Remember Good Reporting?
Posted on | March 15, 2010 | No Comments
Memo to Harry Smith & CBS, Re: Colonoscopy Crusading
Some of you are starting blogs. Some are starting new ventures, some of you just appreciate knowing that good journalism still exists. Gary Schwitzer’s HealthNews Review Blog serves as a shining example of how we can carry on the high standards we held dear before we were displaced. I just came across it today. True, it’s a non-profit, but the point is that you can hang on to your values and shift gears at the same time. As a former medical editor, this is the blog post that caught my eye:
Memo to Harry Smith & CBS, Re: Colonoscopy Crusading
By Gary Schwitzer
Health News Review Blog
Dear Harry,
There’s nothing wrong with advocating for more awareness of colon cancer screening – although we don’t think that crusading advocacy is a role for journalism, which is supposed to independently vet claims of evidence.So, instead of all the promotion of your live colonoscopy last week, you and CBS could have investigated the evidence about colon cancer screening.
And if you had done that, you might have reported on some of the questions about colonoscopy – instead of cheerleading for it.
In this month’s journal, Gastroenterology, is an article “Colorectal Cancer Screening Guidelines: The Importance of Evidence and Transparency,” by Dr. James Allison, Clinical Professor of Medicine Emeritus, University of California San Francisco.
As a network news operation, CBS should really be on top of this information, but …. read more here.
Tags: Accuracy > Blog > Commentary > Journalist > News > Quality
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Welcome to Our Community
Is there life – or work – after newspapers? A lot of us are in the process of finding out. Because it’s generally a somewhat lonely endeavor, it struck me, in January 2010, that it might be comforting – and possibly very productive – to go through it together.
Displaced Journalists is a community – our community – where we find common ground, where we can begin to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get on with our lives and livelihoods. [more]