Society ‘snookered’ by research that isn’t new
Peggy Peck of MedPage Today found that research presented as new at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual meeting this weekend was actually published in July, despite the society’s requirement that information submitted for presentation must be new, unpublished data.
When asked by MedPage Today to point out the “news” in the Hot Line presentation, STAR lead investigator Bodo-Eckehard Strauer, MD, of the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany, said the news was that bone marrow cell therapy significantly improved survival in patients with chronic cardiomyopathy, which he illustrated with a slide showing a Kaplan-Meier curve – the same graph that was published in the July issue of the European Journal of Heart Failure. Moreover, every data slide in Strauer’s presentation matched the tables in the published paper.
Following questions from MedPage Today, the organization acknowledged its error and has announced the researcher will not be allowed to present at its meetings for two years. Roberto Ferrari, M.D., president of the society, said the research had been accepted for presentation because they thought it had new data but that “We were snookered.”
NAMC folds, qualified members invited to AHCJ
The National Association of Medical Communicators, an organization for medical broadcasters, writers, organizational spokespersons and health professionals who communicate with the public on a regular basis, has disbanded.
In a blog post about the decision, Barbara Ficarra, who was an NAMC board member and is a member of AHCJ, cites cutbacks from pharmaceutical sponsors and changes in the broadcast world. Ficarra, who says “I couldn’t walk away with trying to find a home for [NAMC's] members,” has suggested that people involved with NAMC consider joining AHCJ.
“We’re all sorry to hear about NAMC’s difficult decision to disband,” said Charles Ornstein, AHCJ’s president. “For those NAMC members who write or broadcast health news and still seek the camaraderie of a professional home, AHCJ is a terrific hub for networking, learning, sharing and friendship. We have broadcast members from throughout the country and are always looking to offer additional opportunities in this area.”
Ornstein encouraged journalists to check out AHCJ’s membership categories.
Under AHCJ’s new membership guidelines approved earlier this year, some, but not all, NAMC members could qualify for professional or associate membership. At the same time, the guidelines reinforce the prohibition on people who do public relations work or pitch stories to journalists.
AHCJ pushes for access to publicly funded research
Filed under: Government, Health data, Health journalism, Public records, Studies
The strong public interest in “direct, free and full text access to research articles” prompted the Association of Health Care Journalists to send comments to the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.
The letter [PDF] was in support of full-text access to the fruits of publicly-funded research to members of Congress considering H.R.5037 – Federal Research Public Access Act of 2009. One section of that bill would require researchers who receive funding from federal agencies to provide free online public access to final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published versions as soon as practicable, but not later than six months after publication in peer-reviewed journals.
While AHCJ did not take a position on the specifics of the bill, the group highlighted the strong public interest in “direct, free and full text access to research articles,” noting that for journalists to be able to provide readers and audiences with accurate and comprehensive reporting, they need to be able to see the full details of research reports, not merely the highlights contained in abstracts or news releases.
“The fundamental principle at issue is the public’s right to examine both the evidence produced by research studies and the methods employed by researchers. When the researchers are supported by taxpayers, the public’s claim is even stronger,” AHCJ’s statement read in part.
The statement took note of the concerns of some publishers who fear the mandate could cut into their income, while also pointing out that other publishers already provide free online access to the full text of research articles within six months of publication.
Related:
Bill would require public access to research
Initiative to help reporters cover European health
AHCJ has launched an effort to help reporters understand and cover health issues in Europe.
This new resource includes a series of web pages devoted to European issues and resources, as well as a listserv to allow journalists to share information, ask questions, join a debate, open fresh debates or post requests and queries similar to what happens on AHCJ’s main discussion list.
There is substantial health news in Europe that is certainly relevant there, but understanding those issues may help reporters everywhere put their reporting on in a global context. European countries are seeing proposals for cross-border health care, issues around the movement of health professionals and the drain of qualified staff from the world’s poorest countries to Europe, the United States and Australia.
Trudy Lieberman, AHCJ’s immediate past president, is coordinating the effort.
“For many years we have wanted to enlarge the reach of AHCJ to help journalists in Europe tell the stories of their own health care systems,” Lieberman said. “We believe that American journalists can learn from their counterparts overseas and vice versa, especially when it comes to covering infectious diseases, new drugs and treatments, access to care and what it costs. This new resource now allows them to do that. We look forward to our new trans-Atlantic dialogue.”
AHCJ Executive Director Len Bruzzese says John Lister, a veteran health journalist in England and a senior lecturer at Coventry University, has agreed to serve as the European web coordinator. He will help identify issues and bring together resources from across Europe that will improve the quality of health and medical journalism and enhance its professional standing. On these pages, you will find some discussion points and background on some emerging issues in Europe, as well as a resource page, identifying useful sources of official and alternative information on topics in the news.
“John is excited about finding contributors from other European nations who can feed into the website and start some cross-border discussions – and perhaps collaborations,” Bruzzese said.
