Churnalism

Sensible Medicine is a Substack newsletter for people interested in medicine, health policy, outcomes, human biology, drug development, translational science, medical ethics and science communication edited by John Mandrola, Adam Cifu, and Vinay Prasad.

One popular series on the site has been dedicated to churnalism. We define churnalism as the careless and incurious reporting of poorly done biomedical research. Churnalism trades the real story -- why a study is unimportant or proves something other than it contends -- for the easy headline. Sensible Medicine began its coverage of churnalism with a series of introductory articles. Occasional articles have since appeared when media coverage warrants.

Introduction to Churnalism

• Churnalism 1

• Churnalism 2

• Nutrition Churnalism

• Nutrition Churnalism 2

• Exercise Churnalism

• Exercise Churnalism 2

• Activities and Outlook Churnalism

• Activities and Outlook Churnalism 2

• Churnalism Summarized on Video

Live Coverage of Churnalism

• Haircare Churnalism on NPR

• Paxlovid, Long COVID, Preprints and Churnalism

• STAT, Churnalism, and A Zen Parable

• Can We Please Stop Asking if Crossword Puzzles Prevent Dementia?

• A Nutrition Hack That Probably Doesn’t Matter After Thanksgiving

• Churnalism on NPR