Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

'Boden Food Plate': Novel Interactive Web-based Method for the Assessment of Dietary Intake
Published on: September 18, 2018
Evaluation of accuracy of health studies reported in mass media
Susannah E Motl1, Erin M Timpe, Samantha F Eichner
1Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee, 875 Monroe Avenue, Suite 112, Memphis, TN 38163, USA. smotl@utmem.edu
Objective:
To evaluate communication of clinical research in the written media for completeness and accuracy.
Design:
Observational assessment.
Setting:
United States.
Participants:
Not applicable.
Interventions:
Content of media articles discussing randomized controlled trials was assessed by three reviewers on the basis of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) criteria modified for the mass media. Reports from October 1 through December 31, 2002, published in the top two U.S. daily newspapers (USA Today and Wall Street Journal), weekly news magazines (Time and Newsweek), and daily news Web sources (CNN.com and MSNBC.com) and the corresponding published RCTs were analyzed.
Main Outcome Measures:
Total score and score in 10 specific content areas, leading to classification of coverage as poor, fair, or excellent.
Results:
A total of 60 media reports discussing results of 25 RCTs appeared in these media during the study period. All reports were categorized as fair, and no content area was rated excellent. Several content areas received poor rankings in all and/or most media, including reporting of adverse effects, outcomes data, and statistical tests used. Media reports written by newswire services were rated more highly than were those prepared by nonnewswire services, but only 1 of 10 criteria had statistically significant differences.
Conclusion:
Mass media reports of RCTs are often incomplete. This type of reporting may misinform the lay public and may lead to questions about the applicability of the results to individual patients.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Bias in Epidemiological Studies
Errors occurring during blood pressure monitoring
Several factors...
The Availability Heuristic
Introduction to Epidemiology
Accuracy and Errors in Hypothesis Testing
In hypothesis testing, the probability of making a Type I error, denoted as α, is commonly set at 0.05. This significance level indicates a 5% chance...
