Issues in science writing

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How much information on individuals should be released in public health emergencies? Three organizations — the Association of Health Care Journalists and two others composed of public officials — have just issued recommendations after meeting on that issue. "The meeting was prompted by the wide variation in information released by state and local public health officials about people in their localities who died in the H1N1 pandemic of 2009," the introduction says.

Pressure from an organization of health journalists, among others, prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to change its embargo policies last week. Previously, reporters had been barred from speaking to outside experts about medical device approvals until the approval's embargo was lifted, making it difficult to prepare a complete story in advance. Details from the Association of Health Care Journalists and Embargo Watch.

From the Guardian, more on the medical ghostwriting business. Drug companies use "publication planning agencies" to control what's written about their products, Elliot Ross writes. The agencies "target the most influential academics to act as authors, draft the articles, and ensure that these include clearly-defined branding messages and appear in the most prestigious journals." A medical ethicist calls it "an epistemological morass where you can't trust anything."

From ArsTechnica, a critique of recent reports from the margins of journalism, one attributing bee deaths to cell phone radiation, and the other accusing drug companies of covering up the cancer-curing properties of something called dichloroacetate. That neither report came from an especially prestigious outlet is beside the point, writes Jonathan M. Gitlin; gullible readers were likely still taken in. "No wonder the general public's science literacy is still so poor."

Who really wrote that medical journal article? Two posts from the Scholarly Kitchen archives examine medical ghost writers, the practice whereby professional writers are paid for unacknowledged work in scientific literature. "I believe I provide a service to those who need assistance presenting their findings to the scientific community," an anonymous ghost says in a Q&A. "If you have a great study but present it badly you won’t be seeing it anytime soon in NEJM."

That's the question journalist John Pope addresses in a post for the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Prompted by questions from mental health specialists at a recent meeting of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, Pope relays some of their concerns: "Would a therapist be exerting undue influence by asking a patient to speak to a reporter?" "Would the patient feel obligated to comply as a condition of treatment?"

"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."

Where's the line between emailed press releases and emailed spam? Not where many PR professionals think, says Jason Falls on Social Media Explorer. If you email your press release to reporters who "do not know you and didn’t ask you to email them, you are — at most — introducing yourself. If you do anything more than that, you are spamming them," Falls said. Don't miss the ensuing battle in his comments section.

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."