Like all new endeavors, when I joined the research team for this series, I had no idea where our phone calls, researching, weekly meetings and constant brainstorming would lead us.
I truly feel that our team's initial uncertainty as to the direction of this series made the final product that much better, that much more comprehensive. If I were to choose our motto for this series, I would have to say it was to remain open and to stay honest.
If you ask each member of this series, I am sure they would have their own motto, but I am most proud of our remaining open and honest, not necessarily because these are the foundations of journalism, but because I believe these ideals are crucial for positive public change. Being open and honest is what I expect from our journalists, our public and our audience feedback.
As a journalist, it is easy to fall back on self doubt and begin to ask, "will people really care, will they comment?" The comments we received from the viewer's for this series no longer leaves me doubting public sentiment. If we can tell the stories that tap into our humanity, people will always care.
15 comments:
Is there anything you wish had been done differently? Someone who, in hindsight, might have added an important piece to the puzzle that you didn't interview? Do you believe that your investigative team made every effort to understand the science of autism, in order to avoid misleading your viewers?
What is the intended takeaway for your audience?
Finally, could you write about the editorial standards that KOMU relied upon for this series?
Thanks!
Autism News Beat-could you write about your occupation?
You are so clearly knowledgeable about this issue, in fact I see you posting all over the web at so many sites and times that it would seem you have nothing better to do.
Maybe the ombudsman of the blog can confirm that you don't work for a marketing firm whose clients are pharmaceutical companies?
I am a corporate communications consultant living in the midwest. I do not currently work for any pharmaceutical companies, and I never have.
If you would like to contact CJ Communications in NYC about me, I'm sure its corporate counsel would be happy to speak to you about your libelous statements.
Or I could contact CJ for you. Your call, Linda.
Ashley, this also concerns KOMU.
So ANB spends a few hours a week offering substantive commentary on various autism-related weblogs, and this is supposed to mean that s/he has "nothing better to do"; while "Won't get fooled again" spends a few hours a week reading that commentary and perhaps offering some opinions of his/her own, and this is supposed to mean that s/he is fruitfully occupied?
It's equally ironic that a demand for personal information should be made by someone posting anonymously.
Maybe the ombudsman of the blog can confirm that WGFA isn't exposing his/her son to unproven and risky medical quackery, such as the kind being perpetrated by Dr. Mark Geier, MD, who is being investigated by his state's medical board.
Didn't take long for the conspiracy theorists to show up.
FWIW, I'm acquainted with ANB and he does not work for a pharmaceutical company AFAIK. In my experience, none of those who are well known science-based autism bloggers are associated with pharmaceutical companies, although some might be doctors. Most are parents themselves.
Second, it seems a bit ridiculous that pharmaceutical companies would be paying anyone to blog about autism or comment on blogs about autism. Either way, this has never been demonstrated, nor have there ever been whistleblowers that could corroborate any part of the conspiracy.
Ashley, I've emailed corporate counsel at CJ Communications in NYC to alert them to Fogarty and Weinmaster's defamatory comments.
Hey great-retirement work for my old man and simple fun for a few of my U of Chicago JD buddies and luckily some are on the bar of MO. What is this company anyway?
http://cjcommunications.net/aboutus/index.htm
Hum, CJ Communications would be stupid to waste precious legal billable hours against a guy who can get them for free and might actually win a case against you-why would they even listen to what you have to say?
Actually, the scales would favor my case against some of those on this blog.
Not sure how strong the case for defamation is against an unidentified blogger, you are ken@autismnewsbeat as far as can be best seen on your posts. My opinion is all over this blog and clearly my reputation has placed libel into the sphere for some of the comments you have directed towards me and Weinmaster, so lets look at a little legal discussion of the issue:
http://www.medialaw.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Public_Resources/Libel_FAQs/Libel_FAQs.htm#What%20is%20Libel?
At best I have insulted you-purposefully to milk out your biases and expose those reading this blog to the rigidity of your thinking, having done so at the peril of my reputation which you and Kathleen Seidel have made statements of "fact" that are false. For instance-that I am a member of various groups of which I am not, but thats okay, I forgive you.
So great, you work for a communications company-which one?
COME ON LETS SEE IT!
Oh yeah, for those who want to see how the government is sold out to pharma, check into this:
http://www.citizen.org/documents/050406PandemicFinal_1.pdf
System needs changing doesn't it, Kathleen, ANB, Joseph? Not working for the people of this great nation anymore.
Okay, did I forget to mention my DC media connections? Hum, not using them yet . . . as I clearly need to keep sparring with you-thanks again, making me a better at articulating things that I was really not so big on voicing any of this stuff in this forum as I really feel that vaccinations save tons of lives and have hit an unfortunate over-use index in a genetically heterogeneous population that will have some collateral damage for a huge greater good which will increase with increasing vaccinations as a multi-hit risk, just like radiation imaging another amazing life saving technology that is getting over-used at the peril of US oncogenesis.
The defamation is not against me. It's against CJ Communications.
Stick to x-rays, doc.
Ken,
Is this the knd of libel you are talking about?
anb said...
Linda, I happen to know that you are the one who works for pharma, specifically Eli Lilly. You are posing as an ignorant, classless shrew in order to further discredit the anti-science crowd that wants to leave a generation of children defenseless against whooping cough, measles, diptheria, and dozens of other dangerous diseases. And while I agree with your agenda, I do take exception to your methods. What are you hiding from? Why not just argue your case on scientific merits, instead of assuming the personna of a ninny? I see you also studied theatre arts at Kansas State University in the 90s, so perhaps this latest acting assignment fulfills you dream of a career on stage.
I did graduate from a Big 12 school but not K State.
I hope I made my point. It's just as reckless for you to assume facts not in evidence about me, as it is for me to assume things about you.
Now can we knock it off? I work for myself. I have no connections to Big Pharma, or CJ Communications in NY City. And no, I can't prove a negative, so you'll have to take my word for it. Or call CJ in New York.
I called a month ago and they confirmed you work for them.
Ha ha ha, nice try. Sounds like I have some money coming.
I told them to tell you hello and Merry Christmas from the Drama Wildcat in Kansas. If you don't want the money your due for your work forward it to me so I can continue my chelation therapy.
If Adam was mercury poisoned, wouldn't insurance pay for chelation?
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