Bio: Ray Moynihan, a 1998-99 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, has been a reporter/broadcaster with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for over ten years. He graduated with an arts degree in 1984, and began his career in journalism at a community radio station in Brisbane, Queensland. He is the author of a recently published book titled, Too Much Medicine? Which explores the current shift towards the use of evidence-based medicine and some of the commercial imperatives operating within and upon the medical profession. He just completed a three part television series, based on the book, that includes interviews with those at the forefront of evidence-based medicine and the Cochrane Collaboration. He has received wide recognition for his work, including awards earned for excellence in medicine and scientific reporting.
Placement: Harvard University
Mentors: Robert Blendon, Sc.D.; Stephen Soumerai, Sc.D.
Project: Media Reporting of Medications: Good Information or Misleading Hype?
Description: Moynihan's study was designed to explore the extent to which U.S. newspapers and TV news programs are offering the public good, balanced information about the costs and benefits of medications. He analyzed five years of U.S. newspaper and TV coverage of three drugs--Pravachol-pravastatin, Fosamax-alendronate, and aspirin--investigating how benefits and harms were framed, and whether relevant industry ties of those quoted were revealed.