Who has contacted the media?

[Ed]

It seems that lately a few folks have shot off emails to their local media outlets. It has been a while and I wonder what kind of responses these folks (or anyone that might have written similar letters) have gotten.

If you have written with no response let us know too.

[Mercutio]

I posted this about a year ago on this forum:I e-mailed a local news station after their "health-watch" reporter did a piece on craniosacral therapy. Attached some of the (easily available) critiques of CST, suggested that a more helpful approach for a health-watch reporter would be to actually investigate a claim to see whether there was anything to it, rather than doing a fluff piece peddling false hope to desparate people in pain. (I think I was a little more polite than that, but also more forceful).

I got an e-mail back titled "must have alot of time on your hands, sir", with an indignant response, saying she had checked this out with medical professionals (who, by the way, said CST couldn't hurt, since it did nothing), and had participated in a double-blind study with the practitioner (this I found highly amusing--a reporter blind to what she was looking for, and a practitioner blind to what he was doing? I think not.).

While I was contemplating how to respond, my computer died and had to be in the shop for 3 weeks. So I never sent anything back. I'm hoping that next time I can alert some of the other NH residents here so that she might see it's not just a lone wacko on a rant. Or maybe I am.

[Filippo Lippi]

I was driving home from work one day (75 mile trip) and I turned on the local radio station. There was a long puff piece, dressed up as an interview, for a medium who was appearing at a theatre in North Notts. (Worksop?). The DJ was giving her carte blanche to go on about how she (the medium) offered reassurrance to the recently bereaved, in fact the DJ was agreeing with her. I was so angry that I stopped the car (in a safe place) to phone in and complain, saying that the medium was fleecing vulnerable people.

Did anything change? Did it bogger.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Sorry to sidetrack the thread, but bogger?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bogger

I sent an email to WGBH after they showed the PBS bit about feng shui. Never heard back.

~~ Paul

[cbish]

I know the editor of our local paper personally and I'm constantly on his arse on both scientific and educational issues. The last objection I had was about 6 months ago when in the "Health" section was an article on light therapy. I started a thread linking the article in this very forum.

In any event, my objection was that there was this pseudoscience in the same section as legitimate health articles. As a result, they've created a separate woo-woo section that runs twice a month.

(I have to add that I don't think this guy likes me very much!

;) )

[CFLarsen]

An interview in the monthly lifestyle magazine for the....not-so-young-but-affluent-and-active, Opus, April issue, on numerology. I got half a page, the numerologist got 3 1/2. Better than I had expected. :)

A response in one of the two daily "midmorning" newspapers, "EkstraBladet", to a 9-11 conspiracy nut, who tried to make it seem as if NORAD let the attacks happen. I pointed out major flaws in his argument. Blinded him with the embarrassing facts, so to speak. :)

[jj]

I have, from time to time, contacted the media. The invariable answer back is "aww, it doesn't hurt anybody"... :mad:

(I mean about paranormal stuff, not high-end audio stuff.)

I've also discussed some of the high end audio stuff with people in the audio media, those discussions can be more interesting.

The people who pop out of the woodwork to actively libel you when you do talk to the audio media are pretty spectacular.

[Filippo Lippi]

Originally posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos
Sorry to sidetrack the thread, but bogger?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bogger

I sent an email to WGBH after they showed the PBS bit about feng shui. Never heard back.

~~ Paul

Nottinghamian pronunciation of another word. ;)

[ca3799]

I complained to the Larry King show about Sylvia Brown and got a form letter response.

[Nigel]

I once wrote my local paper concerning a UFO flap in the area. Witnesses reported green white and red flashing lights, but the airport allegedly said no planes were in the area. I'd complained that they probably wouldn't follow up with any explanations if the were found. My letter was published in the "Letters to the editor" section. I was right. They never followed up.

[patnray]

About a year ago the local ABC station did a "news" report about a psychic who provides readings to business people. The report included a claim that went something like she is the most widely used business consultant in the San Francisco area. I sent an email to the "reporter" asking if she had any data to back up that claim or did she just take the psychic's word for it.

Never got a response...

[An Infinite Ocean]

Here's a good one, you'll like this. Not a lot.

A few months ago the BBC broadcast a programme about quack medical cures. I thought it'd be interesting, so I recorded it on the Tivo and watched it that evening. It was the usual stuff - hidden camera footage of sick people being conned with sugar pills sold as cures for impotence and such from Harley St clinics.

So far so good. The idea was that the biggest fraudster - judged by a panel of three (I think) medical experts - would be given an award (a sort of booby-prize) by the programme.

Just one problem. One of the members of the panel was from the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital (or something - certainly it had 'Royal' and 'Homeopathy' in there somewhere). A homeopath judging medical quackery. My irony meter hasn't functioned properly since.

I wrote an email to the BBC complaining in no uncertain terms -though summoning as much politeness as I could muster. They sent me an email back, saying that they were sorry that I felt the choice of panel member was inappropriate, and that they had passed the complaint onto the makers of the programme.

Never heard anything else back of course, but jesus - you'd think that the BBC could afford decent researchers. I was QUITE LITERALLY AGOG WITH WIDE-EYED ASTONISHMENT.

Thank you for reading.

[Exposer]

Originally posted by patnray
About a year ago the local ABC station did a "news" report about a psychic who provides readings to business people. The report included a claim that went something like she is the most widely used business consultant in the San Francisco area. I sent an email to the "reporter" asking if she had any data to back up that claim or did she just take the psychic's word for it.

Never got a response...

In that case, I would have followed up with a letter to her editor, CC:d to enough folks that she would have to respond.

Funny how emails with CC:s tend to get responses.

[Ceinwyn]

I sent an email off to TV Guide because their new larger format includes a horoscope page at the back. No reply so far.

