Leighton Walter Kille and John Wihbey review the data landscape and list some of the best-known — and least-known — sources of federal data, statistical reports and analyses, ranging from the Census Bureau and the IRS to the Food and Drug Administration: "It can seem overwhelming, but there are actually only 13 officially designated 'principal statistical agencies,' each covering a specific area such as education, transportation, criminal justice and economics."
Science writing news
Having already made trouble for Fareed Zakaria, the furtive bloggers @crushingbort and @blippoblappo have trained their sights on a bigger target, Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell, who they say "has made a name for himself peddling social theories that attempt to explain our world in simple-to-understand and incorrect ways." More from Poynter's Andrew Beaujon and Lloyd Grove at the Daily Beast. Followup.
The House of Representatives may have passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill before adjourning, but it didn't get to vote on a Freedom of Information bill that passed the Senate by unanimous consent. Kelly J O'Brien reports that "an almost complete lack of interest from the major publications most likely to benefit from better freedom of information laws" was partly to blame. More from The Hill. Details from RCFP.
Larissa MacFarquhar interviews writers ranging from Joseph Heller to Toni Morrison about the editor they all worked with, the legendary Robert Gottlieb, and Gottlieb comments on what they say, at times uncomfortably: "Of course, if anybody says nice things about me in print it’s pleasant. But the fact is, this glorification of editors, of which I have been an extreme example, is not a wholesome thing. The editor’s relationship to a book should be an invisible one."
Why did U.S. intelligence agents embrace the use of torture in the war on terrorism when the scientific consensus is that it doesn't yield useful information? Tabitha M. Powledge reviews coverage of the newly released report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and concludes that one reason for their illogical enthusiasm may be television: "The idea that torture is effective is deeply ingrained, surely at least in part because pop culture fictions tell us so."
Jane Friedman discusses how to gauge results from your social media efforts. Google Analytics tracks how many visitors come to your website from social media platforms, and many platforms have their own analytics. But she adds: "If you find out that social media visitors seem to be a small percentage of your overall website traffic, or the lowest quality visitor, don’t automatically assume that social media doesn’t have any effect on your overall marketing or platform."
A new study from Cardiff University in Wales traces exaggeration in health news to the press releases that accompany them, but lays as much blame on the scientists who approve the press releases as the press officers who write them. Also see: BMJ editorial by Ben Goldacre, plus commentary from James Hamblin, Virginia Hughes, Steve Connor, and Mark Henderson.
Dr. Lawrence Altman wrote the first AIDS story for the New York Times in July 1981. He reflects on the early coverage in an interview with Cari Romm: "There were complaints that AIDS was getting too much attention early on at the expense of other diseases. But when you’re dealing with a communicable disease, there’s probably going to be a disproportionate amount of attention in news media, because that’s something people can take action on and do something about."
Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview.org has announced a two-year, $1.3 million grant that will allow it to resume work that shut down in mid-2013 when a previous grant lapsed. The announcement says the site will expand its staff and extend its coverage to press releases as well as news stories. It will also offer newsroom training and experiment with podcasts. Comment from CJR and the Association of Health Care Journalists