Medical news for the public to use? What's on local TV news.

Background: Local television news is the number 1 source of information for most Americans, and media health reporting has increased significantly during the past 10 years.

Objective: To evaluate the health topics and reporting characteristics of health stories on local television news across the United States.

Study Design: Content analysis of full-length broadcasts of local television news from a representative sample of the top 50 US media markets (122 stations).