who are you quoting?

-
Before broadcasting the latest news over Twitter, or before citing that journal article in the draft of a scientific paper, consider who you are quoting. That is the reminder being sent to us by John Gregerson in his article entitled "Truth, Lies, and Rumors in the Media: Consider the Source", published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

In the article, he cited several examples of others preempting the deaths of famous people. I am happy that the people I follow on Twitter appear to be aware of the importance of "the source". A few days ago, Rodolfo Vera Quizon, Sr, the Philippine Comedy King, passed on. Before he died, people had been spreading rumors (or misinformation) that he had died at a much earlier time. But there were those who preferred to wait for the official statement coming from one of his sons, Eric Quizon, before posting their tweet-tributes about Dolphy and their condolences.

Aside from celebrity news, scientific discoveries are sometimes being played up by media. Two examples: Ever heard about polished rice being an unhealthy food because those who eat it are more at risk of developing diabetes type 2? Or how about the news articles that say that there are rice varieties that don't contribute to diabetes type 2? How about the never ending debate about whether red wine is good or bad for the heart? And don't get me started with the monosodium glutamate issue... or the studies about artificial sweeteners. The list goes on and on...

Confused?

Yes? Good.

With so many conflicting studies out there, relying solely on these news media outfits as sources of information is risky. The media is what can be considered a secondary source; not necessarily the best reference material for scholarly work. And I emphasize the term scholarly. For other purposes, media reports are some of the best sources of information.

So, how do we decide whether to accept a news article at face value or with a grain of salt? Gregerson gives us a few pointers. I'm putting three of them here, those pointers that I also learned in Advanced English class (in high school). Consider the following:
1. Who is the news article quoting or citing?
2. Who has written the article?
3. Is there a conflict of interest?
To read more about the article, here are the details:

Gregerson, J. 2012. Truth, lies, and rumors in the media: Consider the source. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 112 (5): 602.


Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

Skyflakes

-
One of the more famous Philippine exports is Skyflakes , a wheat-based, salty cracker. It is one of my emergency food items: I typically have some stocked at home and in my handbag in case I become hungry (like in traffic jams). When there's no electricity and it's impractical to cook rice (because the leftover would spoil), I'd open a pack of Skyflakes and generously coat each cracker with Cheez Whiz... if I had a bottle of it within reach. Anyway, each time I spent more than two weeks outside the Philippines, I'd be elated to see boxes of Skyflakes inside Asian stores (particularly when in I was Australia and in the USA). Back then, I took it as a sign of homesickness. When I moved to California, I didn't miss Skyflakes because Mommy made sure that there's a steady supply in the house. Skyflakes is embedded in Filipino gastronomy as a snack, a panawid-gutom , that anyone who reacts positively upon seeing Skyflakes outside the Philippines must have spe
Read more

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

-
I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
Read more

Surat Mangyan

-
Image
In high school, part of the Filipino curriculum was learning about one of the country's ancient native scripts called Baybayin . I learned back then that this script was eventually abandoned because the Spanish, and eventually the Americans, encouraged the use of the Latin script for written communications. But that's in the lowlands; the rules were different up in the mountains. In the lush mountains of Mindoro, groups of indigenous people called Mangyans  live largely in isolation away from the Christianised Filipinos. This isolation has led to the continuous development of the Mangyans' old script, Surat Mangyan . As I walked inside the Ayala Museum , I saw this bamboo tube (I'm not sure if it's an instrument) with Mangyan script written all over it. I suppose that this was equivalent to a book or a song. But I haven't figured out what's written yet, despite the translation guide provided. What I can do, however, is write my name in Ma
Read more