Wearing a device, not endorsing it (repeat not)

Can an item a public official is wearing be declared off the record for purposes of a news interview? I think not.

Modern Healthcare reporter Darius Tahir recently interviewed Dr. Karen DeSalvo, HHS' national coordinator for health information technology. She expressed discomfort with having it mentioned that she was wearing a personal fitness data tracker produced by a particular manufacturer. Her media handler who was present for the interview suggested to our reporter what language he should use in describing the device.

All this led to an amusing exchange about what should and should not be published. What follows is a transcript of that repartee:

Tahir: I see you're wearing a Fitbit, I guess.

DeSalvo: I am. No, it's a Nike FuelBand.

Tahir: It's a Nike FuelBand, OK.

Media handler: But she's not endorsing it.

DeSalvo: I'm not.

Tahir: Yeah, not endorsing.

Media handler: Says the monitor.

DeSalvo: Yeah, I'm very sensitive about that. I don't want to endorse a product.

Tahir: That's fine.

DeSalvo: You could say wearing a ...

Tahir: Sure, sure.

Media handler: Fitness tracker.

DeSalvo: Fitness tracker.

Media handler: Some sort fitness tracker. Thank you.

Tahir: You're wearing a fitness tracker, and that sort of brings up the subject of patient-generated health data…. Should we expect more patient-generated health data in (meaningful-use) Stage 3?

For the record, just so everyone is clear, DeSalvo wears but IS NOT endorsing the Nike FuelBand. I appreciate her ethical stance on the endorsement issue, given that she is the federal government's chief health information technology officer.

But we journalists have our professional principles, too. What a reporter sees a public official wearing is something that is subject to disclosure, since everyone who encounters her can see it, too. In contrast, reporters sometimes may agree by prior arrangement to keep something a public official says in a one-on-one interview out of the published article.

What I liked is how our reporter tried to get the interview back on track and segue from the fitness tracker exchange to the broader issue of patient-generated data. Way to go, Darius!

Follow Harris Meyer on Twitter: @MHHmeyer