Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Wins First Health Journalism Award from Foundation for Informed Medical Decis...(edicine . At the Foundation's Re...),Health

At the Foundation's Research and Policy Forum yesterday, Schwitzer described the evaluation process and what he and his team have learned about the current state of health news reporting in the US.

During the HealthNewsReview.org review process, each story is ranked on 10 criteria, including whether the story adequately discussed the costs of the idea being reported, and whether it quantified potential benefits and harms. (See evaluation instrument at http://www.healthnewsreview.org/ratings_info.php(

"In our analysis of the first 500 stories, we found that most journalists usually failed to discuss costs and the absolute magnitude of potential benefits and harms," said Schwitzer. "That leaves a 'kid-in-the-candy-store' view of US health care, wherein everything looks terrific, risk-free and without a price tag."

On the other hand, he said that reporters have been very receptive to feedback from HealthNewsReview.org, which comes in the form of an email linking the reporter back to a review of his or her story on the website. He hopes the website will help stimulate more interest on the part of editors, who are a crucial part of the process of change. He also believes that addressing the issues of time (required to research and write), space (in publications and broadcasts), and training of journalists can provide solutions to many of the journalistic shortcomings identified by the project.

The Excellence in Health in Journalism Award, which is a certificate and a cash prize, is one way of acknowledging hard work and motivating best practices, said Jack Fowler, PhD, president of the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, who presented the award.

For the complete PLoS Medicine study, go to