Media Coverage of Health:
Murky Findings, Mixed Messages, Public Angst

Special Colloquium and Live Webcast
Tuesday, May 9, 2006, 3:30 - 5:15 P.M.
Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave., Boston

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) will sponsor a special colloquium to examine practical steps that might be taken by journalists, health researchers, journal editors and communication specialists to strengthen news coverage of health research. The colloquium will also be available as a live webcast. It will also be available on demand after the event is over.

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A steady drumbeat of front-page controversies, surprises, and scandals over the past two years--Vioxx, obesity-related mortality rates, estrogen, calcium, low-fat, and stem cell research fraud, among others--threatens to seriously damage the credibility of health research, creating a risk that the public will turn away from public health pronouncements. As a recent USA Today editorial put it, "Yesterday's conventional wisdom is today's myth. No wonder so many are skeptical about whether any study can be believed." And, The New York Times recently carried this headline: "Reporters Find Science Journals Harder to Trust, But Not Easy to Verify."

Speakers at the May 9 event will include:

Dr. Lawrence Altman, medical correspondent of The New York Times
Dr. Tim Johnson, medical editor of ABC News
Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital
Dr. Drummond Rennie, deputy editor of The Journal of the American Medical Association
Dr. Meir Stampfer, chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH
Dr. Jay Winsten, associate dean and Frank Stanton director of HSPH's Center for Health Communication

This program is part of a colloquium series on Mass Media and Health sponsored by HSPH's Center for Health Communication in collaboration with the School's Division of Public Health Practice and the Office of Communications.

The colloquium will be held in the School's Kresge Building, Snyder Auditorium 677 Huntington Ave., Boston.

For further information on the event contact:
Robin Herman (617) 432-4752 rherman@hsph.harvard.edu