We’ve now published 125 systematic criteria-driven reviews of PR news releases about health care or research. We won’t apply all of our criteria to this one, because it is the often-all-important headline that is the focus of our commentary.
On Twitter, UC Davis professor Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics), wrote:
Immunology scientist David Usharauli (@3DiMMUNE) tweeted:
To be clear: this isn’t a comment on the importance or quality of the research. All of the above commentary, with which I agree, is about how the words matter. It’s about how science communication matters. It’s about how PR news releases from major institutions matter. And this news release got off to a very bad start.
Words matter. Our attempt to improve health/medical/science news releases matters.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
Following a shift in journalism’s business model, a diverse ecosystem of publications, many covering science, has sprung up online. This has made it more difficult to sort out what qualifies as journalism, what doesn’t, and whether the public even cares.
https://t.co/qO2a27FiSe
Researchers and journalists do the public a grave disservice when they spin health study results to make them appear safer or more effective than warranted, says @HealthNewsRevu founder @garyschwitzer https://t.co/QIKsRbP6Ed
Comments (2)
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Diana Yates
February 22, 2016 at 8:39 amWould “Neuroscientists reverse autism-like symptoms in mice” be better? The criticism is fair – and important – but, also to be fair, the headline does not appear to “turn mice into humans.” It’s clear from the whole headline (including the sub-head) that the research was done in mice.
Kevin Lomangino
February 22, 2016 at 10:12 amDiana,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, I think Gary’s point is that your proposed headline would have been much much better. The big bold headline is what most people see and oftentimes what gets picked up by other outlets reposting the content (without the subhead). Context needs to be provided as high up as possible — not after the research has been hyped in the big bold headline.
Kevin Lomangino
Managing Editor
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