What makes research news?

What Makes Research News?How to Get Journalists’ Attention

NACHRISt. Louis - March 13, 2012

Ivan Oransky, MDExecutive Editor, Reuters Health

Treasurer, Association of Health Care JournalistsAdjunct Assoc. Prof. of Journalism, New York University

Why Is It So Bad?

In a national survey of U.S. health and medical journalists: • Nearly 70% had at least a bachelor’s degree• 19% reported having a master’s degree; • 4.5% had a doctorate; about 3% were M.D.s • Almost half had a degree in journalism• 13% had a degree in communications • 8% were ‘‘life sciences’’ majors

Viswanath K et al: Occupational practices and the making of health news: A national survey of U.S. health and medical science journalists. Journal of Health Communication 2008; 13:759–777.

Who Covers Health?

Who are Today’s Media, Really?

Who are Today’s Media, Really?

What is Reuters Health?THREE WIRES COVERING 110 STUDIES EACH WEEK

Reuters Medical News Keeps physicians, researchers and other medical

professionals informed of developments in their field

Reuters Health eLineWellness and health care for the general public

Reuters Health Industry BriefingBusiness information for the healthcare community

How Reuters Health Chooses Stories

• Impact factor

• Likelihood of changing behavior/clinical practice

• Strength of evidence

• Novelty

How Reuters Health Covers Stories

How Do Others Cover Stories?

Schwitzer G. How do U.S. journalists cover treatments, tests, products, and procedures? An evaluation of 500 stories. PLoS Medicine 2008 doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050095

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Improving Press ReleasesAcademic medical centers issue a average of 49 press releases/year

Among 200 randomly selected releases

– 87 (44%) promoted animal or laboratory research, of which 64 (74%) explicitly claimed relevance to human health

– Among 95 releases about clinical research, 22 (23%) left off study size and 32 (34%) failed to quantify results

– 113 releases promoted human research

• 17% promoted randomized trials or meta-analyses

• 40% reported on uncontrolled interventions, small samples (<30 participants), surrogate primary outcomes, or unpublished data—yet 58% lacked the relevant cautions

Woloshin S et al. Press releases by academic medical centers: not so academic? Ann Intern Med 2009;150:613-618

Pitch Less, Tip More

Show Context

Show Context

Show Context

It may take decades before ocean acidification’s effect on marine life shows itself. Until then, the past is a good way to foresee the future, says Richard Feely, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who was not involved in the study. “These studies give you a sense of the timing involved in past ocean acidification events—they did not happen quickly,” he said. “The decisions we make over the next few decades could have significant implications on a geologic timescale.”

What Kinds of Releases Do Well?10 Most-Visited Stories on EurekAlert! in 2011

1. Genetic research confirms that non-Africans are part Neanderthal University of Montreal

2. New math theories reveal the nature of numbers Emory University

3. Astronomers discover complex organic matter in the universe The University of Hong Kong

4. Mayo Clinic: How patients will respond to immunomodulator therapy for multiple myeloma Mayo Clinic

5. World's smallest frogs discovered in New Guinea Pensoft Publishers

6. Walking through doorways causes forgetting, new research shows University of Notre Dame

7. Taming the flame: Electrical wave 'blaster' could provide new way to extinguish fires American Chemical Society

8. Effortless sailing with fluid flow cloak Duke University

9. Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in 8 weeks Massachusetts General Hospital

10. Woolly mammoth's secrets for shrugging off cold points toward new artificial blood for humans American Chemical Society

What Kinds of Releases Do Well?10 Most-Visited Stories on EurekAlert! in 2011

Help Reporters Move Upstream

Use Social Media to Develop Relationships with Reporters

How Sources Develop Relationships with Reporters – and Vice Versa

Use Twitter

• Follow reporters to see what they’re interested in

• Don’t use it to send the same press release to 30 reporters

Avoid Disease of the Month

Use Embargoes Wisely

Use Embargoes Wisely

Avoid Jargon

• Talk to me like I’m your smart 14-year-old nephew

Use Anecdotes Carefully

• Is the story representative?

• Does the source of the story have any conflicts?

Watch Your Language• Lifestyle/diet – are they randomized

controlled trials, or just observational?

• If observational, make the language fit the evidence:– YES: “tied,” “linked”–NO: “reduces,” “causes”

Get to Know AHCJ

Get to Know AHCJ

• >1,200 members in every U.S. state, >25 countries

• Strict membership guidelines: Journalists only

• Annual conference with workshops, newsmakers, more

• Conference partners: NACHRI, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Seattle Children’s Hospital

• Website http://www.healthjournalism.org has reporting guides, blog, tipsheets, other resources

Let’s Work to Avoid This

Contact Info/Acknowledgements

ivan.oransky@thomsonreuters.com

@ivanoransky (better)

Thanks: Nancy Lapid, Reuters Health