BMJ 1998;316:1831 ( 13 June )

Letters

Cover picture meant that BMJ had descended to level of tabloid newspapers

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR---It was with deep regret that I saw the cover picture for the issue of 6 June. The issues raised by the Bristol case are matters that have grave implications for the whole of the profession.1 It raised many difficult questions, which the BMA and other professional bodies are seeking to address both in depth and with great urgency.

To sensationalise the issue is unnecessary and deeply offensive to many members of the association. Consultants are only too aware of the great personal tragedy that has affected the families of the children in the Bristol case but nevertheless will be saddened to see a learned journal descend to the level of the tabloid newspapers.

J N Johnson, Chairman, Central Consultants and Specialists Committee. 
BMA, London WC1H 9JP

* The BMJ publishes cover pictures to draw attention to the journal publishing a cluster of material on a subject. Our experience is that readers like the occasional use of cover pictures. When we do publish a cover picture we find as strong an image as we can to illustrate the material. Last week's issue contained nine papers that moved on the debate that the Bristol case has started, a debate that may prove to be one of the most important in British medicine this century. We wanted to ensure that readers knew about these articles, and so we decided to publish a cover picture. It was an obvious thing to do to use a strong picture associated with the Bristol case.

Whether or not the cover is tabloid is a matter of opinion; to my mind it simply shows a grieving mother. But nobody could argue that the content, which is what matters most, is tabloid. And the good thing about tabloids is that millions of people read them, whereas the bad thing about many scientific journals is that nobody reads them, not even scientists---Editor.

  1. Treasure T. Lessons from the Bristol case. BMJ 1998; 316: 1085-1086[Full Text]. (6 June.)

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Relevant Article

The aftermath of the Bristol case
James A R Willis, Brian McKinstry, P J Tomlin, Rachael Dawson, Alison J Gray, Roger Hole, Jim Egan, Douglas Lee, Peter Fisher, Rosemary J Geller, Katharine Gardiner, Patrick J Pemberton, Jim Ramsay, Dennis Briley, Richard Nicholson, Anjan K Banerjee, Beverley Webb, N Gainsborough, Susan Kerrison, R H Lloyd-Mostyn, Michael Ashley-Miller, Glyn J Elwyn, and Malcolm Lewis
BMJ 1998 317: 811. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Smith, R. (2002). The BMJ: moving on. BMJ 324: 5-6 [Full text]  
  • Willis, J. A R, McKinstry, B., Tomlin, P J, Dawson, R., Gray, A. J, Hole, R., Egan, J., Lee, D., Fisher, P., Geller, R. J, Gardiner, K., Pemberton, P. J, Ramsay, J., Briley, D., Nicholson, R., Banerjee, A. K, Webb, B., Gainsborough, N, Kerrison, S., Lloyd-Mostyn, R H, Ashley-Miller, M., Elwyn, G. J, Lewis, M. (1998). The aftermath of the Bristol case. BMJ 317: 811-811 [Full text]  

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