Classics in ECT: ECT and the Media, BMJ, 1977

 "Classics in ECT" brings you this LTE from The British Medical Journal in 1977:

ECT and the media.

Anderson JF, MacDonald EJ, Morrison A, Armit KM, MacGregor DM.Br Med J. 1977 Oct 22;2(6094):1081-2. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6094.1081.PMID: 922428

The pdf is here.

If you only read one thing about ECT this week, I hope it is this (the first letter, not the following two, although they are interesting as well...). This LTE was followed by no less than six (6!) retorts in the BMJ over the next year, some friendly, some decidedly hostile, including one from the "Acting National Chairman, Citizens' Commission on Human Rights, a Mental Health Reform Group sponsored by the Church of Scientology."

I do love this letter about the media; without having known about it, we published Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in the News: "Balance" Leads to Bias, JECT 2017; 33(1):1-2.

That piece describes the same flawed concept, that presenting half scientific/clinical fact, and half distortion ("the other side"), is fair and balanced reporting.