Table 5.
Journalists’ perceptions toward physicians (N=200).
| Variables | Strongly disagree, n (%) | Slightly disagree, n (%) | Neither agree nor disagree, n (%) | Slightly agree, n (%) | Strongly agree, n (%) | P valuea |
| Physicians often tend to believe that journalists do not have adequate knowledge about the country’s health care system | 5 (2.5) | 24 (12.0) | 35 (17.5) | 119 (59.5) | 17 (8.5) | .22 |
| When contacting for any information relevant to a story, physicians often pretend that they are too busy | 3 (1.5) | 26 (13.0) | 36 (18.0) | 108 (54.0) | 27 (13.5) | .02 |
| Physicians often seem not to be confident while appearing in media or talking to journalists | 1 (0.5) | 27 (13.5) | 43 (21.5) | 120 (60.0) | 9 (4.5) | .70 |
| Most physicians are not skilled in giving an interview or talking to journalists | 4 (2.0) | 41 (20.5) | 36 (18.0) | 100 (50.0) | 19 (9.5) | .02 |
| During an interview or in case of communicating information relevant to a news story, most physicians tend to not give enough time to journalists | 4 (2.0) | 19 (9.5) | 35 (17.5) | 128 (64.0) | 14 (7.0) | .002 |
| While talking to the media, physicians use jargon and difficult terms that are not understandable to ordinary people | 2 (1.0) | 17 (8.5) | 32 (16.0) | 109 (54.5) | 40 (20.0) | .01 |
| Physicians often do not feel the need to present medical information in a simple, straightforward manner | 3 (1.5) | 24 (12.0) | 33 (16.5) | 116 (58.0) | 24 (12.0) | <.001 |
| During an interview, physicians often try to dominate journalists | 18 (9.0) | 25 (12.5) | 48 (24.0) | 96 (48.0) | 13 (6.5) | <.001 |
| Physicians often try to avoid media and journalists as a result of their professional supremacy attitude | 3 (1.5) | 13 (6.5) | 34 (17.0) | 124 (62.0) | 26 (13.0) | .01 |
aWilcoxon signed-rank test.