Search Results for "public relations"
Off-label use & aggressive public relations • Treating depression with botox
A magazine cover like this can raise three things: eyebrows … questions … hope. How can one drug do all this cover claims? Botox injections (usually botulinum toxin type A) are currently FDA-approved for overactive bladders, chronic migraine headaches, repetitive neck spasms (cervical dystonia), spastic arm muscles, overactive sweat glands in the armpits (axillary hyperhidrosis), and […]
5-Star Friday: Unvetted public relations & silencing science
STAT – which we often admire for its thoughtful and thorough journalism – had a busy and commendable week. Earlier this week they published two excellent articles addressing timely and provocative topics. Though they weren’t the type of stories that are eligible to be systematically reviewed by our expert team, each of them is worthy of five stars in […]
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The patient as public relations tool: Why readers should be wary of single-anecdote news stories
The following post is by Mary Chris Jaklevic, a freelance health reporter who joined our review team in April 2016. This is her first contribution to the blog. She tweets as @mcjaklevic Anecdotes are powerful tools for engaging an audience. That’s why journalists are trained to include the stories of real people — not just […]
5/13/2011Health care public relations 101 – continued
It’s been quite a week for journalists to tell stories about how medical industry PR people have tried to manipulate them. There was the minimum $100 offer. Then the $250 offer. And now Peggy Peck of MedPage Today writes, “The wolf in sheep’s clothing.” She posts and writes about an email she recently received: Here […]
3/31/2011Cardiobrief: Medtronic uses embargo as a "public relations tool"
On his Cardiobrief blog, Larry Husten gives an insider’s view of the kind of promotional shenanigans some in the health care industry will use to manage news coverage of their research. You should read the whole piece, but to wet your whistle, here’s an excerpt: “Listening to a PR pitch- err, “pre-briefing”- shouldn’t be a […]
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5 categories of quality web content for you to explore when we cease daily publication
Many of you have asked by email or on Twitter, “Where do we turn for help after you go away?” First, we’re not disappearing on January 1, 2019, and the site won’t go dark. I’ll keep it alive for at least three years. And I hope to add new content periodically by hiring freelancers or writing […]
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Ending our offer of free pre-publication review of PR news releases
We are bewildered. We don’t know what more we can do. There’s never been a service like ours that reviews the news and critiques it to try to improve the public dialogue about health care in the U.S. There’s never been a service that reviews the quality of health care PR news releases. And […]
News release writers love our pre-publication review service. Help us spread the word
Earlier this year we began inviting public relations staff to submit their draft health care news releases to us for critiquing prior to publication. Since then we’ve offered guidance to a small number of academic medical centers, trade groups, PR firms and medical associations who sought out our free assistance. We’ve provided detailed suggestions to […]
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Alcohol industry isn’t just funding studies; it’s also funding journalism to sway public opinion
Just four days ago, the New York Times reported, “Is Alcohol Good for You? An Industry-Backed Study Seeks Answers.” Because it was the day before the July 4th holiday, the story may not have received the attention it deserves, so we shine a spotlight on it here. Excerpts: Now the National Institutes of Health is starting […]
What you’re not being told about ‘free’ public head and neck cancer screening events
‘Tis the season of oral, head, and neck cancer screenings, with a plethora of free public events taking place at health clinics and hospitals all over the country right now. Judging by the abundant and largely uncritical news coverage, it’s been a major PR win for the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, which runs the trademarked […]
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What you can do to help improve the public dialogue about health care
As the only U.S. organization that systematically evaluates media messages about health care every day, we have a lot on our plate at HealthNewsReview.org. In 10.5 years, we have published 5,000 articles, including 2,300 news story reviews and 300 reviews of PR news releases. Whether it’s incomplete news coverage on statins or a university news release making […]
Maryland tries to run out the clock on public records requests related to chocolate milk study
HealthNewsReview.org requested two months ago that the University of Maryland release public documents pertaining to a troubled study about chocolate milk and concussions — a request that the university is bound by law to fulfill within 30 days. While the university drags its feet, Andrew Holtz has been trying to find out more from Washington […]
Trends in health care news releases that lead to public confusion
This past week provided plenty of examples of why we think it’s important to review health care news releases. Since our news release review service debuted in April we’ve reviewed 83 such releases and we hope to hit 100 by year’s end. Just one week’s worth of these reviews highlighted four distinct problems in news releases […]
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Criticism of NEJM’s defense of industry-physician relations
The following is a guest blog post from one of our contributors, Susan Molchan, MD, a psychiatrist in the Washington, DC, area. In the first of a series of pieces, New England of Journal of Medicine national correspondent Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum wrote, “Reconnecting the Dots – Reinterpreting Industry-Physician Relations.” (You really should read this piece […]
3/31/2015JACC cites our work in calling for journalists & researchers to share responsibility in protecting the public
Dr. Valentin Fuster of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, cites our work in his editorial, “Journalists and Researchers: Equal Responsibility in Protecting the Public.“ Excerpts of his editorial: “Over the past 10 months in these Editor’s Pages, I have often encouraged […]