[JesFine]

I sent a letter (well... email) to The Wave Magazine (http://www.thewavemag.com/) which is a popular local free periodical. They said Sylvia Browne was one of the smartest people in the Bay Area and I didn't agree. It was a pretty cool experience since I had never sent a letter to an editor before and I was worried I would get a response like Mercutio got. I actually shared the letter and the responses (I received several) from the editor on here and was nominated for a Language Award, which was so cool. I lost, but it was proven later that the winner was doped up on HGH. Those threads appear to have been deleted so don't bother looking for them. Still, my one and only letter-writing campaign was a pleasant experience for me.

[Loki]

Several emails sent, to both US and Australian media, on various issues. No replies ever. Oh well...I intend to keep sending emails if and when it seems waranted

[LFTKBS]

First, you call.

Then you write a strongly worded letter.

You should know that neither of these actions help or work or cause any change in the way that publication or program is run.

So I usually wind up calling under false pretenses and telling the producer or journalist that he or she is an ****** twit.

So at least then I feel better.

[Quasi]

Ditto to some of you, I have not even received a form letter yet, nor have my responses been published, not that I blame the editor, it makes him/her look real bad.
Did anyone read the latest Wired Magazine? It has something like "Super Organics" on the cover. The article has some interesting points, but the author wants organophiles to accept his brand of genetically modified organisms (the science is that you modify genes in-situ to create new GMO plants instead of splicing new foreign genes in the plant.) Nowhere does he tackle the slippery slope of organic foods. His big thing is to deystroy Montsanto because he feels they have a monopoly on the agricultural industry. Has anyone written in to Wired?

[FFed]

I wrote a radio station because they had a psychic that would come on every Friday morning. He was a regular for the morning show and the hosts just couldn't get enough of this guy. I received a reply saying they take all suggestions sent to them and look at them during their weekly meetings or something like that. The radio station has now changed formats from talk to sports so the psychic is no longer on. And the station still sucks.
This guy really pissed me off. Once he told a caller who had plans to move out of the province in a couple weeks for a job not to move because he had "unfinished business" here.
Here is this guys website
http://www.1111spiritroad.com/entrance.jsp

[!Xx+-Rational-+xX!]

Everyone go write angry anti-paranormal letters! Also don't forget to argue against religion with close family members! We are such rebels going after this nonsense! We’re questioning what is blatantly false which is apparent to anyone with intelligence that bothers to actually think about the subjects in question! Atheists are the only one who can actually think and that aren’t brain washed! We need to make sure that materialism controls the media! Anything else should be censored and scoffed at since it obviously can't be!

[Loki]

Originally posted by !Xx+-Rational-+xX!
Everyone go write angry anti-paranormal letters! Also don't forget to argue against religion with close family members! We are such rebels going after this nonsense! We’re questioning what is blatantly false which is apparent to anyone with intelligence that bothers to actually think about the subjects in question! Atheists are the only one who can actually think and that aren’t brain washed! We need to make sure that materialism controls the media! Anything else should be censored and scoffed at since it obviously can't be!

Give it a rest Franko....

[VicDaring]

I wrote to ABC, with an attaboy, after a good Stossel segment a few months ago. That's probably on the boards here somewhere (too lazy to look).

Much more recently: a nationally syndicated sports radio guy has been spending some time on "brain typing" and Dr. Jonathan Niednagel. He's trying to get the Dr. on his show, so this morning, I sent the host this:


Colin,

Before you buy into this Dr. Niednagel's brain typing nonsense, you might want to take a look at his web page, www.braintypes.com

In the question & answer section, presumably the best justification of this unproven (at best) approach, you find a veritable buffet of bad logic, bad science, and wrongheaded thinking, such as:

1. Offhand, nearly impatient dismissal of scientific method: (Paraphrasing here) Well of course you can't prove it scientifically. Just asking that shows you're close minded.

2. Misdirection: A simple, very old trick employed by illusionists, hucksters, and used car salesmen. Ask a question about the veracity of brain typing, he goes on about Jane Goodall. Jane Goodall has nothing to do with the question at hand, but it distracts one nicely.

3. A foundation built on "Intelligent Design": If you're not aware, Intelligent Design is the creation side of the creation vs. evolution "debate." What's most important to note here is that there is NO SERIOUS DEBATE, among the scientific community. Evolution is a scientific theory, based on volumes of evidence. Intelligent Design is an out-of-mid air hypothesis, with not a single shred evidence to back it up.

There's more, but this e-mail has already run way too long. If you do speak with Dr. Niednagel, I'd be interested to see these points addressed and his response.

Thanks and I'm enjoying the show more and more.

Vic in Wilkes-Barre, PA


If this gets any play, I'll let you know.

[Thomas]

When I was about 21 years old, and had just finished my degree in sciencetheory, it appeared obvious to me that the media wasn't being skeptic about all this nonsense that people claimed the existence of. I didn't knew anyone who was really skeptic about these matters, the people I knew in those days didn't really care about these phenomena. They couldn't see the potential frauds, hoaxes and dangers that people were exposed to through this ignorance. I felt quite alone.

I also predicted that the media would ignore me if I tried to tell them to be more skeptic. So I thought, why not influence the media from within the media? I took a job as a host at the local radiostation, and were allowed to make up my own concepts, and so I did - so I did indeed.

I made a show I called 'Alternative alternatives'(translated from Danish), that aimed directly at paranormal and supernatural phenomena claims. After the first show my editor started to push and harass me with the worst assigments this radiostation could offer. He clearly didn't wan't to hear a skeptics view of these phenomena, because he himself had emotional investments in paranormal baloney. This was rather akward, because before I made these shows, he told me that he really liked me as a person.
I only managed to run three shows of 'Alternative alternatives', then I got sacked.


/thomas