Terrific journalism on a troubling topic
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
1y ago
Charles Piller writes in Science, “Blots On a Field? A neuroscience image sleuth finds signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease.” It is a terrific piece of journalism that raises questions about a long unproven theory about Alzheimer’s disease.  The new questions are fueled by allegations of fraud in key research.  One key quote: “The immediate, obvious damage is wasted NIH funding and wasted thinking in the field because people are using these results as a starting point for their own experiments,” says Stanford Unive ..read more
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Cholesterol gene hype: “cure…stopping the biggest killer on earth”
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
1y ago
Step outside pandemic news coverage for a moment and get re-introduced to incredible hype of non-pandemic news. MIT Technology Review posted this headline: In the article, the CEO of the biotech company doing the study was quoted saying: “If this works and is safe, this is the answer to heart attack—this is the cure,” Those are some mighty big IFs touted within the first 150 words of the story. Mighty big IFs in one breath to be talking in the next breath about cure and stopping the biggest killer on earth. Why should there be more caution up high in the story – and throughout the story? &n ..read more
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Coffee, death, and the New York Times Well blog
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
1y ago
A New York Times newsletter headline writer tried to be cute:   No, it’s not so simple. And, no, the study did not find that those who drank moderate amounts of coffee have a lower mortality risk than non-coffee drinkers. That is a cause-and-effect statement, and this observational study didn’t find that, didn’t prove that, but only pointed to a statistical association. The actual online version of the story, linked to from the teaser above, hedged and danced with various wordsmithing.  Excerpts: “That morning cup of coffee may be linked to a lower risk of dying” “There are, howeve ..read more
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NYT proclaims “Breaking News”!
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
2y ago
Breaking News! What does that mean?  Besides sinking to the level of the old TV news style of “If it bleeds, it leads” newscasts. But the New York Times trotted out that tired old trope by tweeting, ‘Breaking News: A brain implant allowed a fully paralyzed man to communicate using his thoughts, a newly published study reported.”  I’m on a camping vacation and don’t have a computer with me, but I had to make at least a few comments about this post. What does/should breaking news mean?  I suggest that it means “Drop everything….this is something you must know right now…it will ro ..read more
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2021 ends with COVID craziness in sports and politics
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
2y ago
The Star Tribune newspaper reports: Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is on the COVID-19 reserve list after testing positive for COVID-19 and will miss Sunday night’s game against the Packers. … From the Star Tribune website   Cousins, who is unvaccinated, was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list as a close contact early in training camp after (one backup quarterback) tested positive for the virus. After returning from a five-day quarantine, he declined to discuss his decision on whether to be vaccinated, calling it a personal choice and saying his focus was on avoiding being a close con ..read more
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Top 5 blog posts of 2021
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
2y ago
My productivity dropped off for a number of reasons in 2021, but here are my five best blog posts from a smaller than usual total overall. Top spot Cure for Type 1 diabetes? We’ve been down this road before with NY Times.  Key excerpt: “It is the framing and the emphasis of the journalism by a leading science journalist at a leading newspaper that demands scrutiny.  It has an impact on readers and on sick people that may cause harm by promoting false hope about extremely preliminary research.” A close cousin for #2 “Blood test finds 50 types of cancer” – we’ve also been down this pa ..read more
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Cure for Type 1 diabetes? We’ve been down this road before with NY Times
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
2y ago
“A Cure for Type 1 Diabetes? For One Man, It Seems to Have Worked,” blared the November 27, 2021 New York Times headline. It may have reminded old-timers of another story by the same reporter, Gina Kolata, on the front page of the Times 23 years ago, on May 3, 1998, which included unchallenged projections that a cure for cancer was imminent within two years. At the time, the National Association of Science Writers published an analysis of her story, with this composite image of the Times headline and others. I emphasize that the diabetes research in question is fascinating and important, as ..read more
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“Blood test finds 50 types of cancer” – we’ve been down this path before
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
2y ago
Shoddy, incomplete, fawning news coverage of screening tests is one of the most clearly established problems in health news coverage – something HealthNewsReview.org has revealed countless times over the past 15 years. A public relations news release 22 days ago – from “a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early” – touted study findings that the company says showed a test’s “ability to detect more than 50 types of cancer with a single blood draw could transform early cancer detection as a complement to existing screenings.”  There’s a great deal to unpack from that kind ..read more
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Two different assessments of COVID-19 pandemic news coverage
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
3y ago
Two new journalistic analyses of 2020-2021 pandemic news coverage were released this week.  I was interviewed in each of them. Science journalist Faye Flam produced a new episode for her “Follow the Science” podcast, with funding from the Society for Professional Journalists. She interviewed me, David Leonhardt of the New York Times and David Wallace-Wells of New York Magazine. And science journalist Jillian Mock quoted me and about a dozen other people she had interviewed in her piece for Medscape, ‘Dreck’ to Drama: How the Media Handled, and Got Handled, by COVID. The journalism ..read more
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Zombie health care news
HealthNewsReview.org | Health News Watchdog Blog
by Gary Schwitzer
3y ago
Although I am advancing rapidly into almost complete retirement, there are some days/weeks when I can’t refrain from pointing out some of the troubling health care news I see.  This is one such week. First, the COVID zombie news My local Star Tribune newspaper delivered this front page news: University of Minnesota, Mayo report COVID-fighting success with anti-aging therapy.   COVID-fighting in mice, that is, which was revealed in the second paragraph: Survival increased in mice with COVID-like illnesses when they received drugs that removed senescent cells — sometimes ca ..read more
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