Lunch with The Lancet

摘要

Soon after Lawrence Altman became The New York Times' medical correspondent in 1969, he began looking through the paper's archives to see how medical stories had been covered. He found an omission when he searched for the discovery of insulin, so he wrote a story on it, albeit 50 years later. Unfortunately, the story was scheduled to run on the day the Pentagon Papers broke in 1971- Insulin still made it into that day's paper, but the story was slashed. That kind of priority setting isn't always popular with health professionals, but it happens every day at The New York Times and other news outlets. And Altman, as he made clear over a meal at an Italian restaurant just a few blocks from the Times building in New York, is comfortable with the way that medical coverage competes with stories on Iraq, politics, and the budget.