A few words about AMNews' mission

There's no time like the present to reaffirm the purpose and direction of American Medical News.

Editorial. April 2, 2001.

It happens all the time. In conversation, or in a letter or during an interview, a physician will refer to us as The AMA News, even though that hasn't been this newspaper's name for more than 30 years.

It's a reminder to us to do our best to make clear the role of this newspaper, especially if there is any chance of some lingering uncertainty about it. With that in mind, and starting with this issue, we've updated this thumbnail version of our mission statement and will now place it on Page 2 every week, as well as on the Web Edition home page:

"American Medical News is published by the AMA and is intended to serve as an impartial forum for information affecting physicians and their practices. The contents of articles and the opinions expressed in AMNews are not necessarily endorsed by the AMA."

We've simplified the language a bit for this latest version, but otherwise it's nothing new. This is the way we have done business for many years.

Our first editorial, back in 1958, signaled that this newspaper should not be mistaken for a "house organ" even though then and now it reports the activities of the AMA. Another promise from then that hasn't changed is that this newspaper's "purpose is practical -- to help doctors figure out the day-to-day problems that go with practicing medicine, bettering the health of the community and the profession of medicine." That sometimes requires reporting news of events our readers may not welcome or including the views of those who may not have the best interests of physicians at heart. However, we would not be truly useful as a source of information to our physician readers if we did our job any other way. [...]