Understanding media coverage of sex: A practical discussion paper for sexologists and journalists

Abstract

Although the public uses the media for sex advice, information and validation, much media coverage of sex contains inconsistent, outdated, or incorrect messages. There is little encouragement for those working in sex therapy, research, education or healthcare to engage with the media. The standard of media training and availability for these professions varies. Not all professionals work from an evidence-based perspective, and not all ‘experts’ in the media are recognised as such by their peers, resulting in inconsistent information being given to journalists by people not always qualified to speak about sex. Furthermore, a lack of training and understanding of sex and relationships results in misunderstanding or misreporting of stories by journalists, and perpetuating poor media coverage of sex. This paper outlines problems in media coverage, and highlights training opportunities and deficits for both sexologists and journalists. It advocates collaborative working, greater training in evidence-based sexology, and challenging problems in media training and sex coverage.

Keywords:

• evidence-based sexology
• media coverage
• training

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on workshops with sexologists and journalists whose experiences and feedback underpin this paper. In particular we are grateful to delegates at the European Federation of Sexology Conference 2004; AIDS Impact 2005 and BA Festival of Science 2005, and the Periodical Publishers Association for supporting training events for journalists.