Mark Hanna • Apr 14, 2015 •
In February this year, an article was published in the Wairarapa Times-Age (both in print and online) headlined Use of natural remedies is on the rise. The article discussed some specific cases of so-called “natural remedies” being used to treat serious diseases, such as intravenous vitamin C for leukaemia and homeopathy to treat various forms […] … Read More
Mark Hanna • Feb 01, 2015 •
Biosecurity is a big issue for New Zealand. Being a group of islands fairly isolated from all other landmasses and having quite a unique native ecosystem (many native birds with no native mammalian predators and few native land mammals), we have a lot to lose from introduced species. There are also biological threats to industry […] … Read More
Mark Hanna • Apr 02, 2014 •
This morning I saw an article in the NZ Herald on the “paleo diet” that rather frustrated me. It seems like a great example of poor science reporting, trying its hardest to turn a study into a story instead of doing any actual science reporting. The role of a science reporter is not to sensationalise, […] … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Dec 01, 2009 •
Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. It was inevitable that the sentinel event report , designed to help hospitals improve systems, would be seized upon by journalists to score some easy sensational headlines. The Dom Post supplies us with this fine headline: Hospitals to blame in 92 deaths Hospital [...] Related … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Sep 24, 2009 •
Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. This is what happens when legitimate studies are reported sensationally: Bad doctors most likely to be men, report shows Women make safer doctors than men, Britain’s largest study of medical performance has found. They are less likely to be investigated over concerns about [...] … Read More