Mainstream Media Retreats From MRSA Hysteria

Where are LaBarbera's and Barber's apologies?

Jim Burroway

January 20th, 2008

The mainstream media is now beginning to recognize that the MRSA hype was overblown:

Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber couldn’t conceal their glee when the lead researcher’s ill-conceived statements landed on their lap. Now that UCSF has apologized and denounced LaBarbera’s and Barber’s statements and major news outlets are correcting initial reports, will we see a similar apology from LaBarbera and Barber? After all it would be the Christian thing to do. I somehow doubt it. They’ve built a career by exploiting the suffering of others to score cheap political points. “With love,” of course, as they like to say when they remember it’s what they’re supposed to say. But in the end, this is just another day at the office for them.

You can read more about the overblown hype in our latest report, Testing the Premise: Is MRSA The New Gay Plague?

Ben in oakland

January 20th, 2008

Sentto the SF CHronicle today:

Sir:

A week ago, the Chronicle published a highly inflammatory, untrue and misleading article about antibiotic resistant staph, all but blaming gay men– diseased, unnatural, promiscuous ‘mo’s– for unleashing a virulent new plague on poor, innocent, undefended straight America. The ONE letter the Chronicle published on the subject was from someone who believes that Nature is having her revenge. Predictably, the Right Wing has jumped all over this slander, using it as further “evidence” that gay people do not deserve an end to the religious and social prejudice directed towards them.

Much the same was done with AIDS 25 years ago.

Except that it all turns out to be NOT TRUE. Today you publish an article indicating that the problem has been around for a long time, is the result of mismanaged and misapplied medicine, and gay men are barely mentioned at all. Further Internet research indicates that football teams and the US military–hardly hotbeds of homosexuality–have have had serious problems with the disease. The New York Times, Newsweek, the CDC, and the UCSF website have repudiated the alleged link between gay men and this disease. The statements of Bien Diep, your source, were patently false.

Is it possible that the Chronicle will print a retraction, maybe even an apology?

a. mcewen

January 20th, 2008

really though, i gotta give props to sites like this and others who jumped on the story. if only we all were around when paul cameron was just becoming “prominent.”

David

January 22nd, 2008

Ben,

The letter to the Chronicle says, “Predictably, the Right Wing has jumped all over this slander.”

The “Right Wing” of what?

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