Medical journalism

[3] Most news articles fail to discuss important issues such as evidence quality, costs, and risks versus benefits.

A 2009 study found small improvements in some areas of medical reporting in Australia, but the overall quality remained poor, particularly in commercial human-interest television programs.

Consequently, this can create a focus on the negative aspects of medicine and science, which causes journalists to report on the mistakes of doctors or misconstrue the results of research.

[8] For example, research done by George Washington University in 1993 on in-vitro fertilization was warped by the media into a horrific foray into human cloning.

[3] Mass media news outlets can also create a "communications storm" to shift attention to a single health issue.

[12] The lack of health knowledge in the general public creates a situation where a person can be easily swayed to a certain point of view that is cast in the manner in which information is reported.

Due to the relative ease at which information can be obtained on the internet, many people will now question doctors on new medications and treatments for their conditions.

[13] There have been a few recent studies[citation needed] that have tried to explore the availability of health information as complement to healthcare or as a substitute, yet no direct relationships have been found.

Only a handful of universities and institutes globally offer undergraduate, postgraduate, or diploma level programs related to medical journalism.