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Chicken Little 2, Chicago Newspapers 0
By CHUCK NOVAK *
A neighborhood-based news reporter in Chicago
You may remember when we exposed the Chicago Sun-Times getting fooled by child health advocates over the issue of kids' vaccinations in the June 22nd Issue.
Well, it's happened again-this time to the Southwest News-Herald, one of Chicago's largest and oldest community newspapers.
The culprit this time is the National Partnership for Immunization, a coalition of child health advocacy organizations and health care professional associations. In a packet released to observe August as National Immunization Awareness Month and subsequently regurgitated in an unbylined story in the August 3 News-Herald, the Partnership sounded a downright ominous note about measles. "Through the first week of April of this year, the number of measles cases in the United States was up 200 percent from the same period last year."
Sounds like the start of an epidemic, right? Sounds like all hell is beginning to break loose, right?
But before you grab your kids and seal them in a germ-free bubble, hold on. Just as a proctologist has to look through a lot of poop to get at the truth, let's look past the advocates' statistics and see what turns up.
Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (www.cdc.gov) and you'll find that while the number of measles cases did indeed jump by 200 percent, it was merely from 9 cases in 2000 to 28 cases in 2001---numbers not noted in the press kit or in the story regurgitated in the newspaper. (Why stop a good, old-fashioned panic?)
To put these statistics into an appropriate context, this means that in a nation of 284,845,016 people, during this first three months of 2000 Americans had a one in 30 million chance of getting the measles. During the first three months of 2001, you had a one in 10 million chance-about the same likelihood of matching all six numbers on a Lotto ticket.
In Chicago, there have been just six confirmed cases of measles in the past eight years, and not a single case since 1997. Measles is at an all-time low in Chicago, and childhood vaccination rates are near an all-time high.
Is it any wonder that poll after poll shows that our trust in health care organizations is eroding? Is it any wonder that poll after poll shows low levels of respect for the news media?
Chicago TRUMP-Times
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
Page 1 of the Sun-Times this week:
Sunday: "Trump's Rich Vision" in 1˝-inch letters.
Tuesday: "Trump Selects Local Architect" in 1-inch letters.
This story was front page news when it was announced. Not anymore. It's page 5 at best until the building is vacated. It may be time to start a "Trump watch" and count how many times that guy's name appears in the banner headline on page 1 of the Sun-Times. Maybe we should start a Trump-pool and guess how many times the name appears!
Hey...you don't think the Sun-Times is trying to keep the Trump name in the news on purpose, do you?
Nah!
Bullet Points
By CHUCK NOVAK *
A neighborhood-based news reporter in Chicago
Baloney on the Menu
The August 7 Inc. column in the Chicago Tribune claims that Dean Vallas, brother of Paul Vallas, "isn't counting on family ties to boost his casino-shuttle service from his Alsip restaurant to Indiana gaming boats."
Oh, no? If a restaurant owner named Joe Schmoe called the Inc. column to get a free mention of a casino-shuttle service, what are the odds that Inc. would print it? The fact is that Dean Vallas, to his credit, cashed in on his brother's fame and used the Trib to get a free ad otherwise worth thousands of dollars. What is abhorrent is how Inc. columnists Ellen Warren and Terry Armour allow their column to be abused, and then dance around their failure by offering such a lame rationalization for running the item.
Language Abuse
Members of the news media, like members of the entertainment media and like teachers, are keepers of the language. So you might think that they'd take extra care to use it correctly and in a manner that promotes clarity of thought.
Not always. On August 9, a news anchor on WBBM-AM reported on the heat-related death of 68-year-old Veronica Barfield of southwest suburban Bridgeview. The anchor then added that Barfield's was the second heat-related death in Bridgeview in two days. "Ironically," the anchor said, a 77-year-old man died yesterday in the very same trailer park.
It would be ironic to have a heat-related death occur in the middle of winter. Clearly, the correct word in this situation is "coincidentally." Makes the discerning listener wonder: if reporters are too lazy to use the language properly, can they be counted on to deliver factual and accurate news reports?
Answer the Question, Bob!
Speaking of the radio side of the World's Best Broadcast Medium, Newsradio 780 City Hall reporter Bob Crawford did something on August 8 that reporters always criticize politicians for: not answering a reporter's question.
