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About.com's Health Channel Obtains HON Foundation's Code of Conduct Certification; Receipt Reinforces Site's Commitment to Consumer Health Offering
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2006--About.com today announced that About Health (health.about.com) has received Health On the Net Foundation's Code of Conduct certification (HONcode(C)). Health On the Net (HON) is a not-for-profit medical information portal and its seal of approval, featured on each relevant Web page, identifies About.com as an internationally reliable source of health information.
Certification by HON denotes that the accredited Web site provides sound, authoritative information; data confidentiality and privacy; proper attribution of sources; and transparency, such as a clear delineation of advertising and editorial content.
The HONcode(C) certification comes as About.com continues to expand its rapidly growing health content offering. For the past seven months, About.com Health has consistently ranked second in the online Health and Fitness category for content sites, according to Nielsen NetRatings. About.com Health provides original content on a range of diseases and conditions, from asthma to weight management, through a network of qualified medical professionals and other health experts.
"With the HONcode(C) certification, visitors to About.com Health can benefit from the same timely, up-to-date, and authoritative information as in the past, but now with the recognition that it meets international standards for timeliness, credibility, and trustworthiness," said Marjorie L. Martin, general manager, About.com Health.
About.com features thousands of topics and is the largest publisher of original content on the Web--more than 1.4 million pieces of content across 57,000 topics covered by more than 530 experts or "Guides" who share their passions, actionable information and advice. One of 22 robust content channels, About.com Health offers a friendly, pragmatic "voice of reason" on a vast array of health topics, and its health Guides consist of physicians, medical professionals, patient advocates and authors.
About About.com
Founded in 1996, About.com is the leading online source for original consumer
information and advice and was acquired in March 2005 by The New York Times
Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2005 revenues of $3.4 billion.
The New York Times Company includes The New York Times, the International
Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, nine network-affiliated
television stations, two New York City radio stations and 35 Web sites, including
NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company's core purpose is to enhance
society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information
and entertainment.
About HON
Health Information You Can TRUST
The Health On the Net Foundation (HON: http://www.healthonnet.org/) promotes
and guides the deployment of useful and reliable online health information,
and its appropriate and efficient use. Created in 1995, HON is a non-profit,
non-governmental organization, accredited to the Economic and Social Council
of the United Nations. For ten years, HON has focused on the essential question
of the provision of health information to citizens, information that respects
ethical standards. To cope with the unprecedented volume of healthcare information
available on the Net, the HONcode of conduct offers a multi-stakeholder consensus
on standards to protect citizens from misleading health information.
CONTACT: About.com
Lisa Langsdorf, 212-204-1467
llangsdorf@about.com
or
The New York Times Company
Diane McNulty, 212-556-5244
mcnuldc@nytimes.com
SOURCE: The New York Times Company