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| Research article summary (published 29 Nov 2002): |
Observations from the Mayo Clinic National Conference on Medicine and the Media.
Full Abstract
In September 2002, the Mayo Clinic National Conference on Medicine and the Media convened to consider the accurate, timely, and responsible reporting of medical news to the public. The more than 500 participants included medical and health journalists, scientific journal editors, physicians and other health care professionals, industry representatives, government officials, institutional public information officers, public relations professionals, patients, and representatives of patient advocacy groups. The goal of the conference was to bring together all facets of the medical news dissemination process with the hope of identifying ways to serve the public more effectively. Several key observations emerged:
Medical news reports may be confusing because the underlying scientific issues are unresolved and open to multiple interpretations. People who are ill have different information needs than the rest of the public. Journalists' primary concern is accurate, clear reporting, with secondary concern for a story's consequences. Journalists consider themselves primarily reporters rather than educators, but the public expects reporting to contain an educational element. Financial and other more subtle interests may influence the quality and content of scientific news releases, presentations in scientific journals, and stories covered by print and broadcast news media. Full disclosure of commercial support and affiliations, peer review of study reports, and formal guidelines for conduct may limit inappropriate financial influence.
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Author information
Author/s: Lantz, Jane C (JC); Lanier, William L (WL);
Affiliation: Section of Scientific Publications, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Journal: Mayo Clinic proceedings. Mayo Clinic (Mayo Clin Proc), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-Dec; vol 77 (issue 12) : pp 1306-11
Dates: Created 2002/12/13; Completed 2003/01/02; Revised 2007/10/29;
PMID: 12479517, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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