Collaborative Project - Celebrity, Illness & The Media
Researchers at Bath Spa University teamed up with a national charity - Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, to look at how young women responded to the media coverage of former Big Brother contestant Jade Goody's death from cervical cancer. The project examined how disclosures about the illness of a celebrity can influence public understanding of that disease, how celebrities are used to communicate health messages to the public, and how those messages are interpreted by different people.
"It was rewarding to see how social sciences research connects with issues of public concern."
Dr Daniel Ashton, Senior Lecturer Media Communications, Bath Spa University