Professor John Birkbeck, a highly respected nutrition icon in New Zealand, was very busy last week. If you’ve moved jobs and homes at the same time you’ll know what it’s like. But he still made time to spend an hour and a half with a reporter who wanted to interview him about his life and his career. Two stories came out of it: one about his life and career ‘The truth is – size matters’ NZ Herald 31/5/09, and another titled ‘Expert – it’s your fault if you’re a fatty’ NZ Herald 31/5/09.

It’s the second story that grabbed people’s attention, causing apparent ‘outrage’ and creating an ‘individual versus environment’ fat fight.

Here’s what I think happened. A second reporter read the original story and picked up a couple of potentially controversial and non-PC statements. She phoned the two obesity organisations mentioned in the story and said, “Professor Birkbeck said this. What do you think of that?”

The same thing happens in the playground and in the workplace – a comment used out of context – and it can blow things way out of proportion.

Sensible healthy eating stories don’t make ‘news’. There has to be some controversy, conflict or an ‘est’ – latest, greatest, first or worst. (I know the last two aren’t ‘est’ but I’m sure you get what I mean.) It’s even better if you have an ‘expert’ quote – either a person or the latest study.

As readers we tend to skim stories, picking up meaning from the heading and the first paragraph. Often the real balance in a story lies in the last few paragraphs where many of us don’t read to, or embedded in the story where a light skim may miss it.

This story is a great example of media sensationalism and it trivialises an incredibly complex question – why are we getting fatter and how can we stop it? As Professor Birkbeck said, “If I had the answer, I’d be rich!”

Follow-up story in NZ Herald 7/6/09 – “Fat chance of tough love on the obese”