The NoBull Piece Prize

When I moved from the clinical and diagnostic side of healthcare as a medical technologist to publishing, I brought with me a legacy of training insciences and research methodology. In the laboratory, metrics, analytical observations, and logical summaries of complex interactions are the guidelines. These are also the guidelines of a professional journalist. And they are the essence of editorial integrity.

Professional journalists aim to provide readers with the highest quality information—information that has not been influenced by those with self-interests, those who are opinionated, or those who stand to gain from coverage. These professionals stand apart. They cannot be bought or influenced.

Over the years, I have received a number of prestigious national and regional awards for editorial excellence, and I am proud of every one. But I am most proud of a certificate entitled, “The NoBull Piece Prize for HIPAA Coverage” bestowed upon me by my editorial colleagues during the height of HIPAA hysteria in the late ‘90’s.

So when one person publically charged that Vendome editors had been bought, I felt the pain. And I was sad. I was sad because I know: Editors at Healthcare Informatics and the six other Vendome healthcare publications cannot be bought.

At Vendome, editors build stories based on facts. They talk to experts, they talk to end users, and they talk to industry insiders. They ask a lot of people a lot of questions to hear all sides of the story. Sometimes they let industry experts tell it like they see it. But no matter how the editor delivers the story, the goal is to deliver it with objectivity and integrity.

Editors at Vendome aim to present the options to inform readers, and then let readers to make their own decisions based on their unique set of circumstances. It’s called editorial integrity. Vendome editors have it and Vendome management respects and supports it.

Every editor at Vendome is worthy of “The NoBull Piece Prize.” And I hereby bestow it upon each of them.