Medical Journalism

Barbara Gastel

Medical journalism refers both to the process and the product of gathering information on medical topics and presenting it via the mass media or specialized media. This entry describes the scope of medical journalism, identifies needed skills, notes some issues that can arise, and briefly discusses the education of medical journalists. Medical journalism can encompass a wide variety of topics, media, and genres. Among major topics of medical journalism are medical research findings, disease outbreaks and other public health concerns, healthful living, and health policy. Traditionally, medical journalism has consisted primarily of newspaper health reporting. Today, however, medical journalism appears in a wide range of media, including not only newspapers but also consumer magazines, specialized magazines for health professionals, radio, television, and Web sites. It also appears in news sections of medical journals. Genres of medical journalism include news stories, various types of feature stories (such as overview stories, The ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.