CNN took advantage of President Obama being in Jordan last week to milk a story about the wonders of camel milk for all they could get out of it.
The CNN reporter said:
“It’s something we’ve been passionate about on this program for a long, long time. …
Some people say camel’s milk is like a miracle drug. They say it could help cure autism, diabetes, cancer and even AIDS.”
Really? Cure? It’s difficult to hype something any more than that without providing a single shred of evidence.
If CNN is going to remain “passionate about” reporting on camel’s milk, we suggest spending less time showing the reporter milking a camel, less time on the scenes of the President around camels, less time providing a free commercial for producers of camel’s milk and related products …and spending more time providing any real data/evidence for the wild cure claims.
This is an example of how/why even big time TV news loses credibility with whatever audience is still watching.
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Following a shift in journalism’s business model, a diverse ecosystem of publications, many covering science, has sprung up online. This has made it more difficult to sort out what qualifies as journalism, what doesn’t, and whether the public even cares.
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Researchers and journalists do the public a grave disservice when they spin health study results to make them appear safer or more effective than warranted, says @HealthNewsRevu founder @garyschwitzer https://t.co/QIKsRbP6Ed
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