Analysis of broadcasting review trends after enacting the Guidelines on promotional mass media appearances by physicians

Recently, as the general public has taken a greater interest in healthful lifestyles, the mass media became the public's core informant on health and medical information. However, serious violations of the broadcasting review regulations have occurred in health and medical broadcasting programs. In fact, many problems stem from the lack of expertise and ethics of physicians. Therefore, a more thorough verification of health and medical information and the selection of the physicians to appear on broadcasting is needed. In 2015, the Korean Medical Association established the Guidelines on promotional mass media appearances by physicians in order to reduce these problems. This study aimed to identify the problems with the health and medical programs, including an analysis of review results and cases and to explore ways to address the problems. We found that cases of violation of the broadcasting review regulations were increasing and the violation level was becoming more serious. We also found that the articles of the Korea Communications Standards Regulation that have been most often violated are Article 42 (medical treatment, etc.) and 46 (advertising effect). The cases violating both of these two articles comprised 96.5% of the total of 85 cases in 2015; these are involved with the expertise and ethics of physicians. In light of this, it is especially worth noting some physicians so called 'show doctor (named by Korean Medical Association)' appear on mass media and recommend specific treatments or products for marketing purpose. In conclusion, physicians to appear on broadcasting shall provide objective and evidence-based medical information with professional ethics.