title: When Medical News Comes from Press Releases-A Case Study of Pancreatic Cancer and Processed Meat.
abstract: The media have a key role in communicating advances in medicine to the general public, yet the accuracy of medical journalism is an under-researched area. This project adapted an established monitoring instrument to analyse all identified news reports (n = 312) on a single medical research paper: a meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Cancer which showed a modest link between processed meat consumption and pancreatic cancer. Our most significant finding was that three sources (the journal press release, a story on the BBC News website and a story appearing on the 'NHS Choices' website) appeared to account for the content of over 85% of the news stories which covered the meta analysis, with many of them being verbatim or moderately edited copies and most not citing their source. The quality of these 3 primary sources varied from excellent (NHS Choices, 10 of 11 criteria addressed) to weak (journal press release, 5 of 11 criteria addressed), and this variance was reflected in the accuracy of stories derived from them. Some of the methods used in the original meta-analysis, and a proposed mechanistic explanation for the findings, were challenged in a subsequent commentary also published in the British Journal of Cancer, but this discourse was poorly reflected in the media coverage of the story.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Joseph W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ashley
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Denning
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gout
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kayleigh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huws
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Leifa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sinead
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sarkies
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wojtowicz
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Philip M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Newton
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000941:ethics*; D008402:Mass Media / Q000941:ethics*; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D000069466:Red Meat / Q000009:adverse effects; D012107:Research Design / Q000706:statistics & numerical data