October 15, 2004
4 min read
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Look to OSN to ‘get the whole story’

It takes a commitment to unbiased reporting and news delivery, throughout the world, at every level of the editorial process, to deliver to our readers unmatched ophthalmic news.

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With media outlets from the New York Times to the New Republic to CBS News capturing headlines in the past year for faulty reporting and alleged lax source checking, you may have and should have begun to question all the news sources that cross your desk. Perhaps you have looked at Ocular Surgery News and wondered, “How does OSN measure up in its quality of news delivery?”

The OSN editorial team that puts together each issue of OSN — including staff writers, editors, production editors and myself — decided almost a year ago, in light of the criticisms of news organizations and the inherent intimacy between clinicians and industry in our specialty, that it was important to evaluate our own editorial policies.

We knew that a frank look at ourselves might hurt our pride in some areas, but we decided that the positive that could come from this evaluation — fulfilling our commitment to our readership — made it worthwhile to look critically at our editorial philosophy.

To begin the process, we evaluated recent reader feedback to learn which qualities are most important to you in a news source. Then we looked at ourselves critically in light of those findings.

This year-long process has confirmed in our minds that we have been doing a lot of things right all along. In other areas we have adjusted some editorial policies to make our behavior more transparent. We want you to understand our editorial policies and encourage you to challenge them and also compare them to the editorial policies of other ophthalmic news publications you receive.

What is important to you?

We frequently survey our readers through focus groups, readership surveys and casual interactions at meetings. You have made it clear that the quality you value most in a newspaper is unbiased reporting. This is followed closely by trust and integrity of the publication.

In the mid-1990s, because of our ongoing commitment to our readership, the OSN section editors, in-house editorial staff, senior management and I developed this mission statement:

Ocular Surgery News strives to be a global, definitive information source for ophthalmic professionals by delivering timely, accurate, authoritative and balanced reports on clinical issues, socioeconomic topics and ophthalmic industry developments, as well as presenting clinically relevant information on surgical techniques and medical therapies for the benefit of the patient.”

Our commitment to delivering accurate and balanced news articles to you is so important to us that we print this mission statement and our editorial policies in the front of every issue of OSN.

OSN seeks to provide to you with all of ophthalmology — all specialties, all sides of a story, every angle. Only in OSN do you get the whole story.

Ophthalmology is all we do

To make sure that we get the whole story, we have made a commitment that our writers and editors report, write and edit only ophthalmology. This is a rarity in news organizations. Our staff writers are full-time employees of SLACK Incorporated who work exclusively on Ocular Surgery News. The in-house staff for the OSN News Group is 18 people strong. Everyone on the OSN staff goes through training, including observation of surgery, so as to better report on, edit and deliver ophthalmic news. So when you are interviewed by an OSN writer or talk to an OSN editor at a meeting, you can truly discuss ophthalmology.

We feel that educating our in-house staff about ophthalmology is the only way to report the whole story.

Unbiased new reporting

The OSN editors take a number of steps to ensure that we present to the readers unbiased news.

OSN is committed to presenting both sides of a story — either in the context of an individual article or over a span of several articles throughout the publication. Sometimes a writer may report one side of a story directly from a podium presentation. When that happens, our editors seek out other voices for balance in the same or separate articles.

To fairly respond to any questions of accuracy, we allow unlimited space for correspondence and commentary. We are committed to quick publication of errata, and we can and do make immediate changes when necessary on our Web site, the OSN SuperSite.

OSN has a strict editorial acceptance policy: “All articles in Ocular Surgery News are reviewed by the Chief Medical Editor and the Editor in Chief, who are solely responsible for deciding upon their acceptance, rejection or need for revision, based upon their appropriateness to the mission of the publication.”

This is the first of the OSN editorial policies that are also printed in every issue of OSN.

OSN has a Copy Desk staffed with three full-time editors who are committed to presenting the most accurate information possible.

We solicit and publish financial disclosures from all physician sources.

All of these factors are key to a fair and balanced dissemination of information. Not all ophthalmic news organizations have such strict and explicitly stated editorial policies and philosophies.

Taking these steps to be fair and balanced is more difficult than the alternative. But we believe this is our duty to you.

We foster in our writers and editors a passion for editorial integrity. This is the only way to report the whole story.

In-depth coverage

The OSN editors and writers, those 18 individuals, go to more meetings globally than the staff of any other ophthalmic news source. We are unmatched in our ability to report breaking ophthalmic news, whether from Kauai, Barcelona, Recife, Nuremberg, New York or Tokyo. You know us because we sit next to you in clinical sessions. In 2004, our team will have attended more than 25 ophthalmic meetings for news reporting purposes.

We search out the global ophthalmic voice using more writers, more editors, more of the OSN team at meetings. This is the only way to report the whole story.

Best read news

For 6 years in a row, you responded to an independent research firm and made OSN the #1 read ophthalmic news publication. With your limited time, you want to read the best. You want to read what your colleagues are reading. More than 70,000 ophthalmologists worldwide read OSN to get the whole story.

Get the whole story

Ophthalmology is all we do. We have the largest dedicated staff who report exclusively on ophthalmology from around the world. This leads to the best, most comprehensive news coverage in ophthalmology. OSN publishes more sources per issue, providing a greater depth of coverage and more balanced voice for ophthalmology.

You will hear more about this in the coming months and years. With this issue, we are launching a campaign to capture more fully your loyalty and explain how our editorial way, though more difficult, is the only way for us to fulfill our commitment to you.

Ophthalmology is all we do. Unbiased reporting. In-depth coverage. Best read news. Only in OSN do you get the whole story.