The article entitled; Pathologists urge earlier tests for prostate cancer from the Sydney Morning Herald August 2nd by Amy Corderoy outlines the debate for and against a prostate specific antigen test and digital rectal examination for men 40 years and over. The hard news story is well balanced with no bias and includes an appropriate amount of ‘conflict’ from both sides of the argument; including opinions from five experts in the field of prostate health and public health who either agree or disagree with the prostate tests. News values include, proximity as the story is relative to Australians and human interest regarding the wellbeing of a family man. The story includes a punchy and catchy beginning paragraph incorporating the; who, when, where and why’s of the story. In a more contextual sense, the Sydney Morning Herald has published six online articles regarding prostate cancer this year and seems to value the issues appropriateness to Australians as it is the most common cancer in Australian for men, and the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men. Also September is International Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, so there is additional value of timeliness for the publication of this article.
The visual photo used is extremely affective and is cleverly used to evoke an emotional reaction from readers. The visual of the father and his two sons laughing relates to a family demographic as well as those concerned for the welfare of others. I believe that the story used too much scientific terminology as well as medical termed acronyms, for example “PSA”. Also, a quote from the Professor of Public Health at Bond University states; “most people that get it [prostate cancer] don’t die from it.” However statistics on the Cancer Council website states otherwise. This conjures up credibility issues in regards to the source used. The article cleverly ties together a hard news story and a human interest story of a real life prostate cancer survivor. This is a clever way of attracting attention to the issue, and delivers the story in a way that the public can relate to. Overall I found it an interesting and educational story.
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