For nearly thirty years, the editors of medical journals have relied on public disclosure of researchers’ conflicts of interest to alert readers to the possibility of bias in published studies, especially when they are funded by the medical industry. It has been well documented in medical literature that the outcomes of industry-funded research tend to favor the sponsors’ commercial needs.

In recent years, journalism has followed suit. Many media outlets have begun requiring reporters to report the industry ties of quoted expert sources. The Association of Health Care Journalists puts disclosure at the top of its statement of principles. But some reporters still omit this basic information about the clinicians and researchers who generate medical news:

A New York Times front-page story on lung-cancer screening, by Gina Kolata, led with the claim—based on a study in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine—that “millions of lives could be saved” by giving smokers annual CT scans for lung cancer. Earlier this year, The Cancer Letter, an investigative weekly, revealed that the study had been funded in part by a nonprofit called the Foundation for Lung Cancer: Early Detection, Prevention & Treatment, which, in turn, was wholly funded by the Vector Group, the parent company of tobacco giant Liggett & Myers. The Times covered the revelations of the tobacco-industry link with another front-page story.

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