Why this week underscores the value of STAT’s journalism

Dear Readers,

This week, like so many others, has demonstrated why I think STAT is so essential.

It's no secret that President Trump's comments on autism, Tylenol, and vaccines have been big news. But STAT has arguably had the deepest and most authoritative coverage anywhere. Not only were our reporters undistracted by other major news events outside our purview — the night of Trump's extraordinary remarks, most major news organizations featured Jimmy Kimmel's return to the airwaves as their top story — they brought with them the expertise and sourcing on the kinds of scientific issues that are our bread and butter.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

We've produced 16 stories so far about the reverberations since the White House event on Monday, including:

A detailed review of the clinical evidence the administration said supported its warning about Tylenol in pregnancy and its backing of leucovorin as a treatment for autism
A story about the ways in which Trump's "tough it out" guidance to pregnant women was met with a wave of opposition by medical experts
An explainer on why the FDA's approval of leucovorin could be a boon for supplement makers and a short video of STAT reporters breaking down Trump's announcement
An analysis of what this episode tells us about HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s standing with the president as he seeks to upend U.S. health care

We believe our coverage stands out as balanced and nuanced — based on science and informed by the leading experts in their fields. Many news reports played into the politicization of this moment by focusing on statements about the risks of taking Tylenol in pregnancy instead of noting that Tylenol, like any drug, may come with some risks but the tie to autism has not been conclusively proven. Others focused on statements about the potential benefit of leucovorin without noting that the evidence of those benefits remains very limited, at least for now.

At a time when STAT's watchdog journalism is more vital than ever, I hope you'll take advantage of a special discount to be a STAT+ subscriber. To mark our 10th anniversary, you can get your first 10 months of STAT+ for $10 a month. With a subscription, you get access not only to all of our exclusive stories, investigations, and features but also subscriber-only newsletters, discounted access to our events — including our flagship STAT Summit next month — special reports, and more. I hope you'll consider the offer, which is good through Friday.

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We're delivering many other vital stories that are not related to policy issues. This week we published an important investigation revealing that hospitals nationwide, wary of paying costly fines if they report too many hospital-acquired patient infections to the government, have chosen just not to look for those infections. We were one of the first news organizations to report on the results of a key clinical trial that could deliver the first gene therapy to patients with Huntington's disease, a historic and meaningful achievement if it comes to pass.

I also want to express our gratitude to all the readers who have sent STAT well wishes for our 10th anniversary. Here's an article taking stock of how STAT is "flourishing'' after a decade.

As always, please reach out to me if you have any feedback or suggestions about STAT. I'm at rick.berke@statnews.com.

Sincerely,