Pfizer-funded workshop raises questions of ethics
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Health journalism, Pharmaceuticals
Christopher Weaver, in a piece from Kaiser Health News and NPR, writes about a Pfizer-funded seminar for journalists. To attend the annual seminar about cancer, hosted by the National Press Foundation, 15 journalists get an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
Health care journalists, including HealthNewsReview.org’s Gary Schwitzer and AHCJ president Charles Ornstein, say reporters need to be careful and avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Foundation president Bob Myers says the pharmaceutical company does not have input on the meeting and an attendee of last year’s meeting, AHCJ member Joy Robertson, says she doesn’t remember Pfizer ever being mentioned at the event.
Commenters on the KHN/NPR include AHCJ members Ornstein; Andrew Holtz, M.P.H. (also a board member); Elaine Schattner, M.D.; and Schwitzer. Schattner, a licensed, non-practicing physician and medical educator, says “This is precisely how Pfizer and other companies try to influence physicians who, in their sometimes-arrogance, tend to think they’re “above” subtle persuasion. Are journalists any better?”
Journalist Merrill Goozner also has written about the seminar and says that that Pfizer has dictated the overall agenda:
Pfizer didn’t make an unrestricted grant to a journalism training organization. The money is being spent to train journalists in how to cover cancer.
Goozner points out, as does Holtz in his comment on the NPR/KHN piece, that “journalism spends less on training than almost any other profession” and that journalists have few opportunities to get out of the newsroom for professional education.
Covering Health wrote about this seminar and this issue last year. It’s worth noting, as we did then, that the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism seek to minimize the possibility and appearance of inappropriate influence from outside parties. Pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and medical device makers are examples of organizations with with AHCJ will not partner. Read AHCJ’s complete fundraising policies.
AHCJ’s Statement of Principles, which identifies challenges that health care reporters face and suggests how to meet those challenges, addresses the topic:
- Refuse gifts, favors, and special treatment. Refuse meals from drug companies and device manufacturers and refuse to accept unsolicited product samples sent in the mail.
- Weigh the potential benefits involved in accepting fees, honoraria, free travel, paid expenses from organizers of conferences or events against the desire to preserve our credibility with the audience and the need to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
- Also weigh the potential benefits of accepting awards from organizations sponsored by an entity with a vested interest in health care against our need for credibility.
- Weigh the potential conflict in accepting support from public, private, or foundation sources.
Journalists visit CDC to learn latest about flu
Filed under: Government, Health journalism, Public health
Fourteen journalists, sponsored by AHCJ, are wrapping up a two-day workshop at the CDC about covering influenza. The workshop included a series of on-the-record sessions with CDC experts to prepare front-line journalists for the upcoming flu season. Public health experts are providing a primer on the flu, examine how it is being tracked, expectations for vaccines and antivirals, and what communities can do to deal with the fallout.
Speakers included CDC Director Thomas Frieden and Anne Schuchat, M.D., director, National Center for Immunization & Respiratory Diseases, as well as a number of other experts.
The AHCJ-sponsored journalists are:
- Diane Chun , health and science writer, The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun
- Tom Corwin, science and medicine reporter, The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
- Dawn Davis, writer, Caribbean Today
- Dana Felty, features reporter, Savannah (Ga.) Morning News
- Karen Garloch, medical writer, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer
- Joe Goldeen, health-care reporter, The (Stockton, Calif.) Record
- Nina Hemphill Reedern, health and fitness editor, Upscale Magazine
- Sandy Kleffman, health care reporter, Contra Costa Times/Bay Area News
- Valerie Lego, health reporter, WZZM-Grand Rapids, Mich.
- Andy Miller, independent journalist, Atlanta
- Sonia Morgan, assistant editor, CN Media
- Shanderia Posey, healthscene editor, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
- Cynthia Roby, journalist, South Florida Times
- Olivier Uyttebrouck , health/general assignment reporter, Albuquerque Journal/Albuquerque Publishing Co.
Some of the journalists have already written about the seminar and they all will take what they learned this week home to help them report on influenza for their local readers and viewers.
- Flu vaccine no longer just for “high risk” groups, Dana Clark Felty, Savannah (Ga.) Morning News
- CDC: Flu vaccine development needs to improve, Valerie Lego, health reporter, WZZM-Grand Rapids, Mich. Lego has been tweeting from the seminar.
AHCJ-National Library of Medicine fellows chosen
Six journalists have been named to this year’s class of AHCJ-National Library of Medicine fellows. The fellowship program was created to increase reporters’ access and understanding of the considerable resources available at NLM and the National Institutes of Health.
The fellows, selected from dozens of qualified applicants, will visit the NIH campus in September for hands-on workshops about how to use and get the most from several government research databases, such as PubMed, MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov and ToxNet. Fellows also will meet with senior NLM and NIH researchers and officials. 
The journalists chosen to take part this year are:
- Karla Gale, medical journalist, Reuters Health
- Jamie Hirsh, associate health editor, Consumer Reports
- Sally James, independent journalist, Seattle
- Sandra Jordan, health reporter, St. Louis American
- Hiran Ratnayake, health reporter, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
- Miriam E. Tucker, senior writer, International Medical News Group/Elsevier
“We were very happy to be able to work with the Library of Medicine to offer this fellowship again this year,” said AHCJ Executive Director Len Bruzzese. “Last year’s fellows found the information and instruction very valuable in attempting and completing more complicated stories.”
