Terrible Two With A New Look For You
Created 4/25/08

We're two years old and we already got a facelift.   Welcome to the new HealthNewsReview.org.  Besides a new design and layout, we've added an important new functional change with the addition of a prominent "Join the Discussion" forum on the home page. 

We never wanted our reviews to be a lecture.  We want to open a dialogue among our reviewers, journalists, news consumers, health care consumers and others who want to discuss the state of health journalism. 

But the way we originally designed the website didn’t accommodate such a dialogue very effectively.  We think the new site will open the doors so we can hear you better. 
The goal - as it's always been - is to improve health journalism.

Oh, if only all news organizations could match the recent record of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.  Earlier this month, that paper nabbed our top five-star score for a story on a drug's impact on obesity and cardiovascular disease.  What's worth noting is that this paper - not among the nation's biggest in circulation - has already been rated with our top five-star score four times - and we've only given that top score 45 times in two years.  This time our reviewers said, "The story was well written and would enable a reader to appreciate the complexity of assessing the impact of a medication.  It was clear, balanced and succinct - running less than 600 words."

Unfortunately, there are many other recent examples at the other end of the spectrum.  As I write this, on the home page, there's a lowly one star story on Botox by Newsweek.  60 Minutes was talking about a cancer cure and got one of our lowest ratings. ABC's Good Morning America launched into a "lunchtime lipo" discussion and didn't get many cheers from us.  And the New York Daily News got zero stars  - one of only 14 shutouts we've ever given after two years and 542 stories reviewed. We thought: "The Daily News editors should be embarrassed for allowing this story into print."

So the door is open.  It's your website, too.  Come on in and join the discussion.

Gary Schwitzer
Publisher

HealthNewsReview.org