- Health News Review
Infobox Website
name = Health News Review
caption =
url = http://healthnewsreview.org/
alexa =
commercial = no
type =
language = English
registration = optional
owner = Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making
author = Gary Schwitzer
launch date = 2006-04-16
current status = online
revenue =
slogan = grades for health news reportingHealth News Review is a website that rates the completeness, accuracy, and balance of U.S. news stories about
health care . It builds on other similar initiatives, such as the Media Doctor website in Australia and the Behind the Headlines project in the UK. Its 10-point grading scale includes whether a story gives information about its sources and their competing interests, quantifies the benefits of a treatment, and appraises the evidence supporting the story's claims. [cite journal |author= The "PLoS Medicine" Editors |title= False hopes, unwarranted fears: the trouble with medical news stories |journal= PLoS Med |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=e118 |year=2008 |pmid=18507502 |doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050118 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050118]The website monitors the
Associated Press , the three leading U.S. newsweekly magazines, and the top 50 U.S. newspapers, measured by circulation. In its first 22 months, the website reviewed 500 news stories, and found that they usually failed to discuss evidence quality, alternative options, costs, and absolute sizes of benefits and harms; 41 (8%) of the stories got the highest scores, and are listed at their website. [cite journal |author= Schwitzer G |title= How do US journalists cover treatments, tests, products, and procedures? an evaluation of 500 stories |journal= PLoS Med |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=e95 |year=2008 |pmid=18507496 |doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050095 |url=http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050095 |laysummary=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/21/2 |laysource=Guardian |laydate=2008-06-21]Gary Schwitzer, the founder of Health News Review, was formerly a journalist at
CNN and founded the website while teaching journalism at theUniversity of Minnesota . [cite journal |journal= Oncol Times |date=2007 |volume=29 |issue=14 |pages=28–39 |title= A case report of media reporting: the controversy about CT screening for lung cancer |author= Holtz A |url=http://oncology-times.com/pt/re/oncotimes/fulltext.00130989-200707250-00009.htm |accessdate=2008-09-01]References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.