Newsroom
Web Site Launched to Evaluate Health News
For Immediate Release:
Contacts:
Mark Cassutt
University of Minnesota News Service
Phone: 612-624-8038
Cassu003@umn.edu
Sandy Dawkins
MS&L
Phone: 617-937-2571
sandy.dawkins@mslpr.com
Web Site Launched to Evaluate Health News
Reporting in Mainstream U.S. Media
HealthNewsReview.org gives Journalists, Consumers Unbiased Review of News Articles that Cover New Treatments, Procedures
Boston, MASS., April 17, 2006 – Professor Gary Schwitzer, University of Minnesota School of Journalism & Mass Communication, in collaboration with the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making (FIMDM), today launched HealthNewsReview.org (http://healthnewsreview.org). It is the first U.S. online service expressly designed for journalists and consumers who want reliable, unbiased analysis and evaluation of healthcare news articles that make claims about treatments and procedures. The Web site reviews health news stories in the mainstream news media. Its goal is to improve health journalism, which in turn will produce higher-quality health news and information disseminated to consumers.
"The Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making believes that healthcare consumers should have access to the most timely, accurate, and unbiased information when making medical decisions,” said Floyd Fowler, president of the Foundation. “Since the media play such a significant role in how people obtain much of this information, Health NewsReview.org is a natural extension of the Foundation's mission."
To be eligible for review, an article must be relevant to the management and prevention of disease and must make claims about treatments, procedures or tests. Analyzed by a staff of more than 20 highly qualified professionals with expertise in journalism, medicine, public health and health services research, each article is scored on a “star” system, with zero being the lowest score and five the highest. News stories are culled from the top 50 circulation newspapers, major broadcast media, weekly news magazines, and wire services.
“HealthNewsReview.org could help make all of us smarter consumers of news and healthcare by making us think more critically,” said Professor Gary Schwitzer, publisher of the Web site. “Healthcare consumers benefit from the service by having direct access to a comprehensive analysis of healthcare news articles to help them make better informed decisions about treatment options for various illnesses.“
The site uses various criteria to rate stories, including:
- The novelty and availability of the idea
- The existence of alternative options
- Costs of treatment or procedure
- Sources of information in developing story
- Quantification of harms and benefits of treatment or procedure
- Quality of the evidence that treatment or procedure is effective
“It could be very helpful for every editor to have a list of these criteria on his or her desk,”
said Scott Bosley, executive director of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
HealthNewsReview.org will also be a useful reference tool for clinicians who need to help patients understand developments reported in the news.
“On a practical level, the main role of HealthNewsReview.org is to show journalists weaknesses, strengths and patterns of mainstream medical reporting,” said Avery Comarow, a medical writer for U.S. News & World Report who reviewed a beta version of the service. “It’s a wonderful venture and a very important effort.”
About Professor Gary Schwitzer
Professor Gary Schwitzer has specialized in healthcare journalism in his more than quarter-century career in radio, television, interactive multimedia and the Internet. He joined the faculty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota in the Fall of 2001. He is Director of Graduate Studies for the School's M.A. in Health Journalism program. Gary came to the UMN after being the founding Editor-In-Chief of the MayoClinic.com consumer health Web site. He has served two terms as a member of the board of directors of the Association of Healthcare Journalists, and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Broadcast Education Association.
About Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making (FIMDM)
The Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making’s mission is to assure that people understand their choices and have the information they need to make sound decisions affecting their health and well being. The Foundation organizes and frames medical evidence in an unbiased manner to help people evaluate their options, particularly in instances where differences in individual preferences and perspectives are likely to affect personal choice. For more information, visit http://www.fimdm.org.
|
