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| Jenny McCarthy 'he said, she said' reporting helps to sustain myths | Jenny McCarthy 'he said, she said' reporting helps to sustain myths |
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| In Britain, we had the MMR triple jab controversy during which media outlets tended to give more credence than was due to a single campaigner, Andrew Wakefield, who produced a fraudulent research paper that claimed the vaccine caused autism. | In Britain, we had the MMR triple jab controversy during which media outlets tended to give more credence than was due to a single campaigner, Andrew Wakefield, who produced a fraudulent research paper that claimed the vaccine caused autism. |
| In the United States, a similar controversy blew up around another single-minded campaigner, Jenny McCarthy, who argued that childhood vaccines cause autism (after her son was diagnosed with autism) and who wrote a foreword to Wakefield's book. | In the United States, a similar controversy blew up around another single-minded campaigner, Jenny McCarthy, who argued that childhood vaccines cause autism (after her son was diagnosed with autism) and who wrote a foreword to Wakefield's book. |
| Now a new row has broken out because McCarthy has been chosen to co-host the popular US TV daytime chat show, The View, as Tom McCarthy (no relation) reported in The Guardian. | Now a new row has broken out because McCarthy has been chosen to co-host the popular US TV daytime chat show, The View, as Tom McCarthy (no relation) reported in The Guardian. |
| He listed several examples of forthright hostility to her being given such a high-profile platform. Examples here and here and here, plus plenty on Twitter here. Such is the antagonism to McCarthy's views, allied to the belief that she has been responsible for children's deaths because of people refusing to vaccinate their offspring, there is even a website called Jenny McCarthy body count. | He listed several examples of forthright hostility to her being given such a high-profile platform. Examples here and here and here, plus plenty on Twitter here. Such is the antagonism to McCarthy's views, allied to the belief that she has been responsible for children's deaths because of people refusing to vaccinate their offspring, there is even a website called Jenny McCarthy body count. |
| But many people - perhaps the majority of the American public - may not have read opinion pieces by commentators who oppose giving McCarthy a chance to spread what they regard as misinformation. | But many people - perhaps the majority of the American public - may not have read opinion pieces by commentators who oppose giving McCarthy a chance to spread what they regard as misinformation. |
| Instead, as an article in the Columbia Journalism Review points out, they will have read news articles about her new job in which her discredited claims were given equal weight to those of the scientific medical community. | Instead, as an article in the Columbia Journalism Review points out, they will have read news articles about her new job in which her discredited claims were given equal weight to those of the scientific medical community. |
| The CJR's writer, Brendan Nyhan, refers to this fake balance as "he said, she said" coverage. In so doing, he touches on one of mainstream media's common bad habits in attempting to produce so-called objective and/or impartial journalism. The mission to explain is replaced by the sustaining of myths. | The CJR's writer, Brendan Nyhan, refers to this fake balance as "he said, she said" coverage. In so doing, he touches on one of mainstream media's common bad habits in attempting to produce so-called objective and/or impartial journalism. The mission to explain is replaced by the sustaining of myths. |
| Nyhan lists some examples. A USA Today reporter described McCarthy as "a brash blonde" (yes, note the sexism too) who had "embraced the controversial claim that vaccinations cause autism" which "has drawn the ire of pro-immunisation advocacy groups." | Nyhan lists some examples. A USA Today reporter described McCarthy as "a brash blonde" (yes, note the sexism too) who had "embraced the controversial claim that vaccinations cause autism" which "has drawn the ire of pro-immunisation advocacy groups." |
| A Philadelphia Inquirer reporter simply, and simplistically, noted that "Jenny made enemies of doctors when she said vaccination caused her son Evan's autism." | A Philadelphia Inquirer reporter simply, and simplistically, noted that "Jenny made enemies of doctors when she said vaccination caused her son Evan's autism." |
| And an Associated Press report, carried by several newspapers across the States, observed only that McCarthy "emerged as an activist, campaigning about the dangers of vaccines, which she claims triggered her son's autism." | And an Associated Press report, carried by several newspapers across the States, observed only that McCarthy "emerged as an activist, campaigning about the dangers of vaccines, which she claims triggered her son's autism." |
| Nyhan comments: "There is no perfect way to cover McCarthy's hiring, of course, but giving 'balanced' coverage to fringe beliefs is the worst approach to covering misinformation." | |
| He cites an article by another CJR author, Curtis Brainard, in which he contended that balanced coverage "helped sustain the bogus claim that childhood vaccines can cause autism." In other words, by writing of McCarthy's viewpoint in strictly "neutral" terms keeps the myth alive despite scientific evidence that has effectively proved it to be unsupportable. | He cites an article by another CJR author, Curtis Brainard, in which he contended that balanced coverage "helped sustain the bogus claim that childhood vaccines can cause autism." In other words, by writing of McCarthy's viewpoint in strictly "neutral" terms keeps the myth alive despite scientific evidence that has effectively proved it to be unsupportable. |
| Treating McCarthy's claims as "controversial" and calling her a "campaigner" or "activist" is liable to give her and her opinions a spurious credibility, thereby justifying Nyman's point about such reporting having "potentially dangerous consequences for public health." | Treating McCarthy's claims as "controversial" and calling her a "campaigner" or "activist" is liable to give her and her opinions a spurious credibility, thereby justifying Nyman's point about such reporting having "potentially dangerous consequences for public health." |