Rachel McDermott, a professional blogger, has today warned against the rise of misleading health journalism in the country.
In an article published last week, Rachel meticulously documented all the times she encountered misleading articles and TV advertisements about lifestyle issues. And it is not just about the TV. Rachel wrote intriguing encounters of misleading stories available online also.
“I am taking this opportunity to warn every health conscious person to be careful when looking for information on the Internet or even through TV shows. I have been lied to personally, I have followed wrong recommendations from experts, but I don’t want anyone to go down that road anymore. I know most of you have also encountered misleading stories, but I hope my guide will help you learn how to avoid such fraud,” Rachel said in her article.
According to one study documented on the British Medical Journal for instance, overhyping stories by news media was one factor that has contributed to the rise in misleading lifestyle guides in recent years. Another study done by Gary Salman, a health journalism expert showed similar results. In Gary’s study, out of 500 health articles published online in a period of two years, almost 300 of them contained misleading information. Most of the stories often overplayed the benefits of their guides and recommended treatments while they underplayed the side effects of these treatments.
Confirming Rachel’s claims, Joe Ferguson, founder of jenferuggiareview.com, who recently did Kayla Review said that most people easily trust the information they get on the media. But most notably was an online survey conducted last year that showed almost 70% of people who claimed to have failed in their efforts to achieve health goal followed articles. Joe however says that readers aren’t entirely to blame.
“Although people easily follow the information available online, we can’t wholly blame them. Last year, while helping Rachel research about a certain article, I came across a shocking study that showed how misleading information was created. The research showed that most of the information journalists used to create stories actually came from seemingly credible universities,” Joe said.
According to Rachel however, the rate of exaggeration with health articles pretty much depended on the credibility of their sources.
“If the scientists themselves gave close to correct information, most journalists tended to write accurate stories. If the findings released by researchers appeared exaggerated, in most cases the blog articles also hyped up their stories,” Rachel noted.
But as she concluded, Rachel noted that there are still credible news sources, and people should yearn to only trust such sources.
###
Contact Jen Ferruggia:
Rachel Mcdermott
rachel@jenferruggiareview.com
