You've probably noticed the heavy news coverage of studies published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine about colon cancer screening. If this topic interests you (it should--colon cancer is a leading killer), please also read this commentary by Gary Schwitzer at HealthNewsReview.org. Mr. Schwitzer makes it his business to monitor how health and medical news is presented to the public and to compare how well different news outlets do with respect to accuracy, completeness, cost, and many other parameters. You can read the complete set of criteria here.
This is not an easy read, but it is a worthwhile one. If you think that all news outlets report this material the same way, you may be surprised to learn otherwise. Kudos to Reuters Health. Mr Schwitzer singled them out as doing the best job of reporting on this complicated story, saying that it provided "the most balanced and arguably the most helpful to people at home trying to make decisions about colon cancer screening."
