By Sue Rochman

Evaluating Health News

By Sue Rochman

Want to learn more about how to be a critical consumer of medical and science news? Health News Review (HealthNewsReview.org) is a great place to start. Founded by Gary Schwitzer, the director of the health journalism graduate program at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, the website uses a multidisciplinary team of judges to assess health stories for accuracy, balance and completeness. By reading the critics’ reviews of current news stories, consumers can learn how to apply the judges’ criteria to the stories they read and hear themselves. Stories are evaluated based on the extent to which the reporter has addressed the novelty, availability and cost of treatment; described the quality of the evidence being reported; made use of appropriate statistics; and spoken with a wide range of experts on the topic. The website also provides background information on topics such as off-label drug use, statistics, animal and lab studies, and clinical trials.