NBC news correspondent Mike Taibbi says he quit smoking after ABC’s Peter Jennings died of lung cancer. Now Taibbi is telling his story on the air. Included in that story is Taibbi having a CT scan.
His main source is Dr. Claudia Henschke, who recently promoted the benefits of lung CT scanning with a new study. In the story last night, Henschke told Taibbi after his scan:
“Your lungs really look quite good. You’re completely fine.”
That misleads viewers about the certainty of these tests. For balance, Taibbi did include the comment of Dr. Peter Bach of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center who said it was “outrageous” that Dr. Henschke estimated that 80 percent of lung cancer deaths could be prevented, and who suggested Taibbi was reading too much into his own clean scan.
Dr. Bach says it was simply too soon to rely too much on the scans as a basis for treatment. The story continued:
“If they’re being told it will help them, they’re being misled,” he says.
But Henschke says there’s no reason to wait years for the results of another study.
“Clearly, when you find lung cancer early you can cure it,” she says.
That was my reason for getting tested, and it’s why I feel good about the results. It’s also why I know I won’t smoke again, and why I’m committed to future scans as my best chance to know what next steps, if any, might be needed.
So despite the split opinions, and despite the argument against the evidence, Taibbi tugged on heart strings and editorialized and put himself into the story. He and NBC are wrong for failing to conduct an evidence-based discussion. That’s not reporting. That’s crusading.
Comments
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Colleen Kingsbury
November 19, 2006 at 7:30 amAmazing quote from the doctor. “You’re completely fine.” What rubbish! The lungs are certainly not the only part of the body harmed by the effects of smoking. Smoking killed my dad’s heart.
It’s great that the reporter stopped smoking – it is a very difficult addiction to quit. But for crying out loud, he most certainly is not “completely fine.” How horribly misleading to viewers.
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like