Just as Hymowitz discusses this “child-man” ethic and its negative influence on society, in “Survival of the Wrongest”, written by David H Freedman, the author discusses the ethics health journals must follow and their effects on the public. Though many health reporters write on a variety of topics, they owe their public credible articles which follow the scientific method, are unbiased, and ensure that their data and evidences are easy to understand. Health reporters owe their public accurate and credible articles and journals. If an argument/article is incorrect, it can negatively impact the readers’ health. For example, if an article stated incorrectly that “weight loss is an impossible task” (398) people might think that being health …show more content…
Though writing a certain controversial topic might make the author more money, or attract more readers through clickbait, this can cause severe consequences. The argument mentioned above might have been interesting to read, because it presents a unique take on the topic. By seeing a certain title, a reader browsing through news stories might click on it, simply out of curiosity. In clicking this, the writers would make much more money than writing an article that mentioned boring or dry results. However, these inaccurate articles can have negative impacts on the people reading it. If someone was beginning to make differences in their lifestyle, by exercising and eating better, more nutritious foods, then read this essay, they might stop their efforts, because “a scientist” said that it wasn’t worth it. In this way, this incorrect article would affect this individual’s health in a negative manner. These health reporters must realize that they have an important job—they …show more content…
The health reporters must not include bias in their argument. Some writers might have unconscious bias regarding a certain topic due to their personal connection to it, or a motive behind writing about a certain topic. However, when writing the essay, they must ensure that they bring no bias to their research, but instead objectively evaluate the argument using the scientific method as accurately as possible. Even if they might not agree with the results of a certain analysis, or perhaps it doesn’t match up to their hypothesis, they cannot alter it incorrectly just to do so. As I mentioned above, an incorrect article can seriously affect an individual’s lifestyle, so keeping the article unbiased is vital when writing health journals and articles. Health reporters must also use the scientific method accurately when doing their research. This method includes creating a hypothesis, testing variables, recording them with certain guidelines, and creating a conclusion that is in terms with the data. If this method is used incorrectly—if a health journalist measures his variables incorrectly, or doesn’t accurately record his data, the results might be skewed and the information presented would be inaccurate. Finally, most importantly, health journalists must ensure that their data is simple and
Recently an article titled “A Grizzly Answer for Obesity” (Corbit, 2014) featured in the op-ed section of The New York Times. Through the course of the article its author Kevin Corbit - a senior biotech scientist - talks about the possibility of human gene mutation to solve the ever growing problem of obesity. The author’s objective is to reach a wide audience with no specialist knowledge in the field of genetic transitions. Kevin has extensively used elements such as language, structure, evidence and assumptions to shape the reader’s opinion. In the following essay I would specifically examine the usage of language and evidence employed by the author. Despite the presence of numerous examples of fallacious comparisons the author has perfectly used the language to his advantage and is successful in reaching a convincing conclusion.
Sarah Cullen and Margaret Klein, “Respect for Patients, Physicians, and the Truth,” in L. Vaughn, Bioethics: 148-55
Moss uses more real-life examples and understands how to appeal to readers to prove his point and figures out the perfect combination of ethos, pathos, and logos in the stories to build his case, a great example of this being Jeffrey Dunn’s story. Dunn worked as an executive for Coca-Cola in 2001 whose main goal was to drive Coca-Cola into poor areas and convince “heavy drinkers” of the soda to drink more. On a business trip to Brazil, Dunn realized that “these people need a lot of things, but they don’t need a Coke” and decided to push the company in a healthier direction. This choice led to Dunn’s eventual firing, and the tale ends with Dunn marketing baby carrots as a snack food (Moss, 491-494). This story not only appeals to pathos by getting to readers’ emotions, but also to ethos and logos because Dunn is a credible source and gives an authentic experience that adds to the credible feel of the article. Pollan’s article has a very different connotation than Moss’s article, and reads as an appeal to authority right from the start. Pollan’s primary occupation is described as an author of food and eating books, not food scientist, however, Pollan’s entire article is based off of his opinion of how Americans should eat (Pollan, 420). Pollan’s rules, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” might be a fine setup for a fad diet, but these rules don’t necessarily provide a reasonable solution for America’s obesity problem. Escape from the Western Diet is littered with logical fallacies that stunt its credibility, such as the False Dichotomy, Begging the Question, and the Hasty Generalization. In Pollan’s quote, “people eating a Western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets” (Pollan, 421), the Hasty Generalization fallacy is apparent, as not every person who eats a Western diet is prone to chronic diseases. The quote, “the health care industry...stands to
A testimonial appeal stemming from the article, was taken up by Denmark, who, in 2011 said that “any foods high in saturated fat” were to be taxed, and this was passed into law. A secondary testimonial came from the United Nations, which declared that heart disease and “uncatchable” diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, etc. pose a greater risk now than ever before. Another testimonial taken from the text was this: “Western diet is now dominated by “low-cost, highly-proc...
Slosar, J. P. (2004). Ethical decisions in health care. Health Progress. pp. 38-43. Retrieved from http://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/january-february-2004/ethical-decisions-in-health-care
Denise Dudzinski, PhD, MTS, Helene Starks, PhD, MPH, Nicole White, MD, MA (2009) ETHICS IN MEDICINE. Retrieved from: http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pad.html
What determines a good' article from a bad' one? In the Des Moines Register on February 3, there was an article titled, More parents, doctors refuse to put kids on antidepressants," was written by Marilyn Elias. Elias is a well-known writer from USA Today, and has written on topics such as stress, marriage, and health. The article was about the effects on children, ages 18 and younger, taking depression pills. There are many elements that establish a good' article from a bad' one. Some of these elements would be the content, reader, and credibility.
Gedge, E., & Waluchow, W. (2012). Readings in health care ethics (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press.
Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex J. London, and John D. Arras. "The Principles Approach." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. 36-37. Print.
Jecker, N. (1990). Integrating medical ethics with normative theory: Patient advocacy and social responsibility. 11(2), 125-139.
Freedman B. Equipoise and the ethics of clinical research. N Engl J Med. 1987; 317(3): 141-145
McGee, Glenn and Arthur L. Caplan. "Medical Ethics." Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997: Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
20 Feb. 2014. Nardo, Don. A. Biomedical Ethics.
Garrett, T. M., Baillie, H. W., & Garrett, R. M. (2010). Health care ethics: Principles and problems (5thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Print media provides its readers with information, but what the reader very often does not recognize is the bias within the articles. Bias is not so easily recognized. Writers have the gift to blend the bias in with their work. It is so well done, that in order to see the bias, one must thoroughly analyze the article. A person must also know what the types of bias are and how they are used. There are many different types of bias that are used in health related articles such as statistics and crowd counts, word choice and tone, and through omission. Print media demonstrates these types of bias in many articles.