Society of Culture and Welfare

Though a startling and positive revolution has begun in America, you might not know it if your main source of news comes from the big three networks or the major newspapers. For reasons not quite known, the major media in this country seems wont to ignore the natural health trend that is cropping up everywhere. Sure, there are stories here and there. Not too long ago, NBC news did a short profile on constipation remedies and what you could find in the natural health realm to cure constipation. But even that story seemed uncommonly biased toward the traditional over the counter methods and techniques we’ve all become accustomed to. So why is it that Big Media has been so reluctant to acknowledge this new, exciting trend in natural health?

 
Consider the increasing trend in menopause, for example. More and more women, studies have shown, are eschewing or at least supplementing their hormone replacement therapy with more natural solutions such as eating the right diet. Through herbal and aromatherapies, these women have reported less complications and a smoother trip through menopause than many of their medicated counterparts. But as of late 2007, there has not been one single story on any of the nightly newscasts about this startling and dramatic shift. Compare this with a series of stories CBS news did last year about new drugs for menopausal women, with nary a mention of natural health alternatives.

It doesn’t stop with menopause, however. And it doesn’t stop with the big three networks. Consider sleep aids, for instance. The major sleep aid drug companies have now positioned themselves as some of the most powerful advertisers in the country. The nightly news are one of their main targets, seeing as how the demographics for the news fit nicely in line with the demographic the sleep aid drug companies want to reach. Upper middle class, white, older white men and women apparently are the ones most likely to buy a prescription sleep aid. If the drug companies are a major sponsor of the news (and this extends to the newspapers as well, seeing as how much of the media is owned by only a few major corporate conglomerates) then can we really expect to see the programs they support come out in favor of natural health products?

But it isn’t even a matter of coming out in favor of natural health products, so much as it is a matter of showing both sides of the story. The news, after all, should be unbiased (hold your laughter). It isn’t necessary for Brian Williams or Katie Couric to espouse the pleasures of switching to natural health products. It baffles the mind, however, how such an important and stunning trend could be so soundly ignored.

It can be said with little doubt that if the natural health trend continues on the path it is headed, the major media will have no choice but to acknowledge it in the near future. When health food stores begin turning profits the likes of which couldn’t have been imagined a couple of years ago, the news networks will have to shine a spotlight on the boom in natural health. And their coverage will in turn cause the trend to spread even further and deeper.