Medical Research and the News Media

To the Editor: Investigators, academic institutions, specialty societies, pharmaceutical companies, and medical-device manufacturers are listed in Campion's editorial (Dec. 2 issue) 1 as benefiting from media exposure — to these should be added medical journals that have a vested interest in attracting media coverage, subscribers, and submissions. Although the New England Journal of Medicine has avoided doing so, many journals have been shown to issue press releases that do not acknowledge limitations in published studies, thus exacerbating misunderstanding on the part of the media and the public. 2 The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons of . . .