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Congratulations to the team at the Newcastle Institute of Public
Health on the development and launch of their media doctor website.(1) At
the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), University of York, UK,
we've been producing the Hitting the Headlines service for the National
electronic Library for Health for over 3 years and would support their
concerns over the quality of reporting of some health research.
We'd like to correct two of the statements made. Professor Henry is
quoted as stating that Hitting the Headlines does not comment on the
accuracy of health journalism. This is not correct. We assess the
reliability of both the journalists' reporting of health stories and the
research on which they are based. It is true however, that our main focus
is a critical appraisal of the original research. Our target audience is
health professionals, for whom we believe this information is vital to
respond to patients' questions about new research reported in the media.
We would refute the suggestion made by Hilda Bastian that we repeat
misleading headlines and reinforce false messages. Our headlines appear in
one of two ways: either carefully neutral or in quotation marks. Newspaper
stories can make great claims for new medical discoveries or may create
health scares that can generate concern. We believe we help to dispel
false messages by assessing the 'believability and credibility' of the
underlying evidence base.
We would be interested to learn more about how this new site goes on
to influence the media. Our view is that journalists operate under very
different constraints to those of researchers - broadly speaking their aim
is to sell newspapers, not primarily to contribute to scientific
debate. We also believe that there is a case for examining how research is
'spun' by researchers to journalists. Publicity can boost journal
circulation, research funds and researcher status, as well as providing
column inches.
1. Sweet M. Website gives media the tough treatment. BMJ 2004; 329:
178.
Competing interests:
The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination produces the Hitting the Headlines service for the National electronic Library for Health
Competing interests:
No competing interests
21 July 2004
Rachel Richardson
Dissemination Officer
Paul Wilson, Amanda Sowden, Frances Sharp, Alison Booth, on behalf of the Hitting the Headlines Team
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, UK
I should like to comment on the opinion expressed by several
journalists that scientists just don't understand the requirements of
journalism. Two of our raters are experienced journalists, & the
rating system we use was developed jointly by a journalist and a doctor.
I have always understood that one of the principles of good journalism was
to be balanced. An important part of the rating system used by mediadoctor
is to assess whether an article gives balanced reporting of both harms
& benefits of the treatment discussed,rather than just spruiking it as
a good news story.If the information is not in a press release or study,
we would encourage journalists to ask for it.
Competing interests:
I review articles for media doctor
From the Hitting the Headlines Team
Congratulations to the team at the Newcastle Institute of Public
Health on the development and launch of their media doctor website.(1) At
the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), University of York, UK,
we've been producing the Hitting the Headlines service for the National
electronic Library for Health for over 3 years and would support their
concerns over the quality of reporting of some health research.
We'd like to correct two of the statements made. Professor Henry is
quoted as stating that Hitting the Headlines does not comment on the
accuracy of health journalism. This is not correct. We assess the
reliability of both the journalists' reporting of health stories and the
research on which they are based. It is true however, that our main focus
is a critical appraisal of the original research. Our target audience is
health professionals, for whom we believe this information is vital to
respond to patients' questions about new research reported in the media.
We would refute the suggestion made by Hilda Bastian that we repeat
misleading headlines and reinforce false messages. Our headlines appear in
one of two ways: either carefully neutral or in quotation marks. Newspaper
stories can make great claims for new medical discoveries or may create
health scares that can generate concern. We believe we help to dispel
false messages by assessing the 'believability and credibility' of the
underlying evidence base.
We would be interested to learn more about how this new site goes on
to influence the media. Our view is that journalists operate under very
different constraints to those of researchers - broadly speaking their aim
is to sell newspapers, not primarily to contribute to scientific
debate. We also believe that there is a case for examining how research is
'spun' by researchers to journalists. Publicity can boost journal
circulation, research funds and researcher status, as well as providing
column inches.
1. Sweet M. Website gives media the tough treatment. BMJ 2004; 329:
178.
Competing interests:
The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination produces the Hitting the Headlines service for the National electronic Library for Health
Competing interests: No competing interests