I’m proud to unveil a project I’ve been working on for 8 months. Please visit HealthNewsReview.org to see a new attempt to help improve health journalism in the U.S.
A team of more than 20 reviewers from journalism, medicine, public health and health services research will evaluate and grade health news stories that include claims of efficacy or safety about treatments or procedures in health care.
An Associated Press story on the launch today quotes one observer saying she hopes the site doesn’t “end up being another media-bashing exercise.” This website is not about media-bashing. It is quite the opposite: it is about supporting excellence in health/medical journalism.
We hope that journalists and consumers will use HealthNewsReview.org each day to help improve critical thinking and scrutiny of new ideas in health care. And we welcome your feedback.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
@HealthNewsRevu "There’s no harm in trying to make a buck, per se. But there is harm in promoting things that are not backed up by evidence, and in converting normal states of health into sickness" https://t.co/aeUTK4CVAs
Men’s Health Month: "Some of it was thinly-veiled, profit-driven fear-mongering," says @garyschwitzer: https://t.co/MOWdxlenvz
Comments (2)
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Ira Allen
April 17, 2006 at 11:00 amExcellent new site (and great p.r. getting it at the top of the AP listings on Yahoo!)
Projects like this are vital to helping patients and doctors make the best use of evidence and make the best decisions for themselves. There is no one answer to most health issues, but there are no answers at all when information is muddled.
Over the long run, HealthNewsReview.org ought to sensitize journalists — especially editors — to the complexities of medical studies as well as help consumers at least ask the right questions.
Of course, over the long run we are all dead. But may your site and others like it help delay the inevitable.
Ira Allen
Center for the Advancement of Health
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