By Alice Benjamin, MSN, ACNS-BC, FNP-C – Nurse.com
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I truly recognized the depth of a critical issue: Nurses were not visible in media reporting on the outbreak, at least not in the way I had hoped.
Instead of being highlighted as the experts that nurses are — leading discussions, guiding public health measures, and sharing critical insights — we were often portrayed as victims of a broken healthcare system.
News stories focused heavily on the emotional and physical toll, frustration, and toxic working conditions we endured, missing the chance to showcase nurses as pivotal leaders and educators in managing the COVID-19 outbreak. As doctors, hospital administrators, and public health officials dominated the airwaves, nurses’ invaluable perspectives remained buried.
Fortunately, I had an outlet to make a difference. As the most-watched nurse on NBC during the pandemic, I led national conversations, providing vital research, education, and real-time guidance for both the public and healthcare professionals. This wasn’t just about visibility — it was about reestablishing our authority as healthcare experts and ensuring that nursing voices shape the public health narrative.
The underrepresentation of nurses in the media isn’t a new issue. The 1997 Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media found that nurses were featured in less than 4% of health-related news stories. When the study was revisited 20 years later, the results were even more disappointing: Nurses were mentioned in only 2% of health news stories.
Despite our critical roles in patient care, our voices remain drowned out by others in healthcare. This underrepresentation limits not just individual nurses but the profession as a whole, weakening our ability to advocate for better care and public policy.
The untapped potential of nurses in the media
It’s not that nurses don’t have stories to tell — we do, and they’re powerful. Nurses hold patients’ hands during their most vulnerable moments, make quick decisions under pressure, and navigate the realities of healthcare that others often miss. But sharing these stories effectively requires media skills that many nurses haven’t been trained in.
Media savvy remains an untapped area of professional development for nurses, leaving a gap that has real consequences for public health, research dissemination, and policy advocacy.
Take, for example, the issue of healthcare disparities. Nurses witness inequities in real-time, whether it’s a lack of resources in underserved communities or barriers to preventive care. We see how these issues affect patients daily, but our ability to draw attention to these problems is limited without media literacy.
Media-savvy nurses could bring these inequities to the forefront of public conversations, influencing systemic change through powerful storytelling. Unfortunately, many of our observations remain within hospital walls, affecting only the patients we treat directly.
Why aren’t nurses leading health conversations?
The underrepresentation of nurses in the media has deep roots. Historically, nursing has been viewed as a profession defined by bedside care, not public discourse. As a result, media outlets often turn to doctors and administrators for commentary, assuming they’re the experts who can provide a “higher-level” perspective. But that perception ignores the fact that nurses are not only experts in patient care but also in public health, education, and policy.
When nurses do appear in the media, they’re often confined to patient care narratives, limiting their ability to discuss broader issues like policy reform, healthcare access, or health disparities.
Even when nurses have opportunities to engage with the media, many hesitate. It’s not for lack of insight but rather a lack of confidence and training. Nurses are rarely taught how to translate clinical experiences into soundbites or frame research findings into compelling public narratives.
The 2018 Woodhull Study also found that journalists often do not contact nurses for stories, either because they don’t consider them sources or don’t know how to contact them.
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Watch Nurse Alice’s webinar on how to shape health policy and public perception in the media.
Why we need to adapt: The call for media literacy in nursing
While nurses are trained to be caregivers, educators, and clinical decision-makers, few of us have been trained to be media-savvy advocates. Just as we orient ourselves to a new unit, learn protocols, and adjust to the workflows of different healthcare environments, we must also acclimate to the media and journalism landscape.
Understanding how to engage with the media is crucial, whether navigating interviews, developing impactful messages, or simply knowing how to present research to the public.
The media world is a unique environment with its own language, expectations, and rules of engagement. Learning how to operate within it is as essential as learning to adapt to a busy ICU shift or managing a flood of patients during a crisis. We must be as prepared to advocate on a news set or social media feed as we are at the bedside.
How nurses can become media-savvy advocates
Imagine a world where nurses regularly appear on prime-time news to offer commentary on healthcare reform, mental health, or vaccination rates. Imagine nurses not only providing quotes for news stories but also writing op-eds, leading podcasts, and being go-to sources for health information.
This isn’t a far-fetched dream — it’s an achievable reality. However, nurses need to embrace media literacy as a critical skill set to get there. Here’s how we can break through:
1. Learn the landscape
Nurses need to understand the media types available and how each can be leveraged. Whether it’s broadcast news, online articles, podcasts, or social media platforms, each medium offers a unique way to tell stories, advocate for policy, and educate the public.
2.Translate bedside stories into public narratives
Nurses have countless real-world stories that resonate. Learning to frame these using engaging language, real-life examples, and emotional connection is key. The impact of a story is greater when people hear stories from the nurses who were there.
3. Practice media literacy
We need more media training in nursing education. Knowing how to handle interviews, craft a memorable soundbite, or develop a social media presence is not just nice to have — it’s essential to making our voices heard. Programs like the upcoming MediaRX Academy, launching in January 2025, aim to fill this gap, offering nurses practical skills to become effective media advocates.
4. Start small, but aim big
Share stories on LinkedIn, write a blog, or engage in social media discussions. Every post or comment is an opportunity to influence public perception. The more we speak up, the more media outlets will recognize nurses as valuable sources of information.
The stakes are high. When nurses remain silent, critical perspectives are lost. Public health decisions are often made without the benefit of nurses’ insights, policies are crafted with only partial information, and the public misses out on understanding the complete picture of healthcare.
Nurses’ perspectives could shape healthier communities, drive policy changes prioritizing patient safety, and advocate for the resources front-line workers need.
Reclaiming the narrative
According to Gallup polls, nurses have been the most trusted professionals for 20 years in a row. Yet, despite this trust, our voices remain underrepresented in the media. I’ve witnessed this firsthand, both as a family nurse practitioner and as a media correspondent. The potential impact of nurses leading public conversations is immense, but it’s clear that nurses need to make their voices heard.
This reality inspired me to establish the MediaRX Academy. Designed to equip nurses with the tools to effectively navigate media, the Academy empowers nurses to translate their clinical insights into stories that change lives, inform policy, and elevate public health conversations.
This isn’t about self-promotion — it’s about unlocking nurses’ full potential as influential advocates because the future of healthcare media starts with us.
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