News > Evaluating the quality of health information

This paper highlights the problem of unbalanced reporting and describes what medical journals can do to improve reporting, so that all readers of health research can feel more confident in the published content. The authors ask that all those involved in disseminating health research should work together to improve the standards of reporting.

The article, entitled False Hopes, Unwarranted Fears: The Trouble with Medical News Stories highlights an ABC broadcast from the US as an example of particularly poor health reporting . The author of the paper publishes an online project called HealthNewsReview.org  that evaluates and grades media stories about new health interventions, notifying journalists of their grades. The project builds on other initiatives that monitor the quality of health reporting, such as the Australian Media Doctor Web site and the UK's Behind the Headlines project.

The author calls for balanced journalism which he believes is required "to promote an informed and medically literate citizenry." The article looks at the origins of unblanced reporting, the role of medical journals and discusses how to move forward with shared responsibility.

http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050118&ct=1