Tag Archives: Journalism

Healthcare spin control plan vs. ProPublica

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Photo: shanelkalicharan/Flickr CC

Worried by a ProPublica investigation revealing disgusting and dangerous conditions at dialysis clinics nationwide, PR people for the billion-dollar industry braced itself with a spin control document, with talking points.

From an industry PR memo obtained by ProPublica:

Despite our collective efforts, we do not anticipate a balanced presentation (in the ProPublica report), and we therefore feel it’s essential to create the “machinery” necessary to orchestrate an aggressive and prompt community-wide response.

The authors of the spin control doc suggests that docs and administrators, if contacted by the media in the wake of the ProPublica report, emphasize technological advances in the industry — rather than taking criticisms head-on.

The doc also shows industry flacks fretted that the story will get “will get traction through other media outlets.”

Lazy press watch: Just what are "global communications," anyway?

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Orwell advises against using the vague language found in the Independent’s story about the dead MI6 guy, saying Gareth Williams worked for an MI6 division that “eavesdrops on global communications.”

Better to have said “international calls and email messages,” or “between the UK and other countries.” “Global,” though often used, is so vague as to be meaningless.

The Independent (link and excerpt, below) also seems in a hurry to shoot down, based on no evidence either way, any suggestion the agent’s murder might be work-related:

The reality, however, is likely to be more mundane. Sources within the murder inquiry led by the Metropolitan Police’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command insisted that “the suggestion there are terrorism or national security links to this case is pretty low down the list of probabilities”. They are believed to be concentrating on Mr Williams’ private life.

via Mystery of the MI6 man who was found dead in his bath – Crime, UK – The Independent.

Space junk? MSM provides "cloaking device" for military space mission

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The US military on July 8 will toss a $500 million satellite into orbit to observe space junk circling Earth.

At least, that’s what the AP is reporting about the July 8 launch of the US Air Force’s new “Space-Based Space Surveillance” (SBSS) satellite.

But the sat will be much more than a space junk surveyor: It will serve at the core of the Air Force’s ongoing space-based missile defense program. If you read the words of the military’s top brass on the subject of SBSS, you will find that the Air Force’s priorities for the program are to track (if not disable) Iran’s and North Korea’s sats.

A snip from the AP story:

Currently, the Air Force relies on a ground-based network of radar and optical telescopes around the globe to monitor about 1,000 active satellites and 20,000 pieces of debris. The telescopes can be used only on clear nights, and not all radar stations are powerful enough to detect satellites in deep space orbit, about 22,000 miles from Earth.

via New US satellite to monitor debris in Earth orbit – USATODAY.com.

MBN LIVE on USTREAM: Weekly live broadcasts from the producers @ MobileBroadcastNews.org featuring that weeks new content with commentary by the videos cre…

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Free TV : Ustream
via MBN LIVE on USTREAM: Weekly live broadcasts from the producers @ MobileBroadcastNews.org featuring that weeks new content with commentary by the videos cre….

Report: Better to have two moms than one dad

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Outstanding. And, of course, consistent with the personal experiences of anyone lucky enough to know a family with two moms. Bonus here is how CNN chooses to balance the story with criticism not from other scientists, but a Bible lady. Which makes this an example of something other than science reporting.

(CNN) — A nearly 25-year study concluded that children raised in lesbian households were psychologically well-adjusted and had fewer behavioral problems than their peers.

via Kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems, study suggests – CNN.com.

China syndrome: Media sanitizes brutal spacecraft return

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Photo: Mike Licht/Flickr CC

In case you’d forgotten how weird and controlling the Chinese government is, and how much of the news in China is the product of stagecraft, there’s this reminder, from The Raw Feed:

According to the official, Yang was subject to enormous G-forces during re-entry, splitting his lip and covering his face with blood. When the hatch was opened and the crew saw his bloody face, they cleaned him up, strapped him back in the seat and did a do-over for the cameras. The sanitized version of the hatch opening was presented to the Chinese viewing public as the live first-opening of the hatch.

via How China staged space capsule opening – The Raw Feed.

