NCI JOURNAL'S OFFER OF MEDIA 'ASSOCIATION' DEFINITELY NOT FREE
by Rita Rubin
Talk about conflict of interest. Some science writers think the National Cancer Institute went a bit too far when it cut off free subscriptions to its bimonthly journal January 31. Instead of simply asking writers to pay for a subscription to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the institute began requiring them to join its Information Associates Program.
For $160, membership perks include first-class mail delivery of the journal and the accompanying 'Memo to the Media,' the set of press releases on each issue's contents. For $100, reporters receive the journal by third-class mail without the press releases. Those who haven't signed up stopped receiving the 'Memo to the Media' as well as the journal itself.
A number of science writers bridled at the notion of affiliating with an organization they cover. "We're all sort of outraged around here,' says Richard Harris of National Public Radio. 'They could at least put out press releases." NPR declined to become an NCI information associate, Harris says. "We cover stories out of it occasionally, but it's just not worth the money."
The Associated Press arranged what it considers to be a more palatable way of subscribing to the journal. "We didn't mind paying for it as a service, but we found it distasteful that we as a news organization were required to join an organization that was supported and controlled by a federal agency," says Paul Recer, a science writer in the AP's Washington bureau. Instead of making out a check to the NCI Information Associates Program, the AP paid the U.S. treasury. "We buy lots of information from the federal government," explains Recer. "That's an entirely different situation than becoming a member of an organization you cover."
Kate Nagy, press contact for the Journal of the NCI, says it hadn't occurred to the staff that reporters might take offense at the new system. When negative reactions started filtering in, Nagy says, "I think there was a little bit of 'boy, that's a really good point' around here."
The NCI created its Information Associates Program in 1993 as a marketing tool, she says. Nearly 10,000 doctors, nurses, researchers, patients and libraries have become members, the only way they can get the journal.
NCI associates also receive free copies of Journal of the NCI monographs, which individually cost $5.50 to $14; free 24-hour access to PDQ, the NCI's information data base; and toll-free access to CancerFax, which provides peer-reviewed cancer information via fax machine.
That last benefit isn't worth much to science writers for whom the NCI's home in Bethesda, Md., is a local phone call; they've always been able to access CancerFax toll-free. PDQ is available through a number of database vendors, Nagy says, but they charge by the hour or by the document.
Given scientific journals' hunger for coverage, the cancer institute's decision to begin charging for press releases as well as subscriptions may seem regressive. Indeed, the number of press subscriptions has dropped from nearly 300 to around 50 as of early February, according to Nagy. But many news organizations that had received multiple free subscriptions are now paying for only one information associates membership, she says. And, Nagy says, she expects the number to rise once reporters realize the journal was serious about eliminating free subscriptions. "I think our coverage will continue to be pretty good," says Nagy, adding that most of the major daily newspapers and newsweeklies have become associates.
Writers who choose not to join up can still turn to the World Wide Web to access the abstracts and news section from each issue of the Journal of the NCI. The NCI's home page is at http://www.icic.nci.nih.gov.
It's unlikely that journalists will receive similar membership invitations from other federal institutions involved in medical research. The NCI is the only branch of the National Institutes of Health that publishes a peer-reviewed journal. The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences provides its monthly magazine, Environmental Health Perspectives, free to news organizations and eventually hopes to put the entire journal on the Web, says staff assistant Linda Roberts. Reporters who want the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report can get a free mail subscription or download it from the CDC's home page at http://www.cdc.gov.
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Rita Rubin is a medical writer for US News and World Report.