Reporting or Amusing?
Here's an example of sometimes what happens when a newspaper or magazine reports on medical information. Sometimes the entertainment gets in the way of reporting.
When the New York Times ran an article on a study suggesting a cholesterol-lowering drug can shrink fatty deposits in coronary arteries, other newspapers reported on that article. But it's what the media didn't say that may be a bigger story.
One headline from a Florida paper read, "Report: Cholesterol-lowering drug can shrink fatty deposits." How does the average reader take this? As fact. But if we dissect this article, we see something else: fiction.
What the article really says is a study has suggested that a particular cholesterol-lowering drug (Mevacor) may be able to "halt and reverse fatty deposits." Let's look at some of the words used in the article.
One paragraph uses the word "suggestion" in relating to what the study showed: "This is the first suggestion that a single drug could halt and reverse fatty deposits." But the very next paragraph uses the word "significant": "The study showed that significant progress could be made..." A study which makes a suggestion is not necessarily significant. To a researcher, the word significant infers profound or pivotal, which this study was not. But in general conversation, significant can mean simply suggestive. In this case the media is twisting tongues.
But the language of the article influences the reader right from the start. Before the end of the very first sentence, powerful words like "major" and "new" describe the research: "A major new study..." This study was never done before, so it is new. But how major is it? No one will ever know, not even the researchers. That's because the study was not completed—it was terminated at the halfway point. A better word might be "inconclusive". (A monitoring committee, which looks at ethical and safety issues, stopped the study.)
Always look for objectivity in an article describing research. One concern should be who paid for the study? In this case, it was the company who makes the drug being investigated. And that may be the most disturbing aspect of the whole study. Industry funded research is usually driven by drug companies, with their intent to maximize market opportunities. Patients taking the drug used in this study spend a total of one hundred million dollars a month!
Perhaps the most important feature of a good study is that it gets published. In part because when submitted to a medical journal, every aspect of the study is reviewed with an objective eye. This study was not published, and it probably won't be published because it was never even completed.
Reading through your daily newspaper can sometimes be like the innocent game of "telephone". One whispers what they heard from another and passes it on to the next, and so on. You often end with a phrase entirely different from the one first repeated. While articles on movie stars and the latest gossip may be entertaining, information on your health should be portrayed accurately. As that's not always the case, it's up to you to read these articles with an objective eye.