August 14, 2008 | by Shannon Hiller
Source: Editor and Publisher
By Joe Strupp
Published: August 11, 2008 4:47 PM ET
NEW YORK Two major journalism groups have issued a joint warning to news outlets to avoid ethical problems that can arise through cozy relationships with health care outlets and hospitals.
The Association of Health Care Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists state in a joint release Monday that they “are concerned about news media that publish or broadcast stories, reports, news releases and interviews prepared or paid for by hospitals.
“The ethics codes of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists call for fair and accurate reporting and editorial independence. But editorial cutbacks, along with pressure on hospitals to market profitable services, may be eroding these standards.”
The statement on the AHCJ Web site adds that: “In several recently reported cases, local hospitals have exerted editorial control by supplying pre-packaged stories and other content to news organizations. In some but not all cases, hospitals paid for this special influence.
“Earlier this year, a Maryland newspaper sold its weekly health page to a local hospital and put the hospital in charge of providing content,” the notice said, but did not name the newspaper. “The arrangement was halted amid community protest after just one published issue. Broadcast examples include airing of hospital-produced segments with hazy branding or no branding at all, leading viewers to believe the local station reported the story. In some cases, the hospital-created material is even transmitted to a station through an affiliated news network.”
The joint statement then cited a list of guidelines for news outlets to follow. Those urge that:
• News organizations should fully disclose the source of any editorial information not independently gathered, whether video, audio, photograph or print material.
• News organizations should not run prepackaged stories produced by hospitals unless they are clearly and continuously labeled as advertisements.
• News organizations should not favor advertisers or sponsors over competing health-care providers when choosing sources or story topics and should strive to employ a wide variety of sources.
• News organizations should develop guidelines for the public disclosure of sponsors and advertisers.
• These guidelines should prohibit news personnel from appearing in or participating in sponsored programming or advertisements.
The groups added that: “Our journalistic mission requires us to hold doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and government agencies accountable to the public. In doing so, we commit to fair and transparent reporting of medical issues.”
More on the statement can be found here.
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.
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