Health Feedback, a bipartisan network of scientists who collectively assess the credibility of health media coverage, worked together with the Credibility Coalition to examine the 100 most popular health articles of 2018–specifically, those with the highest number of social media engagements. They studied stories from numerous well-known websites, such as Time, NPR, the Huffington Post, Daily Mail, New Scientist, CNN, and more.
Of the top 10 shared articles, scientists found that three quarters were either misleading or included some false information. Only three were considered “highly credible.” Some lacked context of the issue, exaggerated the harms of a potential threat, or overstated research findings. Many writers either twisted data or simply couldn’t properly interpret it. Others, it seems, had an agenda.
Consider a Guardian story titled “Is everything you think you know about depression wrong?” (shared 469,000 times), which was found to be “not credible and potentially harmful.” The author suggested that most cases of depression are not due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, but from a lack of fulfillment in one’s life.
Health Feedback scientists noted that The Guardian article never backs up its claims with links to original sources or research studies to support its findings.
“This article is an excerpt from a provocative book written by a lay person who is clearly anti-psychiatry, so there is no pretense of providing evidence (except cherry-picking evidence which supports his views) or a balanced viewpoint,” writes Raymond Lam, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Psychiatry. “It is full of wild exaggerations, oversimplifications and inaccuracies.”
The top 10 list featured some real head-scratchers, like one piece declaring bacon as harmful as cigarettes (shared 587,000 times). Time magazine, however, published two credible health articles that made that top 10 list, including “Stem Cell Treatment Could Be A Game-Changer for MS Patients” ( shared 561,000 times).
Article source: https://www.fastcompany.com/90301427/a-shockingly-large-majority-of-health-news-shared-on-facebook-is-fake