Journalistic Deficit Disorder - Article Example

Journalistic Deficit Disorder Many researches on illnesses that have no cure have been carried out widely all over the world. Such diseases include cancer, Human Immuno deficiency Virus/ Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/ AIDS), Parkinson’s disease, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among others. In his book “Public Trust in Medical Research: Ethics, Law and Accountability. Radcliffe Series.” Cheung Philip argues that researches in the medical field are misleading the public giving them hopes that the development of cures of certain diseases is in final stages and the cure should be unveiled within a short time (Cheung 12).

Journalists and the media should be blamed for this false hope given to the public especially to people who are sick or have loved ones who are ailing (The Economist). The article uses attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as an example. This is a disease that affects mostly children. Of all journals published on the research on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), only a few have criticized outcomes of these researches despite the fact that no cure has since been developed (The Economist).

The articles cite that journalist do this because news of innovations generate a lot of things to write about. They do not consider the facts that face the issues they right about (The Economist). The article blames the misleading of the public to the media houses and journalists because they publish the research without asking for the evidence that supposedly came from the research (The Economist). It is crucial for journalists to insist on accessing the evidence that lead to the conclusion that new cure are about to be developed.

This will help in assuring the public that the researches are based on facts and evidences. Works Cited The Economist. Journalistic deficit disorder: What newspapers don’t say matters as much as what they do? Available at: http://www.economist.com/node/21563275?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/journalistic_deficit_disorderhttp://journalistsresource.org/reference/research/research-chat-andrew-revkin-covering-scholarship# Cheung Philip. Public Trust in Medical Research: Ethics, Law and Accountability. London: Radcliffe, 2007.