Disqus - Latest Comments for RhondaRShearer

Re: Why Hyping Transparency Distorts Journalism Ethics

RhondaRShearer — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 09:52:13 -0000

Bravo to the media outlets, like the NY Times, that still maintain insistence-- not on transparency--but independence like in their travel reviews. Being "transparent" and reporting, "I stayed at the 5 Star hotel chain for free" just doesn't cut it for the NYT last time I heard. If you ever took freebies, thus losing your independence, it does not want you writing reviews for the Times.

Some conflicts of interests are remedied by disclosure (transparency about of prior employment can work) and others must be banned (getting money from a source).

Not an either /or choice, the relationship between transparency and independence involves editorial judgement in a continuum. Starting with transparency as a remedy, editors should only go so far, until they thrown down a red flag, deciding "no, we aren't going to do this or that, or we lose our independence."

Transparency can be sound, but the strongest media ethics values are realized and maintained in independence that involves both people and methods.

Re: Read Jared Diamond with Me | Bill Gates

RhondaRShearer — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 12:39:54 -0000

Mr. Gates, You may be unaware of the controversy about Dr. Diamond's Papua New Guinea work. He claimed in the New Yorker article that a bloody revenge war, based on a dispute about pig eating a garden, lead to 30 killed and put a tribal leader, Henep Isum, in a wheel chair after his spine was cut from an assassin's spear. It's all very exciting but the trouble was--the claims were untrue. Our research team went into the Southern Highlands and found the characters and tribes named by Diamond. Isum, wasn't in wheelchair and was carrying a heavy load of dirt. He was a village police officer, not an Ombal tribesmen or a "warrior" as Diamond claimed. You can find out more at our not-for-profit media ethics news site, iMediaEthics and an excellent 3 page news story in Science by Michael Balter where Diamond admits that he never met or talked to Isum and relied on hearsay.

Re: TSA Chief: 'We'll Never Eliminate Risk' - James Fallows & Jeffrey Goldberg - National - The Atlantic

RhondaRShearer — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 18:23:25 -0000

@dumdedumdum, you wrote: "Pistole could have made the same point by saying something like "physical screening of a pilot is pointless because no physical screen can indicate what is going on in a pilot's head."

Yes he could have, but he didn't. He used a false assertion of facts to support his point. That is what I am addressing. If he is, as I claim, asserting false or misleading information that is important for the public to know in order to judge his credibility. It is the same work I do on StinkyJournalism.org

Pistole touts that he was part of the NTSB investigation. However, despite his claims here, there was no NTSB conclusion that it was an intentional crash.

Moreover, there was no FDR (flight data recording) from the column. Therefore, it is only a hypothesis, not a fact, that the pilot MAY HAVE crashed the plane by pushing the yoke forward--hence the NTSB's tenative conclusion.

Pistole can have his own opinions, of course, but he must, for accuracy, reveal they are his opinions --NOT NTSB's. If he differs from his former agency --that fine too--but he must provide his evidence.

He said "they can put the plane down, like the co-pilot in Egypt Air in 990 did." The NTSB never said the co-pilot, in fact did this in their final report. So where does he get off stating they did without qualification?

Finally, you state "You may not like Pistole's apparent belief that the Egypt Air flight was brought down by the co pilot. " This is not a question of "not liking" his belief. He presented his claim that the co-pilot did it as FACT, not as his personal belief. This is deceptive, in my view. It should signal readers of this blog post to fact check what Pistole says before believing it on its face.

Re: TSA Chief: 'We'll Never Eliminate Risk' - James Fallows & Jeffrey Goldberg - National - The Atlantic

RhondaRShearer — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:18:53 -0000

In his interview here, as part of his answers Mr. Pistole made a misleading statement on several fronts.

He said: "I mean come on, they're in charge of the yoke, they can put the plane down, like the co-pilot in Egypt Air in 990 did."

He mentions the EA 990 crash, and his suggests that the pilot intentionally downed the plane by the yoke in the downward position to support his point that " No amount of physical screening is going to identify what was going on in that co-pilot's head."

In other words, his claim was --even if TSA would have screened the EA 990 pilot, it still would not have prevented his intentional act of downing the plane by the yoke.

