Disability Group Blasts Associated Press for Inaccurate Reporting
Disability activists are criticizing the Associated Press for inaccurate coverage of euthanasia in the Netherlands. Among other things, AP journalists are conflating "terminal illness" and "disability."
(PRWEB) August 10, 2005 -- On August 8, a story was broadcast to news outlets
all over the world from the Chicago AP office. The article concerns a new,
predictable and self-serving study published by researchers in the Netherlands.
AP Correspondent Tara Burghart provided the following as background information
to readers:
“A study released Monday sheds new light on euthanasia in the
Netherlands, the first country to legalize it for terminally ill people,”
And this…
“The study comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of
euthanasia _ especially in the Netherlands, where officials acknowledged last
year that they had carried out mercy killings of terminally ill
newborns.”
What's wrong with this information?
“The first
statement is at best misleading,” says Stephen Drake, research analyst for Not
Dead Yet, a national disability rights group opposed to legalization of assisted
suicide and euthanasia. “The Dutch “guidelines” for euthanasia aren't limited to
people with a terminal condition at all. The second statement, regarding infant
euthanasia, is just plain wrong. Earlier this year, the New England Journal of
Medicine published an article regarding infant euthanasia in the Netherlands. It
was clear that all 22 infants discussed in the article had spina bifida, which
is not a terminal condition.”
Drake says it's clear that the
misinformation was simply reproduced from an earlier article by Associated Press
Correspondent Linda A. Johnson.
“Dealing with the AP is extremely
frustrating. There is no ombudsman. There is no way to write a 'letter to the
editor' to each and every publication when they get it wrong. The misinformation
spreads like a virulent computer virus. And they don't issue corrections as a
rule.”
Drake, who studies media coverage of euthanasia, says that the
errors in the AP always seem to go in the same direction. Citing the earlier
Johnson article, he notes it isn't the first time they've conflated “terminal
illness” and “disability.” And they are even less receptive to getting called on
their mistakes than newspapers, he says.
“Journalists,” says Drake, “have
a duty to provide the public with accurate information about important policy
issues when they write about them. Apparently, journalists at the AP are
encouraged to disregard that duty.”
Not Dead Yet is a national disability
rights group leading the disability community's opposition to legalized
euthanasia and assisted suicide.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb271079.htm