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Ruling puts stem cell research on hold
A federal judge’s ruling has, at least temporarily, blocked efforts to expand stem cell research, based on a decision that says “regulations designed to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research violated a law [the Dickey Wicker Amendment] prohibiting destruction of embryos for research purposes.”
When stem cells like these human embryonic stem cells divide, each new cell has the potential to remain a stem cell or become a cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell or a red blood cell. Photo: National Institutes of Health
It’s yet to be determined what the implications of this ruling [PDF] will be if it stands, but it could affect millions of dollars of federally-funded research. AHCJ has some background and links to help reporters who might be looking at how this will affect local researchers.
- PBS’ Newshour has a roundup of some of the coverage.
- The Scientist Who Helped Stall Stem Cell Research
- Obama order expected to increase speed, efficiency of stem cell research (April 2009)
- Covering stem cells: Background on science, politics and global competition: Terri Somers, who was then biotechnology writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, wrote a primer on stem cell research for AHCJ members. (Note: Somers is now director of communications for BIOCOM, an industry association based in Southern California.)
- Mark Johnson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a three-part series detailing the discovery of how to create embryonic stem cells out of normal cells. One of the key labs in the research is located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The online package includes a time-lapse video of an embryo’s first five days of development and links to a discussion about the ethics of stem cell research.
- Stem cell research in California: A presentation by Zach W. Hall, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, offered at a plenary on stem cell policy at Health Journalism 2007.
- National Center for Biotechnology Information
- NIH Stem Cell Information
- Embryonic Stem Cell Research: A Decade of Debate from Bush to Obama; Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (2009)
Member’s book for nurses is published
“Anatomy of Writing for Publication for Nurses,” written by AHCJ member Cynthia Saver, R.N., M.S., has been published by Sigma Theta Tau International. Saver is the president of CLS Development Inc., an editorial consulting firm.
Send us your latest news
Got a new job? Earned a promotion? Won an award or fellowship? Just published a book? AHCJ members are encouraged to share your news by sending it to info@healthjournalism.org. Member news items are published on Covering Health and in HealthBeat, AHCJ’s newsletter.
Conference walks back description of partnership with heart news website
A medical conference has retreated from a claim suggesting a trade website was being used to promote it and that supporters would be able to “reach new audiences” through a partnership between the conference and the website.
The 2010 Dallas-Leipzig International Valve conference has issued a correction after it came to light that it was promoting its partnership with theheart.org as a “highly influential source of publicity” and said theheart.org will “cover the benefits of attending DLIV 2010; it will forecast key aspects the meeting will offer; it will report on the highlights of the two-and-half day event - and more.”
Conference organizers have since posted the following note on its website (emphasis added):
Given the success of DLIV 2009 and its potential to grow in years to come, the meeting organizers have partnered with theheart.org to promote DLIV through their banner advertisements and e-blasts. [Correction: the previous material erroneously stated that industry would have the opportunity to gain exposure through theheart.org's news and editorial programs: this is incorrect, and the meeting organizers apologize for the error. theheart.org had no other involvement with DLIV's offers to industry.]
Shelley Wood, managing editor for Heartwire news and theheart.org, said, “There is a firm firewall between news activities and any advertising or sponsored content on theheart.org and at no point would outside parties be able to dictate the news or editorial content of theheart.org.” She pointed out theheart.org includes a staff of seven journalists.
Larry Husten, on his CardioBrief blog, pointed out details about sponsorships at the conference, including the opportunity for supporters to pay large amounts of money to meet with faculty members. He noted that its website linked to an Industry Prospectus, a document listing opportunities for exhibitors and sponsors. Sometime after he published the post with a link to the Industry Prospectus (now archived on Husten’s site), conference organizers removed it from the website.
In the prospectus the conference announced its partnership with theheart.org:
Given the success of DLIV 2009 and its potential to grow in years to come, theheart.org recognizes the impact the meeting has in the field of cardiac care. Through its website, online blog and print publications, theheart.org will cover the benefits of attending DLIV 2010; it will forecast key aspects the meeting will offer; it will report on the highlights of the two-and-half day event - and more.
With this highly influential source of publicity, DLIV 2010 offers to its supporters new benefits. By participating in DLIV 2010, you will not only reach the physician leaders who attend the meeting; you will also have the opportunity to make contact and establish relationships with a worldwide audience. Don’t miss out on the chance to reach new audiences, gain additional media benefits and connect your company with the specialty source for news and information.
Theheart.org’s editorial policy says it is committed to providing “balanced, accurate health information” and it “employs editorial professionals who are responsible for content selection, development and maintenance process.” It says it discloses “sources of funding and site contributors’ possible conflicts of interest.” It also says it complies with the HONcode standard for health information (more here).
It should be noted that Husten (aka @cardiobrief on Twitter) is the former editor of theheart.org, something he is quite open about.
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