Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Online first
    • Online first
  • Current issue
    • Current issue
  • Archive
    • Archive
  • Submit a paper
    • Online submission site
    • Information for authors
  • About the journal
    • About the journal
    • Editorial board
    • Information for authors
    • FAQs
    • Thank you to our reviewers
      • Thank you to our reviewers
    • American Federation for Medical Research
  • Help
    • Contact us
    • Feedback form
    • Reprints
    • Permissions
    • Advertising
  • BMJ Journals

User menu

  • Login

Search

  • Advanced search
  • BMJ Journals
  • Login
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
JIM

Advanced Search

  • Online first
    • Online first
  • Current issue
    • Current issue
  • Archive
    • Archive
  • Submit a paper
    • Online submission site
    • Information for authors
  • About the journal
    • About the journal
    • Editorial board
    • Information for authors
    • FAQs
    • Thank you to our reviewers
    • American Federation for Medical Research
  • Help
    • Contact us
    • Feedback form
    • Reprints
    • Permissions
    • Advertising

Sensational media reporting is common when describing COVID-19 therapies, detection methods, and vaccines

Ryan Ottwell, Madison Puckett, Taylor Rogers, Savannah Nicks, Matt Vassar
DOI: 10.1136/jim-2020-001760 Published 26 July 2021
Ryan Ottwell
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Madison Puckett
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Madison Puckett
Taylor Rogers
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Savannah Nicks
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Matt Vassar
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Word choice is important when describing medical therapies, especially during COVID-19 outbreaks. The public relies on news media for health information and medical misinformation is often spread through news stories.1 Medical misinformation can affect health outcomes and polarize the public’s distrust in medical science.2 During a pandemic, the public’s trust in science and medical professionals is crucial. Thus, one would question the ethical responsibility of journalists, public officials, and others when using exaggerated language like game changers in describing COVID-19 therapies when only preliminary data are available.3 We evaluated the use of 11 prespecified terms used in news stories for exaggeration. We evaluated whether each new outlet was Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode) certified—the oldest and most reliable indicator of credible, trustworthy, online health information.4

We adapted our methodology and superlative (defined as ‘an exaggerated or hyperbolical expression of praise’)5 terms from a previous study.6 Google News was searched from December 1, 2019 to March 24, 2020 for 11 prespecified terms with ‘coronavirus’ and ‘COVID-19’. Articles were screened and data were extracted by investigators (RO, TR, SN, MP) in duplicate, blinded fashion. Articles were excluded if they: (1) did not cover COVID-19, or (2) did not use a superlative to describe a therapy, vaccine, or detection method in an exaggerated manner. A pilot-tested Google form was used to extract data from each article which included the following items: article URL, publishing entity, superlative term(s) and frequency used, author’s background, whether the article described a therapy, detection method, or vaccine, and if it included clinical data. When articles describe a therapy, but fail to mention the treatment or treatment class, then ‘not mentioned’ was selected as the articles category. We determined Health on the Net’s Code of Conduct (HONcode) status by searching each website for the HON seal and cross-checked each website with their database.4

We screened 5636 news articles, of which 502 were focused on COVID-19 therapies. Of these 502 articles, 255 contained superlatives used in an exaggerated manner (255/502, 50.8%). We identified 616 superlative instances describing different therapies, vaccines, and detection methods. Only 16 articles provided clinical data (16/255, 6.3%) (table 1). Zero websites were HONcode certified (0/255, 0.0%).

View this table:
  • View inline
  • View popup
Table 1

The frequency of news articles, superlative instances, and other general characteristics of news articles focused on the top 6 most popular COVID-19 topics

The use of superlatives to sensationalize potential benefits of therapies, vaccines, and detection methods for COVID-19 was common in news articles that lacked data to support their claims. No websites were HONcode certified.4

Health-related misinformation is a challenge that has adversely affected public health.7 Publications suggest that healthcare professionals and journals have a larger online presence to combat false, inaccurate, or incomplete health information. Thus, to lessen the promotion of unfounded ‘cures’, ‘miracles’, and ‘life-saving’ treatments, vaccines, and detection methods surrounding COVID-19, we urge healthcare professionals to use the internet as a tool to combat these sensationalistic terms. We recommend that physicians join the Association for Healthcare Social Media—a non-profit organization that promotes healthcare professionals to establish an online presence in combating health-related misinformation.8

Ethics statements

Patient consent for publication

Not required.

