American Medical Association Requests Correction to New York Times Story
A newsletter from the board states a previous statement to the Times was “neither a policy change nor was it an endorsement of a position taken by another medical society” in contrast to a characterization made in the paper of record.
by Evan Urquhart
The Board Newsletter for the American Medical Association this month sheds new light on questions about a New York Times story that characterized the professional organization as one of two medical groups to have “backed limitations on gender-related surgical treatments for minors.”
“While some media coverage characterized this as agreement with the ASPS statement, that phrasing did not come from the AMA,” the group wrote in a newsletter dated March 26. “Unfortunately, how reporters frame their stories is beyond our control.” Assigned was first alerted to the existence of the newsletter on Bluesky, by user @lyolyon.bsky.social.
The newsletters goes further in the next paragraph, mentioning the New York Times by name and stating they have sent a letter to the editor requesting a public correction.
Assigned Media previously covered an apparent discrepancy in news coverage of the AMA’s statements after a shift in position by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, whose position has changed to be more line with the position of the Trump administration, who oppose youth gender surgeries. The New York Times and many right wing outlets characterized the AMA as shifting position and agreeing with the ASPS statement. However NPR, Stat, and other publications quoted similar language from the AMA, but did not characterize their statement as a departure from the AMA’s previous position, or as being in agreement with the ASPS.
Assigned contacted the New York Times ahead of publication, but the paper did not immediately respond with a comment for this story. We will update our story with their response if one is sent subsequent to publication.
Evan Urquhart is the founder of Assigned Media.