Lethal news: The dexterous infiltration of news media by the tobacco industry agenda

Developing more detailed taxonomies of tobacco industry political activity in low-income and middle-income countries: qualitative evidence from eight countries

“…Recent evidence from HICs suggests that there still remains a need to further tobacco industry denormalisation among journalists and editors. 48 Finally, one technique identified in this study that was not entirely captured by the PDM was the intimidation of advocates. Although forms of intimidation that are included in a PDM technique (discrediting public health organisations and advocates) have been documented in the academic literature, mostly focusing on HICs, [49][50][51][52] the examples found in this study were more informal and covert.…”

Medical misinformation in mass and social media: An urgent call for action, especially during epidemics

“…These communication channels can have both a positive and a negative impact on those who seek health‐related and medical information in the mass and social media, thus acting as double‐edged swords . Unfortunately, available data suggest that the quality of health and medical information provided to the public at large is predominantly of low value, with tobacco‐ or vaping‐related information representing perhaps excellent examples of misinformation 3‐5 . Thus, as the use of mass and social media has been growing exponentially in recent times, scientists have called for an urgent action to prevent public dissemination of unsubstantiated health‐related and even purely medical information 6 …”

Neglecting Major Health Problems and Broadcasting Minor, Uncertain Issues in Lifestyle Science

“…7 It supports and orchestrates favorable coverage for its supposedly "reformed" mission with highly misleading messages on new products. 8 While major disagreements about nutrition are expressed among public health experts for marginal issues that might be intrinsically impossible to settle with any certainty, social media spread misinformation from deniers of vaccination or climate change. False news reports are more easily propagated than true reports.…”

“…For example, even though no scientific study focusing specifically on the harms of tobacco was among the 49 articles with the highest Altmetric scores, the tobacco industry makes inroads into both news and social media . It supports and orchestrates favorable coverage for its supposedly “reformed” mission with highly misleading messages on new products . While major disagreements about nutrition are expressed among public health experts for marginal issues that might be intrinsically impossible to settle with any certainty, social media spread misinformation from deniers of vaccination or climate change.…”