HEALTH

JOURNALISM
C

Tahzeeb Fatma
The following are the 10 core
principles in journalism:
1.“Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.
2.Its first loyalty is to citizens.
3.Its essence is a discipline of verification.
4.Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
5.It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
6.It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
7.It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.
8.It must keep the news comprehensive and in proportion.
9.Its practitioners have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience.
10.Citizens, too, have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news
• Besides being a source of health news and a medium to shape general understanding
about health, experts have argued, mass media also help in promoting public health.
• Media, according to Wallack, “can be a delivery mechanism for getting the right
information to the right people in the right way at the right time to promote personal
change.”
• That’s why all health communication and disease prevention strategies emphasise on
health messaging through mass media. Studies have cautioned that “inadequate,
misleading or incomplete news reporting constitutes a public health threat. Such reporting
can lead people to make misguided choices that may put their health at risk or influence
policymakers to adopt inadequate or harmful laws, regulations, or policies.”
• A Statement of Principles published by the Association of Health Care Journalists states that “journalists have
a special responsibility in covering health and medical news. Association members know that readers and
viewers may make important health care decisions based on the information provided in our stories.”
• Regarding the importance of the worldwide medical research, health journalism is considered a means of
sharing of the results. Through the dissemination of health news, medical research, and health policies, mass
media play a leading role in disseminating health news, affecting the knowledge and health beliefs of the
public, and eventually promoting public health.
• Health journalism is typically defined as a subsection of science journalism. Science
news, in turn, is often divided into two main categories: news that popularises scientific
findings and news that discusses scientific issues within a broader societal context
(Summ & Volpers 2016, 778).
• In the case of health journalism, the first type of news typically covers new research
findings and the second type broader societal issues, such as antibiotic resistance or
obesity
• Some news outlets have divided their health coverage into two groups: science and
wellbeing.
• The science section usually covers research findings and medicine, whereas the
wellbeing section offers magazine-style features and tips that explain how to eat
healthily, how to treat common diseases and how to get rid of bad habits.
• Good examples would be stories such as “The case for guilt-free holiday feasting” (Vox
23 December 2016) or “In exam season, a look at the best brain-boosting foods” (The
Washington Post 22 May 2017).
• Most health journalists are not healthcare providers, nor do they have a background in health sciences.
• Beat reporters (reporters focused on a single subject) are the exception, not the rule.
• Health journalism is increasingly in the hands of general assignment reporters covering a diverse
portfolio of news stories
Objectives and role of Health
Journalism
• Larger objective of all health Journalism is not just to inform but to motivate people to
make informed choices and decisions about their health and overall quality of life.
• Much of public understanding of health and health policy occurs not from their direct
experience but through what they read and watch in media.
• Health news informs people about disease and prevention, motivates them to change
their behaviours and promotes understanding of health policy as well as public health.
• Health journalists, thus, act as mediators between public and doctors, scientists and
drug companies. In effect, health writers help in translating or transferring scientific
knowledge about diseases and health to the society at large.
• Therefore, both quantity and quality of health news appearing in mass media e
newspapers, radio, television and internet e is important as it plays a critical role in
health communication, which has a direct bearing on disease prevention, health
promotion and quality of life
• Health journalists can communicate to inform and educate people about ways to
enhance healthy living in all sorts of countries – developed, developing or undeveloped.
• They can encourage a people-friendly health policy and/or health communication
strategy through many a measures such as: increase the level of knowledge and
awareness of a health issue among a certain audience influence and/or change behaviors
and attitudes towards a health issue educate healthy practices.
• Help demonstrate the benefits of behavior changes to public health outcomes
• increase demand and support for health services
• help the concerned authorities understand the necessity of increased numbers of platforms
(i.e., websites, software/ apps) to be initiated, and increase access to them
• increase ethical and responsible reporting on health-care issues widely covering issues
regarding best and accurate use of medicines Keeping the society aware of issues
regarding the broad context of medicine use, risks of medicine use, non-drug alternatives
etc.
• Diminish misconceptions about different health issues, and above all advocate a position
on a health issue or policy/strategy.
A good health story must:
• discuss the cost of the intervention
• quantify the benefits
• quantify or explain the harm
• evaluate the quality of the evidence
• avoid disease-mongering
• use independent sources and identify conflicts of interest
• compare the new approach with existing alternatives
• establish the availability of the covered procedure/product
• establish the true novelty of the approach
• rely on other sources than merely a news release
10 best practice guidelines for
reporting science & health stories
• State the source of the story – e.g. interview, conference, journal article, a survey from
a charity or trade body, etc. – ideally with enough information for readers to look it up
or a web link.
• Specify the size and nature of the study – e.g. who/what were the subjects, how long
did it last, what was tested or was it an observation? If space, mention the major
limitations.
• When reporting a link between two things, indicate whether or not there is evidence
that one causes the other.
• Give a sense of the stage of the research – e.g. cells in a laboratory or trials in humans –
and a realistic time-frame for any new treatment or technology.
• On health risks, include the absolute risk whenever it is available in the press release or the
research paper – i.e. if ‘cupcakes double cancer risk’ state the outright risk of that cancer,
with and without cupcakes.
• Especially on a story with public health implications, try to frame a new finding in the
context of other evidence – e.g. does it reinforce or conflict with previous studies? If it
attracts serious scientific concerns, they should not be ignored.
• If space, quote both the researchers themselves and external sources with appropriate
expertise. Be wary of scientists and press releases over-claiming for studies.
• Distinguish between findings and interpretation or extrapolation; don’t suggest health
advice if none has been offered.
• Remember patients: don’t call something a ‘cure’ that is not a cure.
• Headlines should not mislead the reader about a story’s contents and quotation marks
should not be used to dress up overstatement.
The Infodemic
• While overload of information is a dominating feature of the information age, the
Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to a new phenomenon called infodemic.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described it as “second disease”
accompanying the pandemic. The world body has defined ‘infodemic’ as ‘an
overabundance of information e some accurate and some not e that makes it hard for
people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.’
• False information in circulation can be classified as both disinformation (designed with
malicious intentions) and misinformation (lies spread with or without bad intentions). In
the both the cases, it is harmful to its consumers as the information in question relates to
human health.
Need for Health Journalism
• The pandemic and the rise of infodemic have reinforced the role of professional health
journalism. The need for verified and authentic information is the need of the hour, and
this need can be fulfilled by health journalists through mainstream media.
• Free and independent media can be an effective counter or antidote to toxicity of the
infodemic. Besides providing facts and verified news to people, independent media
also holds governments and public authorities accountable.
• That’s why trust of people in independent media like newspapers may be growing,
despite difficulties being faced in circulation of physical copies.
• A study by the Reuters Institute found that 60% of respondents in six countries (Argentina,
Germany, South Korea, Spain, the UK, and the US) said it was the news media that had
helped them make sense of the pandemic. Trust in news media was rated significantly
higher than information received on social media.