Sun-Sentinel: misleading headlines widespread?

It was with astonishment that I read the headline "Survey reveals widespread autism in the U.S." The article was by Thomas Maugh of the Los Angeles Times and was included in the May 5th edition of the Sun-Sentinel. The headline in the Los Angeles Times, "More cases of autism reported," accurately reflected the contents of the article. The Sun Sentinel headline assumes that there are actually more cases of autism then ever before and even uses the word "widespread autism" but the story made it clear that this was based on a survey of random Americans.

One problem with using a survey as evidence of widespread autism is that it was explained in the article that it is possible that autism is over reported. Dr.Robert Hendren director of UC Davis MIND Institute was quoted in the article, "because parents pressuring physicians for a diagnosis so they will be eligible for social and special services." If this is true then there may be fewer real cases of sutism and the chosen headline should have been the one that appeared in the Los Angeles Times and not the one that the headline writers of the Sun-Sentinel fashioned.

5/3/06: Unauthorized Withdrawal

In their 5/3/06 story about the effects of the illegal immigrant boycott, writers Ruth Morris and Tal Abbady used the term "undocumented workers" to describe those who have either entered the U.S. illegally or stayed here illegally. These acts are crimes.

By using the term, "undocumented workers" the reporters diminish the criminal act of sneaking across the border to gain entry into the U.S. What exactly does the term "undocumented worker" mean? The use of this term suggests that the status of these illegal immigrants is the same as legal immigrants or US citizens only they have not been documented. This seems to suggest that their status is only a paperwork issue.

The term undocumented worker is a deliberate attempt to diminish the criminal acts of those who have either entered the country illegally or have stayed here illegally after entering the country.

I suppose using the logic of Abbady and Morris, a convicted bank robber would only be guilty of an unauthorized withdrawal.

5/1/06: Rush to a Headline:

Limbaugh Arrested on Felony Charges for Prescription Drug Fraud.

When I read this headline I thought to myself, has Rush Limbaugh been arrested again. I don't know if Peter Franceschina, the writer of the story wrote the headline but my understanding of what a headline is supposed to do is to convey the main idea of a story in one sentence or less. This apparently escaped the writer of the headline.

The main idea of the story is that Limbaugh had his prescription drug matter settled in what can be reasonably inferred as favorable terms for him. He also surrendered to authorities and while he was technically arrested, the article conveyed a far different set of circumstances from the headline.

Random Raids Spark Fears.

This was the headline in the print edition of the Sun-Sentinel and the story is an example of how the news story selection process can reveal the newspaper's bias.

This story by Tal Abbady explained that businesses that cater to immigrants are being hurt due to rumors of randon raids by federal agents. Abbady also explained that many people are afraid due to the rumors concenring randon raids and we later learned that these rumors seem to be unfounded.

But look at the story that appeared on 4/25. Ruth Morris who sometimes appears on story bylines with Abbady reported about a round up of 183 illegals with 43 of them having committed crimes. Strange how Abbady chose to focus on the fears brought about by the rumors of raids and chose not to research and report on the fear felt by the victims of some of the crimes committed by some of the illegals who were rounded up. This includes at least one case of child abuse of a three year old.

The story by Abbady was not one that was unquestionably newsworthy like a major accident, fire, or plane crash. This was an example of how a story was selected due to the fear felt by some but the fear felt by others was deemed not to be newsworthy.

Michael Mayo Refuses to Clean up Controversy.

Michael Mayo had a column about some janitors at Nova Southeastern University and University of Miami conducting a hunger strike. He went into detail about how little they earned and the efforts of their union to get higher pay and better benefits for the cleaning staff. He also revealed the disparity in pay and benefits between the cleaning staff of the University of Miami and how much the president of that university, Donna Shalala earns.

I emailed him a couple of questions concerning the salary and benefit package of the cleaning staff at the Sun-Sentinel compared to the benefits and salary of the publisher of the Sun-Sentinel.

He has not yet responded.

Human Rights Supporters vs Abortion Protesters.

Note how inthe Associated Press story that appeared in the Sun-Sentinel, the words "abortion protesters," were used to describe those sho protest at a West Palm Beach clinic. The story was about a ruling by a federal judge who ruled that a town law that restricted some of their protest activities was unconstitutional.

In a story about those who were protesting an anti-bullying bill for not specifically including sexual preference, race, religion, sex, along with other specific catgories were called "human rights supporters," by writer Karla Shores.

Global Warming

Home Page Global Warming

Michael Crichton on Global Warming

http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote04.html

This is the best article on the subject of how global warming, science and politics intersect and every person wanting to be informed about this subject should read this.