Television Doctors: An Analysis of Physicians in Fictional and Non-Fictional Television Programs

Although fictional television traditionally has portrayed doctors positively, recent fictional programming appears to portray physicians in a less positive manner. It has also been suggested that these images may conflict with depictions of doctors found on non-fictional television. A content analysis conducted here indicates that television's physician portrayals are less positive than they were in 1992, contemporary genres differ in their physician depictions, and television's doctor portrayals do not differ according to sex or race.