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Gbill7's avatar

You keep right on being a data nerd, Peter - that hard data is TRUTH! (Or at least good indications of truth.) Your passion for illuminating the pertinent facts is GOLDEN.

A pet peeve of mine is that the media is filled with people who majored in Journalism or Communications or English. Most of them have zero education in the actual subjects they are writing about. They can’t tell if they are being manipulated by a corporation’s public relations department because they don’t understand what they are being told. Frequently they end up looking like incompetent fools because of their ignorance.

My undergrad degree was in geological engineering, so I’ve been educated in the basics of plate tectonics and earthquakes. It seems like every time I’ve read an article in the MSM about an earthquake, the writer had no idea of what he or she was saying. There was no understanding of the logarithmic scale of the Richter scale, no comprehension of the 3D nature of fault-line interaction, no grasp of the fact that the depth of a quake makes all the difference in the amount of damage done. I mean, it’s common sense that a quake centered 2 miles down is going to do more damage than one that’s centered 40 miles down, right? Yet the ‘journalist’ doesn’t even grasp that! “Earthquake in LA”!, screams the headline. Pffsst. It’s 3.9 on the Richter scale and 30 miles down. A large truck driving past your house will rattle your teacups more than that quake, and that journalist just made himself look like a fool to every geologist in the world.

In other words, we need more intelligent, educated writers who can THINK - people like you, Peter. Thanks!

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Sunil George's avatar

this is a thorough examination of the media coverage surrounding monkeypox. The issues you've highlighted, from media misrepresentation to potential conflicts of interest, raise important questions about the accuracy and transparency of the information being provided to the public.

It's troubling to think that public health messaging could be influenced by pharmaceutical interests, especially when effective, non-pharmaceutical interventions may be overlooked. It's vital that we strive for accurate, balanced reporting to inform the public about health threats without causing undue panic or contributing to misinformation.

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