The Association of Health Care Journalists has followed up on concerns about how an embargo was handled earlier this month by several federal agencies and a medical journal.
The organization sent letters this week to several federal agencies and a medical journal objecting to the uneven handling of embargoed news. The letters were addressed to officials at the National Institute of Mental Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics to protest the recent handling of embargoes on two autism studies. AHCJ is asking the agencies and academy to clarify embargo policies, saying that once an embargo is broken – once the news is out in any public forum, whether it’s a radio report, a public meeting, a Web site or a newspaper – the embargo must be lifted.
Read the full press release and the letters that were sent:
