Washington’s WJLA (which, sadly, is not the Justice League of America’s news station) will be airing a series of reports on breast cancer, and the importance of regular breast self-exams. This coincides with National Breast Cancer Awareness month, which ends this weekend. To make it explicitly clear how to perform such an exam, it will air two reports featuring women bare from the waist up, a first for both televised breast exams and a news report.
However, the station has caused some to remark upon the suspicious nature of the timing of the reports; the station’s “sweeps month” will have been in force a couple of days prior to the airing. General manager Bill Lord has commented ” … we’re a commercial television station — we’re trying to get people to watch us. Yes, this is an attention-getting story, but it’s also an important story.”
More people should watch the news who don’t, and the entertainment industry already uses sex to sell products — why should national health awareness refrain from using the same tactics? Just don’t expect me to watch when it’s time to learn about the proper way to conduct a prostate gland exam.
Comments
Bill
October 29th, 2009 - 4:37:13 PM
hasn't this happened before? or was that just a Mike Judge film?