Media Doctor in the Canadian Context: Assessing an Audit and Feedback Mechanism to improve the Quality of Medical Reporting in Canada

Author

Allan Cassels

Organization

Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS)

Published

2006

Summary

The purpose of this report is to analyse the quality of media reporting on medical news and to assess the change in quality over time. The objective of the study was to determine how the quality of medical stories changed since the launch of Media Doctor by using a time-series approach in assessing 93 news reports and interviewing editors and journalists from major Canadian news outlets both before and after the launch of the website. Media Doctor Canada was established through a grant to the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS) from the Office of Consumer Affairs at Industry Canada in April, 2005. The goal of this project was to improve consumer knowledge of new medical technologies by developing a web-based system for monitoring the accuracy and quality of medical news reports and provide feedback to journalists on how well they are interpreting medical treatments for Canadian consumers.

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OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database