Media Coverage of Medical Journals: Do the Best Articles Make the News?

Background

News coverage of medical research is followed closely by many Americans and affects the practice of medicine and influence of scientific research. Prior work has examined the quality of media coverage, but no investigation has characterized the choice of stories covered in a controlled manner. We examined whether the media systematically covers stories of weaker study design.

Methods

We compared study characteristics of 75 clinically-oriented journal articles that received coverage in the top five newspapers by circulation against 75 clinically-oriented journal articles that appeared in the top five medical journals by impact factor over a similar timespan. Subgroup analysis was performed to determine whether differences between investigations from both sources varied by study type (randomized controlled trial [RCT] or observational study).

Results

Investigations receiving coverage from newspapers were less likely to be RCTs (17% vs. 35%, p = 0.016) and more likely to be observational studies (75% vs. 47%, p<0.001). No difference was observed in number of people studied (median: 1034 vs. 1901, p = 0.14) or length of follow-up (median: 1.80 vs. 1.00 years, p = 0.22). In subgroup analysis, observational studies from the media used smaller sample sizes (median: 1984 vs. 21136, p = 0.029) and were more likely to be cross-sectional (71% vs. 31%, p<0.001), while no differences were observed for RCTs.

Conclusions

Newspapers were more likely to cover observational studies and less likely to cover RCTs than high impact journals. Additionally, when the media does cover observational studies, they select articles of inferior quality. Newspapers preferentially cover medical research with weaker methodology.     

The Hospital Medical Advisory Committee—The Cabinet of the Medical Staff

Before a hospital medical staff can realistically accept responsibility for the professional practices of its members, a principle initially fostered by the American College of Surgeons and adopted by both the Canadian and American accreditation programs, it must have an effectively functioning medical staff organization. The medical advisory committee is the most important committee of the medical staff organization. A representative composition, adherence to sound administrative principles, and recognition of its prime functions of co-ordination, supervision and jurisdiction will permit this committee—and the total medical staff organization—to discharge adequately the very important responsibilities delegated to them by the governing board of the hospital. Properly structured medical staff bylaws with clearly defined terms of reference assist the smooth functioning of the “cabinet” of the medical staff and safeguard the prerogatives of the individual members of the staff.