The information the docs were offering was complex and many times serious. Trivializing it could have profound implications. It needed more time to be explained and understood than the 60 second special report on the news with dramatic music and MTV-like camera editing. And the 250 word story in the paper where your part got maybe 20 words didn't cut it, either. This is a very different community with a distinct culture that doesn't translate well in the media. I'm looking forward to reading their stuff. Unfiltered.
I've expressed my frustration with big-media health reporting in the past. And I'm consistently impressed with the scholarship and analysis by many of the medical bloggers. Not to mention some of the illustrative cases and heart-rending stories.
But how much of our writing is really reaching patients? It seems that for every comment or email from the 'lay audience,' I get three or four comments from colleagues in health care. Maybe it's because I'm still a student, or because I don't write as much about heart disease and diabetes. But I'd be curious to hear about the demographics of some of the physician bloggers.