OK, so many news stories today are reporting the new statistics suggesting (with lots of head-scratching and remaining doubts by some observers) that the U.S. had the biggest single-year decline in deaths since 1938. If true, who or what gets the credit? The Star Tribune, in its first sentence,says it’s “a powerful testament to medical […]
2 4/18/2006First day traffic to the new HealthNewsReview.org website was strong yesterday, with thousands of journalists and consumers visiting the site. Public comment has been overwhelmingly positive. Merrill Goozner of the Center for Science in the Public Interest wrote on his blog: “…I’m hoping a new effort by journalism professor Gary Schwitzer of the University of […]
2 4/17/2006I’m proud to unveil a project I’ve been working on for 8 months. Please visit HealthNewsReview.org to see a new attempt to help improve health journalism in the U.S. A team of more than 20 reviewers from journalism, medicine, public health and health services research will evaluate and grade health news stories that include claims […]
4/16/2006HealthNewsReview.org is an attempt to help improve the accuracy, balance and completeness of news stories that make claims about new ideas in health care. It is not intended to belittle the hard work of well-intentioned journalists. I covered health and medical news on a daily basis for 15 years and I know about deadline pressures. […]
4/13/2006Here’s more followup to the Center for Media & Democracy’s report on the use of Video News Releases last week. The LA Daily News picked up the story and reported that one of the culprit TV stations found to use VNRs is in that second biggest TV market in the country – KABC. They reported: […]
3/20/2006The Grade the News (GTN) website reports on the questionable medical âreportingâ? done by syndicated TV and radio celebrity Dr. Dean Edell, who calls himself âAmericaâs Doctor.â? Edell appears on San Franciscoâs KGO Channel 7 with introductions that often say, âDr. Dean Edell reports.â? But the story points out that Edell does no original reporting […]
3/16/2006Katie Couric and the NBC Today Show are at it again, with a weeklong series entitled “Confronting Colon Cancer,” and a subtheme of “The Fight For More Screening.” I heard today’s segment and do not yet have access to a transcript. But what I heard was a confusing jumble of recommendations – some of which […]
3/14/2006Sorry I’ve been a little slow with posts in the past few days. First, there’s digging out from under a foot of new snow in the Twin Cities. Second, there’s digging out from under an avalanche of cardiology-related news coming out of the American College of Cardiology meeting. It reminds me of the excellent paper […]
3/9/2006A study in this month’s American Journal of Managed Care (not to be published online until next week) confirms some of what I’ve reported in earlier studies: local TV health news is troublesome. (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story on the study.) Researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison analyzed […]
2 3/4/2006CJRDaily.org features an interview with Wall Street Journal health columnist Tara Parker-Pope. The interview focuses on her opinion that “a flawed communications effort led to widespread misinterpretation of results by the news media and the public” regarding the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) and its findings on how low-fat diets, consumption of calcium and vitamin D, […]
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NO! NO! NO! @TheHeartOrg - This study was on rabbits, and is at least 2 yrs away from human trials. THAT should be the headline, not "breakthrough". Journalists, pls check this @HealthNewsRevu toolkit when writing about animal studies. https://t.co/QFznfsn4ag https://t.co/L1WIStfV8G
2Tips & Resources for Analyzing Health Care Claims
