BIO-FPX1000_Name_Assignment 7-1

Media Misinformation Source Evaluation Form Date: September 19, 2023 Name: 1. Author or Media Producer Part of assessing the credibility of a source is assessing the credibility of the author. Write 1–2 sentences to address the following questions:  Use a search engine to research the author. Where do they work and what is their education? The author for the article I am using is Hanna Nichols who is a freelance writer for Medical News Today. Her education background includes the University of Brighton, Multimedia degree ( Nichols, 2023)  Is the author a researcher in this field? Hanna Nichols education background is not relevant to the medical field. She is a freelance writer and her articles appear to be medically reviewed by a researcher in the field she is writing about.  Has the author been published in other journals? Hannah Nichols has published many journal articles for Medical News Today. I was not able to identify any other medical news journals she has written for previously. 2. Publisher – Organization or Sponsor Credibility is also dependent on the publisher of the article. There are many ways to publish articles these days, such as organizations, sponsors, academic journals, and more. Write 1–2 sentences to address the following prompts:  Who is the publisher? The publisher is MNT  What else do they publish? This should be located on their website. MedicalNewsToday publishes stories, or articles, relating to health conditions, health products, drugs, health news, and health tools.  What evidence do you have to trust this publisher? The only true evidence I think for trusting the publisher is MNT states they have strict guidelines and only utilize peer-reviewed studies, academic institutions, and medical journals associations. Along with this, it appears the publisher utilizes an expert in that field to review each publication.  As a rule, it is best to avoid public websites, which end in .com . Does this media end in .org (professional organization), .edu (educational organization), or .gov (government agency)? medicalnewstoday.com ends in .com – this makes me unsure if the publisher is a credible source. Upon reviewing the Editorial Process pages, they list the following: Experts in the field of the individual article review and fact check the information and references are listed in each article and only peer reviewed articles, studies, information are used (Nichols, 2022). Page 1 of 4

Media Misinformation Source Evaluation Form 3. Point of View or Bias Credible resources generally support an idea, but the idea should not derive from bias. Write 1–2 sentences to address potential bias. I was unable to identify any potential bias in the article. The article references 19 peer reviewed sources and the format of the article itself and wording doesn’t appear to favor either side.  Does the author seem biased? I don’t think the author displays any bias in the article. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The writer provides information from studies with different standpoints. It seems as though she has reviewed her credible sources and used those to put an overall summary in an organized format from them. She utilizes information from both standpoints.  Does the publisher have an obvious bias, such as political or philosophical agendas? Not that I could identify in my research. MNT states, “…we do not perpetuate bias that…” and “Conscious language is used to expand representation and create empathetic, inclusive, and non-stigmatizing content and is not used for political correctness.” ( MNT Editorial Team, 2021) 4. Intended Audience Audience is fundamental to the credibility of a resource because the author will be writing directly to this audience. Write 1–2 sentences addressing the audience of the resource.  Who is the audience? For example, is the audience a knowledgeable and professional audience in the field, or is the audience a general audience? The articles seem to be written for both the general public and healthcare professionals. MNT states the conscious language used is to be inclusive of all. 5. Content Accuracy of content should be determined before the information is disseminated to others. Write 1–2 sentences to address the accuracy of the content.  Is the information covered fact, opinion, or propaganda? In the article I chose by Hannah Nichols, the information appears to be fact based.  On what did you base your answer? This is my conclusion after researching the information she utilized to write the article and also because the article was reviewed by an expert in that field.  How do you know if the content is accurate? Honestly, I don’t know. My opinion changed multiple times throughout this assignment. When I took a step back, evaluated the information available to me and the sources used, my conclusion was the content is likely accurate. My deciding factors were reviewing the sources Hannah Nichols used to write the article. I fact checked the sources, verified those sources were in fact peer-reviewed or were from a credible research institution, and researched Alisha D. Sellers who medically reviewed the article prior to publication (MNT Editorial Team, 2022). Page 2 of 4

Media Misinformation Source Evaluation Form MNT Editorial Team. (2022) Our editorial process . Medical and health information. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/process Nichols, H. (2023) Hannah Nichols - freelance senior medical writer and editor - linkedin , uk.linkedin.com . https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ hannah -nichols-a40b8a12 Nichols, H. (2022) Probiotics for diarrhea: Do they help and are they safe? , Medical News Today . https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/probiotics-for-diarrhea? utm_source=ReadNext Page 4 of 4