• Story Reviews
  • News Release Reviews
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • About Us
  • Toolkit for journalists and consumers
  • Contact
  • Newsletter Signup
HealthNewsReview.org HealthNewsReview.org HealthNewsReview.org
  • 2616 Story Reviews
  • 606 News Release Reviews
  • 2943 Blog Posts
  • Home
  • Story Reviews
  • News Release Reviews
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • About Us
    • Editorial Team
    • What We Review and How
    • Review Criteria
    • How Is the Star Score Determined?
    • Our Comments Policy
    • Accolades for HealthNewsReview.org
    • Talks, Workshops & Presentations
  • Toolkit
    • Tips for Analyzing Studies & Health Care Claims
    • Just for Journalists: Writing Tips
    • Stories of Patient Harm from Misleading Media
    • Pre-publication News Release Review
    • Health News Watchdog podcasts
    • News Sites & Blogs We Like
    • List of Industry-Independent Experts
    • Links to Other Resources
  • Contact

Search Results for "headline study"

headline vs study
12/12/2018

Headline vs. study: Predicting, preventing and other clickbait

Predicting and preventing. These are powerful words that hold strong appeal for most of us, especially when it comes to our health. But the reality is this: There are very few diseases that can be predicted and prevented. Try to name just one and you’ll see that it’s rarely, if ever, possible. And yet we […]

headline vs study
10/10/2018

Headline vs. Study: Using cancer as clickbait

Using cancer as clickbait is ubiquitous and worrisome. It’s one thing to highlight studies that represent genuine progress, and quite another to write hopeful headlines about studies that are clearly not ready for prime time. Such is the case with 4 of the stories we feature below. It may seem like too widespread a problem […]

headline vs study
8/7/2018

Headline vs. study: Promises for your heart, brain, and the common flu

This edition of Headline vs. Study focuses on two recurrent problems we see in both news stories and news releases. First, the prevailing assumptions that either new technology (like using stem cells for a common knee ailment), or more technology (like combining two heart scan techniques) are automatically superior to the existing approach. Although that sometimes […]

headline vs study
5/14/2018

Headline vs. study: Sometimes fishy, sometimes pulling a rabbit out of a hat

How likely are you to believe one of the following: That a study in fish might hold the key to preventing Parkinson’s? That a study in rabbits might help us prevent HIV from spreading? A brain scan could pick up mental illness? I’m betting you’re skeptical. And you should be. But get this: all three […]

3
4/16/2018

A breast cancer study in mice gets big headlines, setting up potential for patient ‘disaster,’ experts say

“I spoke to several cancer specialists in New York City last night who said ‘caution, this is not ready for primetime.’” — ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. That’s the key quote from a recent Good Morning America “Cover Story” segment about a mouse study exploring why breast cancer sometimes spreads in the immediate months […]

2/15/2018

‘Ultra-processed’ foods and cancer: Headlines show the right way, and the wrong way, to frame study results

Today’s headlines on ultra-processed foods and cancer offer a good case study in the right way — and the wrong way — to frame the results of an observational study about diet and the risk of disease. The stories are based on a French study in which more than 100,000 people were asked about their […]

headline vs study
2/9/2018

Headline vs. study: If only health news headlines would …

If only jolts of electricity to my brain could make me less forgetful. If only mice and baby pigs could read; or, at least, learn which oils and infant formulas are good for them. If only headlines — like those we feature below — would stop misleading people. Especially when it comes to common health […]

headline vs study
12/4/2017

Headline vs. study: The unbearable heaviness of false hope

Here’s a perfect storm. Take several common diseases that affect millions of people —  like antibiotic-resistant infections, Alzheimer’s disease, major depression and bipolar disease —  and then write headlines about recent (or old!) studies on these illnesses that hint at hope. But then, in the ensuing article, don’t give your readers evidence to support your […]

headline vs. study
9/6/2017

Headline vs. study: Stem cells ‘slow aging’ and ‘rejuvenate’ old hearts

A 2014 analysis by the Media Insight Project found that about 6 out of 10 Americans admit they did nothing more than scan the headlines in the past week. And that’s just the people that admit it. Then, last summer, French and American researchers found that nearly 60 percent of links shared on social media had never been clicked […]

4/26/2017

‘OK to wait’ or ‘Delay at your own risk?’ Headspinning headlines on same colonoscopy study

Headline messages about new studies often present conflicting–even polar opposite–takeaway messages about the research. Consider these clashing messages out yesterday from HealthDay and Reuters Health about the same study: If you drill down into each story you’ll find basically the same description of the results: Waiting up to 10 months after a positive stool test […]

headline vs study
3/23/2017

Headline vs. study: boxes for your baby, blueberries for your brain

We continue our regular series looking for clear and compelling disconnects between what a headline highlights, and what the referenced study is really about. As you will see below, this past month ended up to be a smorgasbord of food and nutrition stories. Not surprising really. Time and time again we’ve found this to be a genre of health […]

headline vs study
2/20/2017

Headline vs. study: Cancer breath, common weeds, and coffee forever!

This is our third go-round looking for disconnects between what a headline implies or emphasizes, and what the substance of the referenced study really is. And we are beginning to see some themes that almost invariably raise our eyebrows, such as headlines that make factual claims from what are clearly preliminary results. Or headlines that–usually in a […]

headline vs study
1/10/2017

Headline vs. study: Bait and switch?

We all do it in journalism. We are taught to write a headline that a) captures what the story is about, and b) captures the reader’s attention. Nothing wrong with that. Where the problem comes in is if the headline misleads or misinforms. And, as is so often the case with healthcare topics, that sort […]

4
headline vs study
11/15/2016

Headline vs. study: A battle where readers often lose

The quest for balance in a health news story can fail before the first sentence if the headline isn’t appropriately calibrated. With that in mind, I looked at news stories and releases that we reviewed over the past month and compared the headline message with that of the study on which the news is based. […]

2
5/9/2016

Behind the “Biggest Loser” study headlines — a lost opportunity to educate about weight loss options

The following guest post is by Dr. Michael Joyner, a medical researcher at the Mayo Clinic. These views are his own. You can follow him on Twitter @DrMJoyner.   One of the biggest health news stories last week was about the long term weight loss results reported in 14 participants from the Biggest Loser reality […]

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 54
  • Next »

Toolkit

Tips & Resources for Analyzing Health Care Claims

Surrogate markers may not tell the whole story

Screening: How overdiagnosis and other harms can undermine the benefits

A place to tell stories of patient harm from misleading media

View More

Toolkit

Institutional Home

University of Minnesota - School of Public Health
  • Home
  • Story Reviews
  • News Release Reviews
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Toolkit
  • Contact

Copyright © 2022 HealthNewsReview.org