Crawford was talking with morning anchor Pat Cassidy about Governor Ryan's political war chest, estimated at more than $3 million. Cassidy asked a simple question: what would happen to the funds if Ryan decided not to seek re-election? Rather than simply say, "I don't know" or "I'm not sure, Pat, but I'm checking and expect to have an answer for our listeners shortly," Crawford proceeded to do some verbal tap dancing, saying that he had consulted some unnamed "legal experts" who said that if the courts interpret a certain law a certain way, then Ryan-if he chooses not to run-would have to return about a third of his war chest.
Now, you'd think Cassidy would respond by saying something like, "Return the funds to whom, Bob?" or "OK, Bob, but is there any word on what the Governor would do with the other two-thirds?" but he let his colleague off the hook with a verbal whitewashing that went something like, "Thanks, Bob, for that enlightening report."
Bullet Points
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
Make Up Your Mind!
Phil Kadner wrote an interesting column in Wednesday's Daily Southtown about the Chicago Tribune's apparent hypocrisy regarding its enthusiastic support of Mayor Daley's O'hare airport plan and their heavy-handed criticism of the Millennium Park debacle.
A personal message to the folks at AT&T Broadband:
F--- You!
What the hell were you thinking, running that Emergency Alert (EAS) on ALL of channels at 8:01pm on Thursday? Oh, I'm sure it's automated, but the law that mandates you to run the messages does NOT have to apply to those local stations who air news and subsequently run their own alerts! It's supposed to apply to non-news channels! Just as President Bush started to address everyone on his stem cell research decision, I get a full-screen alert and computerized voice telling me there are thunderstorms moving in! Gee, thanks! I happened to be watching channel 7 at the time of your alert and they already warned me!
Meanwhile, from 8:01 - 8:04 I am frantically-and fruitlessly--switching channels to see if maybe your alert wasn't running on ALL stations so I can hear what THE PRESIDENT feels is an IMPORTANT announcement to the American people!
I can surely appreciate you trying very hard to piss off the local broadcast stations, but you're also pissing your subscribers off. Fix it so those alerts-and the stupid test alerts you frequently send out-no longer cover channels 2, 5, 7, 9 & 12 so that when we need the news, we have somewhere to go.
Department of Disclosure
In Thursday's Sun-Times, Jay Mariotti bashed Steve McMichael and his antics.
Jay Mariotti’s radio program airs on Sporting News Radio (820 AM).
What Jay failed to mention was that Mongo works for ESPN Radio 1000.
Jay's falling into a pattern of negative articles about ESPN Radio 1000 personalities. Remember that he bashed David Wells unmercifully earlier this year?
C'mon, Jay...calling the competition names and taunting them will not make people stop listening to them and turn on your lame-ass show.
I Think I Sprained My Eyes!
Headline News debuted their new look this week. I don't mind it much except that it's a blatant copy of the Bloomberg service and everything is way too small--including the 1/4 screen box where the anchor's head goes.
Ironically (or was it coincidently?), as the screen showed us the headlines around the US, stock market info, upcoming stories and a weather update; a key packaged story thoughout the day was about how a study has concluded that people cannot truly multitask successfully.
Have the Chicago Media Examiner e-mailed to you!
I realize that it is sometimes more difficult to visit web sites that are published weekly compared to web sites with daily updates. In order to make things easier for all, I've signed up with the Topica e-mail list service. All you need to do is send a blank e-mail message to ChicagoMediaExaminer-subscribe@topica.com from the e-mail address you want the Chicago Media Examiner delivered to. Whenever a new issue of the Chicago Media Examiner comes out, it will be e-mailed to you automatically. E-mail addresses cannot be accessed by other subscribers and Topica enforces stringent anti-spam policies and ensures the privacy of individually identifiable information about their subscribers. You do NOT have to be a member of the Topica service in order to subscribe to the Chicago Media Examiner.
Your choice: read the Examiner in the web, or read it in your e-mail inbox.
Take a look at the previous issue: Monday, August 6
Take a look at the issue before that: Friday, July 27
* Pseudonym
Published weekly...or so--usually on Friday.
If you'd like to contribute, e-mail your article to the editor
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