Health Journalism

Author
allame tabatabaee University
Abstract
Health Journalism is news reporting of medical news and features. Health Journalism is diverse, and reflects its audience. The main division is into (1) medical journalism for the general public, which includes medical coverage in general news publications and in specialty medical publications, and (2) Health Journalism for doctors and other professionals, which often appears in peer-reviewed journals.The accuracy of Health Journalism varies widely. Reviews of mass media publications have graded most stories unsatisfactory, although there were examples of excellence. Other reviews have found that most errors in mass media publications were the result of repeating errors in the original journal articles or their press releases.The new media landscape represents a great opportunity in this regard. Journalists now have more space (compared to the limited real estate of print media) online to explain the science behind news, and we can update our stories as science evolves. Instead of just publishing what’s new for next morning’s edition, we can publish evergreen stories that explain the body of research.

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Further Readings
Crute, S. Covering Health in a Multicultural Society: A Resource Guide for Journalists. Columbia, MO: Association of Health Care Journalists, 2006.
Lerner, B. H. When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Linden, T. The New York Times Reader: Health and Medicine. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2011.
Major, L. H. “Break It to Me Harshly: The Effects of Intersecting News Frames in Lung Cancer and Obesity Coverage.” Journal of Health Communication, v.14/2 (2009).
Schwitzer, G. “How Do U.S. Journalists Cover Treatments, Tests, Products, and Procedures? An Evaluation of 500 Stories.” PLoS Medicine, v.5/5 (2008).
Volume 6, Issue 24
Summer 2017
Pages 125-144

  • Receive Date 01 October 2018