Criteria for Assessing Health News Stories /
Health News Review.org – News Story Review Criteria
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/about-us/review-criteria/
1. Does the story adequately discuss the costs of the intervention?
2. Does the story adequately quantify the benefits of the treatment/test/product/procedure?
3. Does the story adequately explain/quantify the harms of the intervention?
4. Does the story seem to grasp the quality of the evidence?
5. Does the story commit disease-mongering?
6. Does the story use independent sources and identify conflicts of interest?
o Does the news release identify funding sources & disclose conflicts of interest?
7. Does the story compare the new approach with existing alternatives?
8. Does the story establish the availability of the treatment/test/product/procedure?
9. Does the story establish the true novelty of the approach?
10. Does the story appear to rely solely or largely on a news release?
o Does the news release include unjustifiable, sensational language, including in the quotes of researchers?
Red Flag Terms:
· breakthrough
· could become the new standard of care
· cure
· first-of-its-kind
· game-changer
· Holy Grail
· magic
· miracle
· simple blood test
· this might/may/could lead to…. (which means, of course, that “might/may/could not” applies as well)
Ways To Spot Bogus Headlines About Your Health. Adapted from https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolynkylstra/hype-in-health-journalism?utm_term=.efxnvxXLB#.ewgWZnwlY
· If the research wasn't conducted on humans, the findings can't necessarily be extrapolated to humans.
· Correlation is not causation
· Does the story address both positives and negatives?
· The most trustworthy health articles will have multiple sources, and at least one of them shouldn't be connected to the research in any direct way.
· The sources should be the most qualified people to talk about what they're talking about.
· Good health reporting should discuss costs
· The headline should not overstate the findings of the research.
· If the study was done on humans, pay attention to who those humans were: The study is stronger if they're randomly selected, nationally representative, and if there are a LOT of them.
· The article should discuss the findings within a greater context.
· If the story sounds too good to be true, it probably is
This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Grant Number 1UG4LM012346-01 with The University of Iowa