Study: Good press releases contribute to good health journalism
Thanks to Gary Schwitzer for drawing attention to a study, published in BMJ, which analyzes the impact medical journal press releases have on actual press coverage of studies.
The authors begin with a somewhat gratifying hypothesis, writing that “Although it is easy to blame journalists for poor quality reporting, problems with coverage could begin with the journalists’ sources,” and positing that difficult-to-decipher studies and misleading press releases could lead to low-caliber health reporting.
They looked at 100 studies from five major journals, as well as a sample of 348 news stories based on those studies. In general they found that higher-quality press releases led to higher-quality coverage. Unfortunately, they also found that the inverse was true. Here’s an excerpt from the “Discussion” subheading (also highlighted by Schwitzer).
…Higher quality press releases issued by medical journals were associated with higher quality reporting in subsequent newspaper stories. In fact, the influence of press releases on subsequent newspaper stories was generally stronger than that of journal abstracts. Fundamental information such as absolute risks, harms, and limitations was more likely to be reported in newspaper stories when this information appeared in a medical journal press release than when it was missing from the press release or if no press release was issued. Furthermore, our data suggest that poor quality press releases were worse than no press release being issued: fundamental information was less likely to be reported in newspaper stories when it was missing from the press release than where no press release was issued at all.
Reporters looking for a Health News Review-style “how do I ensure my story clears their quality bar?” checklist can just scroll down to the “Quality Assessment” subheading. For the record, the metrics found there apply equally well to the PR professionals who write the releases.
Recognizing best health journalism can be inspiring
One of the best things about working at AHCJ is the chance to see the broad range of really strong coverage our members produce.
Whether I’m reading stories about the ways money influences how medicine is practiced, uncovering the mistreatment of vulnerable people, looking at how pollution is affecting public health or investigating flawed health care systems, I am consistently awed by the work health journalists are doing.
I have the opportunity to see this work day in and day out, which is what helps keep me optimistic about the future of journalism. No doubt, we face many challenges, but take a look at the winners of last year’s Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism and I promise you will feel better about our business.
That’s why I want to encourage everyone to submit entries for this year’s contest. We re-vamped the categories this year to reflect changes in how news content is being delivered. We recognize that great reporting is being done across platforms and through new partnerships and collaborations.
We want to honor that reporting and make sure the rest of the world sees the value in independent, quality coverage of health and health care issues. Please consider entering your best work of 2011 and encourage your colleagues to do so as well so we can share it and we can learn from it.
Entries must be submitted by 5 p.m. ET this Friday, Feb. 3. Our online entry system makes it easier than ever and our contest committee is standing by to answer last-minute questions.
Survivor goes undercover in Tijuana cancer clinics
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
Reporting for Al Jazeera English’s People & Power, Sarah Macdonald tells how her own battle with breast cancer led her to shave her head, hide a camera and go undercover to investigate south-of-the-border clinics touting alternative cancer therapies.
The thriving sub-industry of alternative Tijuana cancer clinics relies primarily on palliative care licenses to operate, a end-of-life-care-focused designation that seems somewhat sinister when it’s hidden behind promises of miracle cures. In looking beyond those promises, MacDonald’s investigation finds an interesting mix of chicanery and genuine good intentions, but ends on a familiar, cautionary note.
I have been fortunate in that I have successfully emerged from my own treatment for breast cancer, so I completely understand the desperation that people will feel when they are told their condition is terminal. It is a death sentence. I understand why many patients or their families will begin to scour the internet in search of a cure and will seize on anything that offers hope. However, as our investigation has shown, at least some of the Tijuana clinics are offering nothing but false hope. There is little or no evidence to support their claims that their strange therapies actually work and there is plenty of evidence that vulnerable people have parted with large sums of money for no reason.
Web outlet pumps out dozens of stories on prescription drug abuse
Filed under: Health journalism, Health policy, Hot Health Headline, Pharmaceuticals, Public health
In partnership with USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and a number of other organizations, Santa Barbara online news outfit Noozhawk (about), put together “Prescription for Abuse,” an exploration of the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs in the Santa Barbara area.
In the extensive, online-only series, the reporters take a look at the problem and its underlying causes, then go a step further by exploring possible solutions as well.