Smart appliances will tell Google when you rise, and hit the shower

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Now that we know Google — the search engine giant and revolving door operation for CIA analysts — has been spying on Wi-Fi laptop users, we can expect corporations and governments to next target so-called smart appliances: toasters, clock radios (such as this prototype, left) and dishwashers connected directly to the Internet.

Add these gadgets to the smart meters being promoted by the likes of the Boston-based “consumer group,” ConsumerUnited.com (actually, the organization lists utility companies as its “partners”), and you will find it impossible to flip a switch in your house without someone knowing about it.

Here’s a bit from my column this week, below the fold, about a Wi-Fi (and therefore, apparently, vulnerable) alarm clock that factors-in your commute time, and the time it takes you to shave and shower before work, to calculate when you wake up:

“The Dynamically Programmable Alarm Clock will not make getting out of bed easier. But it will do a better job than your current bedside gadget to make sure you’re on time for that meeting.

The DPAC (egaertner.com/dpac), as its developers at Northeastern University call it, connects to Google Calendar via Wi-Fi. It then grabs your first task of the day as a starting point for its calculations.”

Note: Special thanks to Alan Watt (and his Cutting Through the Matrix listeners) for sharing your thoughts about my research, here.

via Power up, with juice from the yard – The Boston Globe.

Dio spent a career warding off the evil eye

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My wife, Lisa, an Italian, knew what the ubiquitous heavy metal hand signal meant.

Dio’s “devil horns” were meant to ward-off the malocchio:

“But Dio, says Young, explained that he was taught the so-called corna sign by his Italian grandmother, as a way to scare off the ‘evil eye’, a look which is said to cause bad luck. It’s like knocking on wood for superstitious purposes (more on this meaning at bottom of page).”

via BBC News – Dio’s two-finger gesture – what does it mean?.

Mobile phones: Safe, or deadly? Depends on who's reporting

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Is it safe? Photo: Susie Parker/Flickr CC

The Daily Mail finds a 30-percent increased risk of cancer in mobile phone users:

“…people who use mobile phones for at least 30 minutes a day for 10 years have a greater risk – perhaps as much as a third higher – of developing brain cancer.”

The Beeb finds none:

“There is no known biological mechanism by which mobiles could cause cancer, but there has been public concern. It is hoped this study will allay some anxieties, as research continues.”

Alas, the data suggest an association (link opens PDF) between prolonged cell phone use and one type of brain cancer.

But that’s hardly sexy, and hard to fit in a headline.

via Ten-year worldwide study links mobile phone use to cancer | Mail Online.

via BBC.

Gulf oil spill a sucker punch to lazy science reporters

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The takeaway: Too many science journalists lack skepticism, and balls. — MB

Science reporters and bloggers are guilty of overstating the ability of microbes, nanobots and other technologies to prevent and to lap-up oil spills.

As a result, TV and Web viewers are being lulled into thinking there’s a fix for everything, including BP’s latest pooch-screw.

Here is the underlying problem: Rather than treating scientists and technologists as potential liars — as we are trained to do with pols, for example — we science journos typically treat our subjects with reverence.

To the science writer, I say, the next time any company puts a hard hat on you, and gives you the nickel tour of its facilities, wipe that look of astonishment off your face, and remember to ask, “Will this work?” “Is it safe?” “Where’s the documentation?” and “What if…?”

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There’s a stunning slide show, meanwhile, over at Boston.com. Here’s a snip from the text accompanying the images, via PuppetGov:

“While tracking the volume of the continued flow of oil is difficult, an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil possibly much more continues to pour into the gulf every day. While visible damage to shorelines has been minimal to date as the oil has spread slowly, the scene remains, in the words of President Obama, a ‘potentially unprecedented environmental disaster.’”

via The Big Picture: Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico | PuppetGov.