This morning, STAT News reported: The story begins: A government-run study of Gilead’s remdesivir, perhaps the most closely watched experimental drug to treat the novel coronavirus, showed that the medicine is effective against Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Gilead made the announcement in a statement Wednesday, stating: “We understand that the trial has […]
NewsGuard calls itself “The Internet Trust Tool.” And there may have never been a better time to help consumers learn whom to trust than the COVID-19 pandemic era. (You can read more about NewsGuard’s operating model on their site, or in an article one of their staffers published on STAT.) NewsGuard is a browser extension that […]
I admire much of the great journalism being delivered by the New York Times on COVID-19 pandemic issues. But I continue to be befuddled many weeks by the decision-making and editorial judgment of the Times’ Well column. We have written several times about how unwell is the Well feature. Today, one of our former physician-contributors, […]
This is what STAT reported in what they labeled an “Exclusive” last evening. Early peek at data on Gilead coronavirus drug suggests patients are responding to treatment Other news organizations played copycat, adding caveats Fox News picked up on the STAT story, but added its own caveats: “Partial data from an ongoing clinical trial […]
A video on the website of Wisconsin-based Gundersen Health System makes an emotional pitch for lung cancer screening. We see a woman blowing soap bubbles with a child. A jogger exhaling after a winter run. A multi-generational family cheering at something on TV. An older woman blowing out candles on a birthday cake. “Your lungs […]
A friend called last week to tell me about a doctor with a big Facebook following. Her concern? This doctor, Steven Hotze, MD, popular for his Houston-based wellness clinic, his books, and his many media appearances, says that people should not worry about COVID-19 because it’s no worse than the flu. Here’s an excerpt from […]
For years medical researchers held off while scientists in other fields embraced online platforms for posting rough drafts of manuscripts, known as preprints. Those websites accelerate basic science by allowing researchers to disseminate findings and get feedback on their work before submitting them to a traditional journal. Some argue that such rapid data sharing is […]
It is a form of censorship. Journalists trying to cover COVID-19 are not allowed to talk with many federal health researchers or administrators without checking in first with government “public information officers” or PIOs. Sometimes the request is denied outright. Oftentimes, if a reporter is granted an interview, a PIO insists on sitting in on […]
On January 22, 2020, President Donald Trump told the American public: “We have it totally under control.” No, we didn’t. We don’t. And no one can say how or when we will. I have compiled a roundup of Trump’s distortions, evasions, and lies on the coronavirus outbreak as documented by more than 20 diligent news organizations in news […]
This week we were presented with another opportunity to see how the framing of stories about medical studies matters. Are results reported almost unquestioningly, with an emphasis on potential benefits but with few or no caveats or limitations? Or is the potential benefit of the results presented right alongside potential limitations – with caveats and […]
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Don’t believe everything you hear, kids.
“What in the world justifies rushing a 348-word story to publication on a Sunday without doing extra research and reporting? Just because a scientist said it? COVID-19 journalism that devolves to that level of dreck is dangerous.”
🔥👇 https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1268175065478320131
.@Reuters: why rush to publish a 348-word story claiming #COVID19 is losing potency without doing extra research and reporting? Just because a scientist said it? #COVID19 journalism that devolves to that level of dreck is dangerous. https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2020/06/reuters-report-is-another-classic-case-study-in-how-not-to-cover-covid-19-news/
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