I urge all reporters covering health to read Tara Haelle’s piece, “Context, context, context: How journalists can avoid confusing readers with the latest research findings”, written for the Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, before embarking on reporting on this crucial subject. By not utilising in-house resources, reporters fail to provide context to their storiesThe dictum “a text without a context is a pretext” may have theological origins but it has a bearing on journalism. However, there are some stand-alone stories that have failed to provide the context, forcing a follow-up report that repudiates the earlier report. In stand-alone stories, the context is woven into the text. A rose may be a rose in any context and may smell as sweet in any other name.

Source: The Hindu June 12, 2016 19:30 UTC