One certainly shouldn't be taking medical advice from the mass media. They aren't interested in the accuracy of what they are reporting, only in the headline.
For example, there may be a report saying that, according to a new study, drinking a glass of red wine a day helps prevent diabetes. What they don't say is there have been another 999 studies saying that drinking red wine has no effect on diabetes. Nor do they care about whether the study has been peer reviewed or whether the results are repeatable - without this no reliance can be placed on the study.
One horrific result is we now have hundreds of people in developed countries dying from easily treatable diseases, e.g. measles. Thanks Andrew Wakefield.
As for the media (and politicians) misinterpreting the results of medical studies whether through ignorance or design ...
Yikes! I've gone over my three sentence limit, I think I need a lie down.