However his "evidence" is flawed and misleading as 1. the NTSB did not decide it was, in fact, intentional and 2. he could not possibly know if the yoke was placed down by the pilot. Further, he should know this as he was part of the NTSB investigation.

So yes, my comment is relevant as it challenges evidence he presents to support his suggestion that pilots, like EA 990's, purposefully down planes, therefore pilot screening does no good.

Re: TSA Chief: 'We'll Never Eliminate Risk' - James Fallows & Jeffrey Goldberg - National - The Atlantic

RhondaRShearer — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:31:39 -0000

Mr. Pistole said: "I mean come on, they're in charge of the yoke, they can put the plane down, like the co-pilot in Egypt Air in 990 did."

How does he know, in fact, that the pilot put the yoke down himself and it wasn't mechanical failure? He doesn't.

Little known fact, that he should have told you--if he even knew--That model of the 767 in the Egypt Air 990 crash does NOT record data from the columns.

So even though the NSTB had the FDR (Flight Data Recording), the data from the pilot or co-pilot's column does not appear on it. So any conclusion NTSB had about what the pilot did or did not do with the yoke is their hypothesis, NOT A FACT.

Jeffrey, you need to hold this guy accountable. Please ask him about this and let your readers know what he says.

Re: CNN HD Brings New Technology - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

RhondaRShearer — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:50:53 -0000

We have two reports at http://www.stinkyjournalism... that answer many of the questions cited here. I interviewed SMU professor Rita Kirk who sold the gismo to CNN. Read what she said and also find out what what a former Gallup pollster says about the “junk science” provided by CNN’s “Audience Reaction Meter.” The article by David W. Moore asks, “Should Americans really care what 32 people from Ohio think?”

http://www.stinkyjournalism...

Note: CNN focus group members could read numbers they selected 1-100 on their audience reaction meters; but TV viewers could only see squiggly lines and are left to guess, at best, approximate numerical values.

The speed of spoken words occurred at a much faster rate than the slow wave of colored lines in the graphic. So bottom line: the CNN excitement over the “second by second” data inputs mean little to nothing for home viewers starring at the screen.

Re: McCain couldn't be bothered to wear an American flag pin on September 11

RhondaRShearer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:11:49 -0000

Getty photos show McCain and his wife got pins in the ground zero pit. They were "pinned" by a FDNY firefighter (McCain) and a FDNY EMS worker (his wife) --both in the FDNY Ceremonial Unit .

Re: McCain couldn't be bothered to wear an American flag pin on September 11

RhondaRShearer — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:14:47 -0000

Photos that we found on GettyImages prove both pins for McCain and his wife were FDNY pins put on by firefighters. Also , look at the pin when magnified . It's definitely not a flag pin. Go to http://www.stinkyjournalism... to see our report.

Re: In an ‘iReport’ World, Who Can We Trust?

RhondaRShearer — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:02:46 -0000

I spoke to the author of this piece "Leonard Witt is the Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication at Kennesaw State University and the chief blogger of PJNet.." I asked him if he contacted CNN to complain and ask if they would change policy and put some ethical safety brakes in...he said he had not. He would think about it since he knew this woman.

It's frustrating because it seems that we, at StinkyJournalism.org, are one of the few media investigations sites that confronts the MsM and reports their bad behavior that results when asking for a correction, for example. On occasion, you do get ethical behavior but sadly not often enough. This extra step--of confronting and reporting what the media does in response--or does not do--is critical for achieving change and, ultimately safeguarding citizens who depend on truth and accuracy in journalism.

Please check out our site: http://www.stinkyjournalism... .

BTW. I really liked your piece on the earthquake fake photo. Thank you. I will soon add it to our SJ Editors' Picks section.

Re: In an ‘iReport’ World, Who Can We Trust?

RhondaRShearer — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:30:00 -0000

Check this story out. Starred iReporter is exposed as PR flack in disguise. Her iReports, according to this interview with her, were plants of stories for her paying customers. Go to http://pjnet.org/post/1814/

Buyer Beware now-- not just of mainstream media accuracy and ethics-- but iReports too.