, which demonstrates that recent encroachments on liberty have cut close to the bone. And, finally, wouldn’t it be nice to live in a society from which we didn’t feel we had to protect ourselves?

As new parents, we believe that society will take care of us, has our best interests at heart, and will protect us. I want new parents to believe this, but healthcare policy in the US is focused on controlling rather than preventing disease. It is fear-based, interventionist and compromised by economic considerations. At this time in history, assuming that society will protect you can be a dangerous belief.

It was new parents who founded Mothering in the mountains of southern Colorado in 1976. They were natural living pioneers who went “back to the land.” Many of us tried to grow our own food, can fruits and vegetables, keep chickens and goats, and heat with wood. This was a time when one could only find children’s cotton pajamas at a second hand store because new pajamas for children were all required by law to be made with flame-retardants, later found to be toxic. There were no natural personal care products, no packaged herbal teas or organic produce in grocery stores.

Natural living pioneers preferred to use peppermint oil or willow bark instead of aspirin for a headache, and were particularly cautious about the use of antibiotics. We often chose not to circumcise and usually breastfed. When vaccinations were suggested for our babies, we had questions.

I was one of these natural living pioneers. At the initial doctor’s visit after the birth of my first child in 1974, I told the doctor that I had some questions about vaccines. She mocked me and would not even entertain my questions. I took my questions next to a biologist friend who answered them patiently, but I soon learned that I had to be discreet about asking questions about vaccines. It wasn’t socially acceptable. Nonetheless, I continued to have more questions than answers.

Mothering magazine was born out of these and other questions that natural parents had in the late seventies. One of the most popular topics in the letters to the editor section then as well as now is the topic of vaccinations. We published our first full-length article, “A Mother Researches Immunization” by Roxanne Bank in 1980.

That same year, I became owner of the magazine and I was on top of the world, but even I didn’t realize how lucky I really was. About that time, I talked to a young man from China who literally could not comprehend that someone like myself, an independent citizen, could own a magazine. Most of us know that China censors the information available to its citizens, but few of us realize how rare a free press really is. In 2009, Freedom House conducted their annual survey of 195 countries and territories and found that just 36% had a free press. In terms of population, only 17% of the world’s inhabitants live in countries that enjoy a free press. The 2009 report shows the seventh straight year of decline in global media freedom. Western Europe boasts the world’s highest level of press freedom.

What is a free press? In the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547), the political significance of the art of printing began to be appreciated. The King not only limited the privilege of keeping a press, he also required presses to be inspected and licensed. This was, as you know, one of the tyrannies that led eventually to the American Revolution.

Freedom of press in the US constitution is not really a right unto itself, however, but an exemption from impediment. Article I of the constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

Now, freedom of the press does not mean that we can say anything at all that we like. That is license, not freedom. Freedom is mediated by the freedoms of others. We cannot speak or write a false statement of fact about another person, for example, or could be guilty of slander or libel. 

Freedom of press has become particularly important during the last 15 years because of the erosion of this freedom that has resulted from the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This act relaxed ownership restrictions so that one company could own up to eight media stations in a single market.

According to Advertising Age, by September 1997 in each of the fifty largest US markets, three companies controlled over 50% of the radio ad revenues. Today, the media is dominated by just 10 companies: General Electric, AT&T, Sony, Liberty Media, Vivendi Universal, AOL/Time Warner/ Walt Disney, Viacom, Bertelsmann, and News Corporation.