Research conducted by the respectable Kaiser Foundation has revealed that “Many viewers of an episode of ABC’s prime-time medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” that included a story about mother-to-child HIV transmission gained awareness of the issue“.

Victoria Rideout was “astounded!” By the number of viewers that “picked up on factual health info about HIV embedded in the show, and that they remembered it weeks later”, emphasis mine.

Hang on a minute. Would this mean that actually people are affected by what they see and hear on TV? And that people are able to distinguish between factual and non-factual information?

The cynics are out, but it does feel weird that it takes such research to realise that, yes, people are being influenced by what they watch on TV, that, yes, TV could be used as a medium to disseminate factual information, and that, yes, there is not a lot of it broadcasted currently and that it may need to be embeded in some crap to be picked up by viewers because overall, lazyness rules when it come to drama and a one hour programme on HIV can’t really compete with 15 minutes of fame in Temptation Island.

Sometimes…

See also: Grey’s study shows viewers remember TV health message, USA Today

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