Reporters need to balance real-world writing pressures against idealised reporting standards
When doctors and academics critique mainstream media health coverage, they typically suggest that this is to educate reporters about their failings, and/or to sound the alert generally about the media’s tendency to mislead a naive public into believing dangerous falsehoods about risks of disease, side effects of medicines, miracle cures and so on.
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- 1. Wilson AJ, Robertson J, Ewals BD, Henry D. What the public learns about screening and diagnostic tests through the media. Med J Aust 2012; 197: 324-326. <MJA full text>
I hold shares in and was employed by Fairfax Media, publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald, at the time of writing. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect the views of any employer.