Footnotes

  • Contributors RO and MV conceived and planned the project. MP, SN, TR, and RO completed the data extraction and analysis portion of the project. RO and MV were responsible for project oversight and manuscript writing. MP carried out edits and submission of projects for publication.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

This article is made freely available for use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usage

References

  1. ↵
    1. Armstrong PW ,
    2. Naylor CD
    . Counteracting health misinformation: a role for medical journals? JAMA 2019;321:1863–4.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  2. ↵
    1. Merchant RM ,
    2. Asch DA
    . Protecting the Value of Medical Science in the Age of Social Media and “Fake News”. JAMA 2018;320:2415–6.doi:10.1001/jama.2018.18416
    OpenUrlPubMed
  3. ↵
    1. Gautret P ,
    2. Lagier J-C ,
    3. Parola P , et al
    . Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2020;56:105949. doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105949
  4. ↵
    HONcode certification - 8 ethical principles. Available: https://www.hon.ch/en/certification.html [Accessed 30 Mar 2020].
  5. ↵
    Superlative. Available: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/superlative [Accessed 31 Jan 2021].
  6. ↵
    1. Abola MV ,
    2. Prasad V
    . The use of Superlatives in cancer research. JAMA Oncol 2016;2:139–41.doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.3931
    OpenUrl
  7. ↵
    1. Chou W-YS ,
    2. Oh A ,
    3. Klein WMP
    . Addressing health-related misinformation on social media. JAMA 2018;320:2417–8.doi:10.1001/jama.2018.16865
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  8. ↵
    1. Rubin R
    . Getting social: physicians can counteract misinformation with an online presence. JAMA. 2019;322:598.doi:10.1001/jama.2019.10779
    OpenUrl
PreviousNext
Back to top
Vol 69 Issue 6 Table of Contents
Journal of Investigative Medicine: 69 (6)
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • AFMR Highlights
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on JIM.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Sensational media reporting is common when describing COVID-19 therapies, detection methods, and vaccines
(Your Name) has sent you a message from JIM
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the JIM web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Print
Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Sensational media reporting is common when describing COVID-19 therapies, detection methods, and vaccines
Ryan Ottwell, Madison Puckett, Taylor Rogers, Savannah Nicks, Matt Vassar
Journal of Investigative Medicine Aug 2021, 69 (6) 1256-1257; DOI: 10.1136/jim-2020-001760

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Cite This
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • Endnote
  • MLA
Loading
Sensational media reporting is common when describing COVID-19 therapies, detection methods, and vaccines
Ryan Ottwell, Madison Puckett, Taylor Rogers, Savannah Nicks, Matt Vassar
Journal of Investigative Medicine Aug 2021, 69 (6) 1256-1257; DOI: 10.1136/jim-2020-001760
Download PDF

Share
Sensational media reporting is common when describing COVID-19 therapies, detection methods, and vaccines
Ryan Ottwell, Madison Puckett, Taylor Rogers, Savannah Nicks, Matt Vassar
Journal of Investigative Medicine Aug 2021, 69 (6) 1256-1257; DOI: 10.1136/jim-2020-001760
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
Respond to this article
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
  • Article
    • Ethics statements
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • Correspondence on ‘Low-dose thrombolysis for submassive pulmonary embolism’ by Yilmaz and Uzun
  • Correspondence on ‘COVID-19 vaccine efficacy in a rapidly changing landscape’
  • Correspondence on ‘Prospective predictive performance comparison between clinical gestalt and validated COVID-19 mortality scores’ by Soto-Mota et al
Show more Letter to the editor

Similar Articles

 

CONTENT

  • Latest content
  • Current issue
  • Archive
  • Sign up for email alerts
  • RSS

JOURNAL

  • About the journal
  • Editorial board
  • Subscribe
  • Thank you to our reviewers
  • American Federation for Medical Research

AUTHORS

  • Information for authors
  • Submit a paper
  • Track your article
  • Open Access at BMJ

HELP

  • Contact us
  • Reprints
  • Permissions
  • Advertising
  • Feedback form

© 2023 American Federation for Medical Research