That troublesomely fuzzy TV ethics line just keeps getting fuzzier. The Star Tribune reports on Minneapolis station KARE joining a list of other Gannett-owned stations around the country that charge advertisers to talk about their products on a talk show. Advertisers will pay KARE $2,000 to $2,5000 for 5-minute segments on the show. Station news […]
11/29/2005This week the NBC Today Show offers a series the likes of which makes my skin crawl. With 45-million uninsured Americans, the Today Show reports on “Saving Your Life: Modern Medical Miracles.” If a miracle were available but nobody could afford it or access it, would it still be a miracle? Riding the appeal of […]
11/28/2005A journalist bemoans the lack of skepticism in news coverage of Tamiflu in last week’s edition of the BMJ. “From a bit of a dud to the world’s most sought after drug in the space of six months” is the way the writer describes Tamiflu’s recent fate. “Despite a silly name and a lack of […]
11/16/2005Former WFLA-TV Tampa news director Forrest Carr wrote me a long e-mail criticizing my BMJ article of last week, in which I reported my analysis of 3 top TV stations’ performance in covering (or not covering) health care reform or health policy issues in the 2004 election year. It was an exhaustive analysis, in which […]
11/7/2005There’s been too much hype about the antiviral drug Tamiflu as an answer to stopping an avian flu pandemic. U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt reminded Congress last week that Tamiflu has not yet been proven as a treatment for avian flu, adding, “Any sense that Tamiflu is synonymous with preparedness is wrong.”
11/4/2005See my article in the BMJ this week about the shameful performance of three leading local television stations as they failed to cover health policy issues in any meaningful way in the 2004 election year –- on the local, state, or federal level. I analyzed 10 months or 326 hours of late newscasts on award-winning […]
2 10/30/2005When are journalists and scientists going to learn? “Cure” just isn’t an acceptable term to use in describing test tube research, unless you’re talking about a new way to treat ham. An Associated Press story Friday began: “Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School are part of a team that has discovered a possible […]
10/21/2005Herceptin has been used to treat advanced breast cancer, but three New England Journal of Medicine articles this week suggest the drug could work against an aggressive early-stage breast cancer. Some news stories allow researchers (including a National Cancer Institute researcher) to use words like “cure” in describing the drug. Other experts were quoted calling […]
10/12/2005The University of Minnesota issued a news release this week reading, in part: “For the first time, stem cell researchers at the University of Minnesota have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to create cancer-killing cells in the laboratory, paving the way for future treatments for various types of cancers (or tumors). The research will be […]
10/5/2005Canadian drug policy researcher Alan Cassels observes October as breast cancer awareness month by analyzing the hype of breast cancer drug Herceptin. He writes: “The media pushed the glee meter into the red zone, with words like ‘breakthrough,’ ‘wonder drug,’ and ‘impressive advance,’ overblown, laudatory adjectives that I admonish journalism students to strenuously avoid.” Cassels […]
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HealthDay earns 5 stars for its detailed report on an incontinence drug that may reduce hot flashes in breast cancer patients. But: Did the findings really earn a label of 'game-changing?' https://t.co/3p0bDrpgqf #bcsm
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