What Are the Roles and Responsibilities of the Media in Disseminating Health?

PLoS Medicine asked health journalists and others interested in
media reporting of health to share their opinions on the roles and responsibilities of the media
in disseminating health information. This article contains a series of short opinion pieces by
respondents, addressing issues including reporting accuracy, research bias, and
the different roles of journalists and the media industry. 

• Gary Schwitzer argues that it isn't enough to be accurate and clear, but that journalists need
  to "mirror a society's needs and issues, comprehensively and proportionally."
  Schwitzer expresses particular concern for television journalism, where a 45-second news story may need to be balanced against "many more one-sided political ads about health policy ".
• Ganapati Mudur believes that health journalists need to place a story in context, citing prior
  research; providing analysis and interpretation; and
  verifying funding sources behind the research.
• David Henry and Amanda Wilson focus on quality of reporting, emphasising the importance of independent
  information sources, and of accurately reporting the benefits, harms, and costs of a treatment.
• Merrill Goozner suggests that medical reporters need to move beyond reporting of hyped-up "breakthroughs" to report
  realistic news that reflects the underlying conflicts of interest in a story.
• Maria Simbra recommends continuing education as a way for reporters to gain the necessary understanding of the science behind a medical story.
• Melissa Sweet suggests focussing on the competitive economics of the media industry rather than journalists themselves.
  The media industry, she argues, is focussed on attracting affluent professionals, an approach that biases the stories selected for broadcast.
• Katherine A. Baverstock questions whether it is appropriate for journalists
  to take on a role as health educators. She suggests, rather,
  that they should "play a special role in providing a voice for people to express their experiences
  of illness and their interactions with the technologies of health."