HealthNewsReview lives on!

Many of us are extremely pleased to hear that Gary Schwitzer and his colleagues at HealthNewsReview have received a major grant from the the Laura and John Arnold Foundation:

Stuart Buck, JD, PhD, the Vice President of Research Integrity for the Arnold Foundation, said:

“With a ‘publish or perish’ mentality, researchers are incentivized to produce findings that are striking enough to grab headlines and citations, even though such findings may be exaggerated. News organizations often pass along such findings uncritically, without carefully considering how a study was conducted and whether the results are based on accurate science. We are pleased to provide funding so that Gary Schwitzer and his team can help the media to evaluate medical studies and press releases with a skeptical eye.”

Among other things, the grant will permit Gary and friends to:

Add new systematic reviews of health care news releases (from sources including medical journals, drug/device manufacturers, academic medical centers). This is the most important new feature made possible by the new grant, allowing us to critique news releases that are often the faucets that turn on health news. 

HNR is one of those examples of social media that validate the medium, offering unvarnished reviews of claims in a field where unverified claims are commonplace.  This grant is a terrific contribution to the public good.