A new scientific review raises questions about the usefulness of flu vaccinations. It found that vaccination of nursing-home staff did not have any impact on the incidence of confirmed flu cases among the elderly residents, the number of related pneumonia cases or pneumonia-linked deaths. Coauthor Roger Thomas of the University of Calgary said measures like hand-washing should be prioritized in anti-flu campaigns, rather than vaccination measures.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Interesting: How Censorship Shapes Afghan Reporting
Interesting article from Brian Stewart at CBC.ca on how military censorship of embedded journalists impacts what the public finds out about the Canadian presence in Afghanistan, including rocket attacks on Canadian bases and Canadian casualty numbers. Thanks to Bilbo for sharing this item.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Investigations: Over Half of News is Spin
Fifty-five percent of news stories in Australian media are the result of "spin," an interesting investigation has found. At one newspaper, 70 percent of stories were triggered in some way by a public-relations campaign. The Spinning the Media project, launched by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, had 40 journalism students look into hard news stories to find out how they were born. The investigations included calls to journalists and editors, most of whom refused to talk.
"Journalism in Australia today is heavily influenced by commercial interests selling a product and constrained and blocked by politicians, police and others who control the media message," the investigation found.
There's no reason to think the situation is different in North America.
TAGS: media
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