Medical research and it's publication

When will the media stop frightening the public or giving false hope to people.  Just because a piece of research is published in a specialist periodical does not mean it is correct.  Research is simply one small part of a process which may and I repeat may lead to a breakthrough in some  area or other.  Medical research is constantly producing results which the media seems to feel are appropriate to fill a few column inches or add a view minutes to the news when they are stuck for a story.  The one example I would draw attention to was the scandal over the   MMR vaccine.  This research produced by the discredited Andrew Wakefield was published for peer review and before any confirmation could be carried out the press were on it like bees to a honey pot. Unfortunately the results of this were not as harmless as bees eating at a honeypot.  People stopped getting their children vaccinated because of this mans discredited research.  It is still having repercussions and now he has scuttled off to the USA where he continues to peddle his insane ideas.  The press accepted no responsibility for this. They were the ones that did not check the facts before publishing and instead produced banner headlines saying the MMR vaccine caused autism. Areas of Wales and many parts of the rest of the country suffered badly with measles outbreaks.  I thought the mainstay of good journalism was to check your facts before publishing.  Now it seems publish and be damned.  Oh I forgot we have to sell newspapers and sensationalism sells papers

Useless surveys

In addition to getting rid of Vox pops we should also question the value of surveys carried out by the media.  How often do we see the results being used as the means of providing an opinion when the differences between either side is sometimes only 2 or 3 percent. Even a difference of 10 percent results in arguments being laid down for one thing or another.  Recently the Sunday Times carried out a survey on flooding and asked the "sample" (What ever that is made up of) if they thought villages at risk of flooding should be protected.40% of people said don't protect these places at risk.  What on earth is this supposed to mean?  Who were these people who were asked? Did they live on a hill? Was there a 50 percent survey of those in these areas or who know someone who lives in these areas?  Does that make them biased.  No survey is completely random and as I have said before all the opinions voiced by the public are of very little national use because of how the question is asked and who is asked.  Controversy and selling papers is all the news paper is interested in.  Interesting how the flood situation has now completely disappeared from our papers and TV's.  Everybody must be fine now down in Somerset. NOT

Plebgate - The newspaper view

This weeks Sunday Times addresses the issue of the public perception of the police and the fact that the police federation representatives are up before MP's to explain why they lied to them last time.  Lets hope justice prevails.  The article below lays out the issues much more clearly than I can.

Vox Pops

It's about time that Vox Pops (those random interviews with members of the public who think themselves experts) were banned.  What use is it asking a person who is not statistically random their opinion on something which they are either totally ignorant of or thinks they are the worlds expert on.  Most have created an opinion from either a newspaper (whose reporting is likely to biased) or by listening to someone else's opinion.  It is very unlikely that this person has been faced with all the facts and then been allowed to make their own judgment.  The general public are not the best source of information. When it comes to education all members of the public think themselves experts because they have all been to school.  Then there are those unthinking individuals who are given air time.  During the the recent floods one man found his home flooded because the water was coming up through the floor boards as the water table had risen so much.  When encouraged to find someone to blame he proceeded to say that his house was flooded and no one had provided him with sandbags.  What point sandbags would have done to help his situation I have no idea.  Vox Pops help to fill air time and in this age of 24 hr news broadcasters are desperate to fill time even if it is with useless, uninformed opinions

BBC Today programme

On the now infamous BBC Radio 4 Today programme Ewan Sutherland, the Cooperative Retail chairman, was bullied by the presenter Ewan Davies.  He was asked questions about a customer survey his company was sending out asking what people wanted to happen to the dividend paid to customers. Davies then asked him what he thought should happen where upon the chairman said he wanted to hear from the customers.  Davies, like a dog with a bone, continued to interrupt and aggressively state that as a chairman he must have an opinion.  The chairman continued to sidestep the question. Eventually he said he quite liked the idea of the money going towards the community served by the coop.  Davies then went for the kill saying what was the point of sending out a survey if he had already made his mind up.  First of all this was an opinion not a statement of what was going to happen.  Maybe as chairman he should have stuck to his guns and said nothing but all Davies was interested in was making entertainment out of a news item.  The whole idea of a survey seems good to me and helping local communities would indeed be a productive solution so why not praise the idea of getting local opinion instead of trying to score points. When will reporters  stick to their aims of giving us news and not turning serious events into a pantomime.  Next time we can all shout Davies is "behind you

Damage to the police

I find it difficult to admit that for once I agree with Shami Chakrabarti, the leader of "Liberty" the Human Rights Organisation.  Usually her ill calculated and simplistic views cause me to turn away when she appears however her latest written testament in the Sunday Times leads me to feel that she does have certain lucid moments.  It is perfectly clear that the Police Federation, which attempts to stand up for the police force of our country is corrupt.

 The Plebgate affair has run and run for far too long. Andrew Mitchell, a past member of the Cabinet who was forced to resign when a number of policeman lied about an incident that Andrew Mitchell was involved in. Andrew Mitchell caught them out by recording a conversation he had with the Police Federation. This has caused irreparable damage to the publics view of the police force.  The majority of police offices do their job excellently but as usual a few bad apples have caused us to feel that at times we are not protected for those bad apples.  The MP Andrew Mitchell has been lambasted in the press and by the police federation because he chose to tell the truth unlike the police offices who lied about witnessing his actions.  The Police Federation think this matter will blow over but I hope not and that those offenders are brought to book.  Shami's article focuses on a libel case being brought by one of the police offices involved against Andrew Mitchell.  If this case is allowed to proceed then we can expect all of our courts to be full as every policeman who has been abused or shouted at by a member takes umbridge. The job of a policeman is difficult but for these bad apples and the failed Police Federation to try and win a case which they have already lost is only making the situation worse.  Grow up and admit you got it wrong and bring the liars to book.

Appropriate Footwear

Politicians can never win. If they keep out of the way during a crisis they are said to not care.   When they visit a crisis area they get ridiculed.  David Cameron along with all the other party leaders visited some of the worst hit areas that have been hit with flooding.  Instead of welcoming the fact and reporting extensively on the positive comments from the public some sections of the media decided to concentrate on their footwear.  For some reason the tabloids, tv channels and  broadsheets found wellingtons extremely funny.  They call themselves news media. More like comics to me.  Maybe we get the news media we deserve. Why do people buy this drivel?