[Cancer information and media: ethical and deontological aspect].

Public information in medicine - including oncology - is not new and is growing with the development of the media. The majority is news preferably spectacular for the entertainment of the reader or viewer; there are some reviews and also educative papers or programs in specialized journals. Often this information is given or sponsored by private interests which are not always clear and which do not always have public interest in mind. All medical information may be easily accessible, especially if it is useful for the people concerned. It must be independent, genuine, clear. Physicians may play an important role in health education for the general public and for special patients. They have to give proved data, in an understandable form, with caution, keeping in mind the interest of informed persons.