Here at English Champion, I avoid taking hard and fast positions on issues about which I am not an expert, of which there are many. As such, the recent measles outbreak dominating this week’s newscasts is well outside my purview as a matter of medicine and epidemiology. As a matter of research practice and journalism, however, I’ve taught many years of research writing courses in which I constantly emphasize seeking as much data as possible, avoiding anecdotal evidence, and discerning legitimate sources. In this fascinating video from the New York Times this week, we can see the potential effects of shoddy journalism and inadequate research on the rest of society. Considering this video is produced by the Times, a publication with fairly overt social/political agendas, it’s interesting to see its challenge of this particular social/political issue. To clarify, once again, I view a piece like this with not as much of an interest in the vaccine debate as in the pursuit of scholarly study and the media’s dissemination of it. Take a look...
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AuthorDr. Spivey is a college English professor and lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. Archives
October 2017
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