David Tuller, a graduate professor of health care journalism at the University of California, uses the National Sleep Foundation’s pharmaceutical industry ties and the lack of mention of them in stories about sleep foundation studies to question the current structure of health care journalism and to advocate a new model based on a public health perspective.
Tuller contends that few journalists have had “training in how to read a study, much less a general conception of public health.”
He cites a need for improved coverage of the medical needs of veterans, the health impacts of climate change, the battle over reproductive rights, the threat of bioterrorism, and contaminated food saying that “accurate and actionable information about any of them demands that we have knowledgeable, trained communicators who can keep us informed, guard against undue corporate influence on research and on health policy decisions, clearly interpret the nuances of epidemiologic studies, and generally look out for the public’s interests.”