In a uniquely meta twist, the series even looks at how journalism such is advancing public health goals and explains how the project came together. The series features at least 36 individual articles, by my count, and every health journalist who takes the time to browse the full catalog will come across at least a few easily localizable ideas, but in this space I’ll just highlight those stories that deal directly with the series itself:
- USC, California Endowment Unite to Support Health Journalism at the Source
- Bill Macfadyen: Prescription for Abuse Project Is a Series of Opportunities
- Santa Barbara Teen News Network Adds Another Dimension to Prescription Drug Abuse Series
- Annenberg Fellowships Take a Diverse Approach to Community Health Journalism
- Bill Macfadyen: Noozhawk Earns a USC Annenberg Health Journalism Fellowship
- Noozhawk Journalists Recount Lessons Learned from Prescription Drug Abuse Series
Where health and journalism education meet
Writing for U.S. News and World Report, Menachem Wecker examines the proliferation of health-focused programs at journalism schools across the country, many of which are affiliated with medical schools and/or medical institutions, and how they may or may not benefit both journalists and health professionals.
This recent influx of programs has raised questions from journalists and doctors about the degree to which the collaborations benefit medical and journalism students. Some say that M.D.’s can help journalists better understand the health beat, while others prescribe a “healthy ignorance,” rather than medical school credentials, to reporters. Others say that aspiring physicians can improve their bedside interactions with and empathy for patients by studying journalism.
Wecker writes that while, according to AHCJ treasurer and Reuters Health executive editor Ivan Oransky, M.D., a medical degree appears to have become almost a requirement for broadcast health journalists, there are big-picture views and tools of the trade that those with an exclusively medical education may struggle with. Here, Wecker quotes former AHCJ board member Andrew Holtz, M.P.H.:
“I often compare asking a doctor about health policy to asking an auto mechanic about transportation policy. Maybe they have something useful to say, but it is generally not from what they learned in their training program,” he says.
Peter Fiske, author of the recent article “Unleash Your Inner Dummy” on the website of the journal Nature, says a reporter with less health expertise may find it easier to connect with readers despite the increasing complexity of the medical field.
And, given the difficulty of explaining health to a lay audience, the exchange goes both ways, Wecker writes. Several of his sources, journalists and medical professionals alike, suggested that it might not hurt physicians to improve their communication skills and media savvy.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed Fiske’s comments to Holtz. We apologize for the error.
Welcome AHCJ’s newest members
Please welcome AHCJ’s newest members. All new AHCJ members are welcome to stop by this post’s comment section to introduce themselves.
- Bobby DeMuro, student, University of Memphis, Davidson, N.C. (@BobbyDeMuro)
- Renee Dudley, reporter, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C. (@Renee_Dudley)
- Tamara Jeffries, assistant professor, Bennett College, Greensboro, N.C. (@tamjeffries)
- Larry Koz, freelance journalist, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
- Lomi Kriel, freelance reporter, Houston (@lomikriel)
- Thomas Maeder, senior editor, Medical Device Summit, Narberth, Pa.
- Kellie Schmitt, health reporter, The Californian, Bakersfield, Calif. (@schmitt_k)
If you haven’t joined yet, see what member benefits you’re missing out on: Access to more than 50 journals and databases, tip sheets and articles from your colleagues on how they’ve reported stories, conferences, workshops, online training, reporting guides and more. Join AHCJ today to get a wealth of support and tools to help you.
Reporters spend 10 weeks immersed in end-of-life care
Filed under: Health journalism, Hospitals, Hot Health Headline, Nursing
Toronto Globe and Mail reporter Lisa Priest and photographer Moe Doiron spent two-and-a-half months embedded in a 20-bed critical care unit at a Toronto
Photo by quinn.anya via Flickr
hospital, following four patients and their families and chronicling life in an environment where, Priest writes, “death is a constant, almost routine event, claiming one in five patients who enter.”
Their assignment was to find out “How does one prepare for the end of life?” and explore the medical, ethical and economic challenges of that stage of life.
The result is a sprawling, intensive report on the state of end-of-life care in Canada, heavy on anecdotes. Priest’s centerpiece is subtitled “Spending 10 weeks with patients facing death“) but remains cognizant of big picture issues like cost and quality of life.
New outlet to cover food, environment outlet opens with story on N.M. dairy regulation
Filed under: Government, Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
Under Editor-in-Chief Sam Fromartz, The Food and Environmental Reporting Network has published its first story, a look at pollution and the New Mexico dairy industry which ran in the High Country News.
In the story, the first of several collaborations set to publish in the near future, reporter Stephanie Page Ogburn profiles a New Mexico activist whose efforts have influenced how the state regulates manure runoff and dairy water regulation.
FERN’s mission statement is “To produce investigative journalism on the subjects of food, agriculture and environmental health in partnership with local and national media outlets.”
According to the press release, the new network is “A registered 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in New York, the Food and Environment Reporting Network was founded in October 2009 and began operations in January 2011. It is funded by the generous support of the The 11th Hour Project, McKnight Foundation, Clarence Heller Foundation, Columbia Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.”
More health journalists join AHCJ’s ranks
Please welcome AHCJ’s newest members! All new AHCJ members are welcome to stop by this post’s comment section to introduce themselves.
- Blair Thomas, public policy reporter, The Lund Report, Beaverton, Ore.
- Mike King, independent writer/editor, Atlanta
- Aretha Yarak, reporter, Veja.com, Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Rosa Ramirez, independent journalist, Berkeley, Calif. (@rosamramirez)
- Allyn Gaestel, independent journalist, Pasadena, Calif. (@samayxalaat)
- Ju-Don Marshall Roberts, vice president & editor in chief, Everyday Health, New York (@jmarroberts)
If you haven’t joined yet, see what member benefits you’re missing out on: Access to more than 50 journals and databases, tip sheets and articles from your colleagues on how they’ve reported stories, conferences, workshops, online training, reporting guides and more. Join AHCJ today to get a wealth of support and tools to help you.
Calif. center, ethnic outlets partner to examine elderly day care’s demise
Filed under: Aging, Health journalism, Health policy, Hot Health Headline
The California HealthCare Foundation’s Center for Health Reporting partnered with no fewer than nine different organizations to produce a sprawling story package examining the impact of the looming closure of many of California’s adult day health care centers. (Since the project launched, California reached a legal settlement that will allow adults most at risk of institutionalization to continue to receive services previously provided by adult day health centers. Existing centers will be able to provide services through the end of Feb. 2012. See this write-up in California Healthline.)
Jocelyn Wiener’s centerpiece stands alone, but the package really gains steam when you take the time to consider its full breadth and depth.
For those new to the issue, here’s Wiener’s primer and a hint as to why the package grew out of a collaboration with a kaleidoscope of ethnic media organizations.
Los Angeles County – especially its many ethnic minority communities –will be hit hardest by the closures. According to state data, the county is home to more than 60 percent of the program’s 38,000 enrollees statewide. One quarter have dementia. Forty percent are incontinent. Nearly half have a psychiatric diagnosis. More than 70 percent do not speak English.
The centers provide them with transportation, meals, exercise, medication management, physical and occupational therapy, as well as robust social programs that many participants say have renewed their will to live.
Health journalists will find Richard Kipling’s “how we did it” piece to be a natural entry point. Kipling unspools the narrative of how a brief suggestion became an anything-but-brief compendium of multilingual, multicultural, multigenerational reporting. Kipling’s blog also serves as a useful roadmap to the project.
Watch the AHCJ website for more about how this project was reported.
If the video doesn’t appear on your page, please click through to :Bibiana Viernes: Her Center, Her Life” from CAhealthReport on Vimeo.
-
Join us in Atlanta
for Health Journalism 2012
Fellowship applications
due Feb. 27
New at HealthJournalism.org
- Data gives depth to investigation of patient safety
- What reporters should know about Alzheimer’s and related dementias
- Apply for fellowships to attend Health Journalism 2012
- AHCJ asks Supreme Court to permit broadcast of arguments in health reform case
- Tips for print, online journalists to embrace broadcast opportunities
- Numbers reveal how often, or how rarely, states check doctors’ disciplinary records
- How I did it: Falsified charts in nursing homes linked to patient care
- Access Denied: Looking at a lack of health care availability
- Transparency & medical errors: Public reporting of patient harm is a potent force
