The return of HealthNewsReview.org

A unique health journalism watchdog will resume posting new articles next month, after a nearly 18-month hiatus. HealthNewsReview.org, run by University of Minnesota professor and former CNN journalist Gary Schwitzer, has secured a $1.3 million, two-year grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The website will take up residence within a new institute, provisionally called the Center for Health Care & Media, at the university’s School of Public Health.

Between 2006 and 2013, HealthNewsReview published more than 1,800 story reviews—systematic evaluations of media coverage by a team of reviewers, including journalists and medical professionals. Among other criteria, reviewers examined whether a story adequately discussed a medical intervention’s costs, quantified harm and benefits, and compared the intervention with existing procedures—and they were tough critics. Targets included most of the nation’s top-10 circulation papers, plus CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Time, Newsweek, wire services, and others.

The approach was unique, and the service sorely needed, said Christie Aschwanden, lead science writer for FiveThirtyEight and a health columnist for The Washington Post. “There’s a lot of lousy reporting out there, and it’s really important to have some oversight… I have pointed to it before, when I’m working on a magazine story where editors were pushing to take the story further than the data showed, and it’s nice to be able to say, ‘Not only is that not good journalism, but we’re going to get reamed on this site.’”

Soon, Aschwanden will have that opportunity again. New reviews—the site’s “bread and butter,” as Schwitzer describes it—will start appearing come January, and he’ll resurrect a weekly digest of the site’s stories, which currently has between 2,000 and 3,000 subscribers.

- See more at: http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/health_news_review_gets_new_fu.php?utm_content=buffer5b750&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.FGcFbHA8.dpuf

A unique health journalism watchdog will resume posting new articles next month, after a nearly 18-month hiatus. HealthNewsReview.org, run by University of Minnesota professor and former CNN journalist Gary Schwitzer, has secured a $1.3 million, two-year grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The website will take up residence within a new institute, provisionally called the Center for Health Care & Media, at the university’s School of Public Health.

Between 2006 and 2013, HealthNewsReview published more than 1,800 story reviews—systematic evaluations of media coverage by a team of reviewers, including journalists and medical professionals. Among other criteria, reviewers examined whether a story adequately discussed a medical intervention’s costs, quantified harm and benefits, and compared the intervention with existing procedures—and they were tough critics. Targets included most of the nation’s top-10 circulation papers, plus CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Time, Newsweek, wire services, and others.

The approach was unique, and the service sorely needed, said Christie Aschwanden, lead science writer for FiveThirtyEight and a health columnist for The Washington Post. “There’s a lot of lousy reporting out there, and it’s really important to have some oversight… I have pointed to it before, when I’m working on a magazine story where editors were pushing to take the story further than the data showed, and it’s nice to be able to say, ‘Not only is that not good journalism, but we’re going to get reamed on this site.’”

Soon, Aschwanden will have that opportunity again. New reviews—the site’s “bread and butter,” as Schwitzer describes it—will start appearing come January, and he’ll resurrect a weekly digest of the site’s stories, which currently has between 2,000 and 3,000 subscribers.

- See more at: http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/health_news_review_gets_new_fu.php?utm_content=buffer5b750&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.FGcFbHA8.dpuf

A unique health journalism watchdog will resume posting new articles next month, after a nearly 18-month hiatus. HealthNewsReview.org, run by University of Minnesota professor and former CNN journalist Gary Schwitzer, has secured a $1.3 million, two-year grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The website will take up residence within a new institute, provisionally called the Center for Health Care & Media, at the university’s School of Public Health.

Between 2006 and 2013, HealthNewsReview published more than 1,800 story reviews—systematic evaluations of media coverage by a team of reviewers, including journalists and medical professionals. Among other criteria, reviewers examined whether a story adequately discussed a medical intervention’s costs, quantified harm and benefits, and compared the intervention with existing procedures—and they were tough critics. Targets included most of the nation’s top-10 circulation papers, plus CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Time, Newsweek, wire services, and others.

The approach was unique, and the service sorely needed, said Christie Aschwanden, lead science writer for FiveThirtyEight and a health columnist for The Washington Post. “There’s a lot of lousy reporting out there, and it’s really important to have some oversight… I have pointed to it before, when I’m working on a magazine story where editors were pushing to take the story further than the data showed, and it’s nice to be able to say, ‘Not only is that not good journalism, but we’re going to get reamed on this site.’”

Soon, Aschwanden will have that opportunity again. New reviews—the site’s “bread and butter,” as Schwitzer describes it—will start appearing come January, and he’ll resurrect a weekly digest of the site’s stories, which currently has between 2,000 and 3,000 subscribers.

- See more at: http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/health_news_review_gets_new_fu.php?utm_content=buffer5b750&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.FGcFbHA8.dpuf

A unique health journalism watchdog will resume posting new articles next month, after a nearly 18-month hiatus. HealthNewsReview.org, run by University of Minnesota professor and former CNN journalist Gary Schwitzer, has secured a $1.3 million, two-year grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The website will take up residence within a new institute, provisionally called the Center for Health Care & Media, at the university’s School of Public Health.

Between 2006 and 2013, HealthNewsReview published more than 1,800 story reviews—systematic evaluations of media coverage by a team of reviewers, including journalists and medical professionals. Among other criteria, reviewers examined whether a story adequately discussed a medical intervention’s costs, quantified harm and benefits, and compared the intervention with existing procedures—and they were tough critics. Targets included most of the nation’s top-10 circulation papers, plus CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Time, Newsweek, wire services, and others.

The approach was unique, and the service sorely needed, said Christie Aschwanden, lead science writer for FiveThirtyEight and a health columnist for The Washington Post. “There’s a lot of lousy reporting out there, and it’s really important to have some oversight… I have pointed to it before, when I’m working on a magazine story where editors were pushing to take the story further than the data showed, and it’s nice to be able to say, ‘Not only is that not good journalism, but we’re going to get reamed on this site.’”

Soon, Aschwanden will have that opportunity again. New reviews—the site’s “bread and butter,” as Schwitzer describes it—will start appearing come January, and he’ll resurrect a weekly digest of the site’s stories, which currently has between 2,000 and 3,000 subscribers.

- See more at: http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/health_news_review_gets_new_fu.php?utm_content=buffer5b750&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.FGcFbHA8.dpuf