"It’s rather shocking to find a conference of knowledgeable and independent-minded journalists apparently uncritical of the system," freelancer John Lister writes on the Reporting on Health blog, having attended the recent Association of Health Care Journalists meeting. "U.S. health journalists appear to be less critical and analytical in approaching health reform and health policy than when they report on new drugs and treatments."

A series of blog entries on the Secrets of Good Science Writing is running on The Guardian site to promote a new British science writing prize. Advice from Ian Sample: "Your job is to produce an article that is correct, clear and fascinating, that raises implications and proper doubts and leaves your readers grateful, whether they are the world's leading authority on the subject or, more likely, a passer-by who landed on your story by chance."

The doomed cosmonaut hurtled toward earth in a crippled spacecraft, cursing the engineers who put him there. That gripping story from 1967 was the subject of a recent book and a National Public Radio blog entry. But how much of it was true? Natalie Wolchover reviews the evidence on Life's Little Mysteries, raising questions about whether there are different standards of proof for conventional news stories and blog entries.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a report on medical institutions paying for air time in local newscasts and editorial space in newspapers and their web sites — including the Post-Dispatch. Said one news director, regarding a cancer center's funding of news segments featuring its doctors: "I fail to see the conflict. Who's against curing cancer?"