Last week, David Cameron, head of the Scottish Cancer Research programme and coauthor of an Oct 30 Lancet Review about UK mammography screening, gave a superbly balanced presentation of diverging findings about breast screening to a very influential audience-the UK media.The independent analysis-carefully presented at an embargoed press conference in London-highlighted two key findings: how the UK NHS breast screening programme probably saves around 1300 lives, but could lead to overtreatment in around 4000 women every year. The resultant media coverage was variable, at best. Some managed to convey accurate and balanced reporting in headlines and articles (eg, The Guard/an, The Sun), while others emphasised the estimates of overtreatment (eg, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Daily Mail, and Daily Telegraph).
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