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Letters (85)

Published on in Vol 7, No 4 (2005):

"Is Cybermedicine Killing You?" — University College London (UCL) Media Strategy Explained: Author's Reply

"Is Cybermedicine Killing You?" — University College London (UCL) Media Strategy Explained: Author's Reply

"Is Cybermedicine Killing You?" — University College London (UCL) Media Strategy Explained: Author's Reply

Authors of this article:

Gunther Eysenbach
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    Letter

    Corresponding Author:

    Gunther Eysenbach, MD, MPH

    Centre for Global eHealth Innovation

    University of Toronto and University Health Network

    190 Elizabeth Street

    Toronto, ON M5G 2C4

    Canada

    Phone: +1 416 340 4800 ext 6427

    Fax:+1 416 340 3595

    Email: geysenba@uhnres.utoronto.ca




    The UCL media strategy as described in the letter of Fourniol has been understood by us and has been accurately described in our editorial [1]. In fact, it is exactly this strategy which has been criticized as insufficient (some may say even unethical). It would have been more in the public's interest to immediately and unambiguously disseminate the fact that these major errors and misinformation occurred (and their magnitude), rather than waiting many months for the revision to be published. The strategy of the UCL media office is akin to a car manufacturer not recalling a faulty vehicle immediately after errors become apparent, but waiting first for a new model to be developed before starting a campaign to exchange the flawed model.

    1. Eysenbach G, Kummervold PE. "Is cybermedicine killing you?" - the story of a Cochrane disaster. J Med Internet Res 2005 Jun 30;7(2):e21 [FREE Full text] [Medline] [CrossRef]

    Edited by G Eysenbach; This is a non–peer-reviewed article. submitted 18.07.05; accepted 18.07.05; published 28.07.05

    Copyright

    © Gunther Eysenbach. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 28.7.2005. Except where otherwise noted, articles published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, including full bibliographic details and the URL (see "please cite as" above), and this statement is included.