Medical Journalism

Journalism as applied to science and medicine

Medical Journalism: Exposing Fact, Fiction, and Fraud provides comprehensive guidance to this specialized segment of the journalism field. From journalism fundamentals to niche topics such as separating science fact from science fiction, this book provides in-depth insight while applying the industry's rigorous standards to a specialty that has come to be treated more like entertainment than news. Extensive discussion on pitfalls shows you how to avoid the hallmarks of bad scientific reporting, and a central theme throughout focuses on the importance of quality sources.

Preface xi

Acknowledgements xviii

1. The Media Meet Medicine 3

2. Barriers to Serving the Audience 19

3. Scientific Fact or Science Fiction? 29

4. Observation, Interpretation, Persuasion 47

5. Pitfalls in Medical Reporting 57

6. Critical Medical Journalism 73

7. Some Challenging Topics 95

8. Medical Journalism Online 105

Glossary 123

References 133

Index 145

Ragnar Levi is the author of Medical Journalism: Exposing Fact, Fiction, Fraud, published by Wiley.