title: Could media reports include a standardized scale for quality of evidence?
abstract: While some media reports offer accurate interpretations of clinical research, other reports are misleading. The uneven accuracy of medical reporting may act in concert with its sheer volume to confuse the lay public about which health messages are most important and evidence-based. I outline one possible step towards a solution: medical journals can embed quality of evidence ratings in article summaries and create incentives for inclusion of these ratings in lay media reports.
authors.affiliation: Section of Value and Comparative Effectiveness, Division of General Internal Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10010, USA. scott.braithwaite@nyumc.org
authors.forename: R Scott
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Braithwaite
mesh_terms: D003146:Communications Media / Q000592:standards*; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice / Q000592:standards*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D018156:Journalism, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D058028:Research Report / Q000592:standards*