The crisis of journalism, and why the bandwagon effect has quite a lot to do it with.
Freedom of speech and opinion, you said?
New publication: we joined an impressive group of seasoned colleagues for a project led by financial investigative editor Myret Zaki. The essay “There is no journalism without a multiplicity of points of view. How the media struggle with ideological issues, more than with the budget” is out on February 6, 2024 in French. It will be presented the same day at the Geneva Press Club and the event can be also followed by Zoom. In a nutshell, in this book a diverse group of thinkers share experiences and views on how journalism is discarding its mission of presenting multiple opinions and angles to the readers. Especially in times of crisis, it rather tends to stick to the dominant narrative as it is framed by governments and their stakeholders. Freedom of thought and speech are the first casualties of a troubling development that is putting at stake the credibility of journalism thus its survival as an essential tool to nourish the democratic debate in a sane society.
Join the event in person or by Zoom through the Geneva Press Club website.
#GIJNHealthGuide: The Guide we wrote on commission of the Global Investigative Journalism Network is available in: English, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic. The Guide is published under Creative Commons License thus can be freely reproduced and distributed after getting in touch with GIJN (hello@gijn.org) or with us (presence@re-check.ch).
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#GoodReads
Pfizer sued for “false and deceptive” COVID-19 vaccine claims.
By Maryanne Demasi.
On December 1, 2023 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he’s suing Pfizer, saying the company “intentionally misrepresented the efficacy” of its vaccine and censored people “who threatened to disseminate the truth” about the vaccine in public discussions. The lawsuit goes on to say that Pfizer also took overt action to intimidate and silence people who posted factual information about the COVID-19 vaccines, in order to “prolong the effectiveness of the company’s deception campaign.” In Maryanne Demasi's article the background, and the Plaintiff’s Original Petition of State of Texas v. Pfizer, Inc.
Tainted Breath Machines: The Philips Respironics case and the FDA's fail. By Debbie Cenziper, ProPublica; with Michael D. Sallah and Michael Korsh, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
In June 2021, Philips initiated one of the largest medical devices recalls in history, affecting more than 10 million devices in the United States and 15 million devices worldwide. The company recalled 14 models of ventilators and positive airway pressure machines that use polyester-based polyurethane sound abatement foam, because of the concerns that foam degradation could harm patients through inhalation of toxic particles and fumes. An investigation by ProPublica and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has found that “in the years leading to the recall, the FDA repeatedly failed one of its most critical missions: alerting the public about devices that can inflict serious harm. Over the course of a decade, the agency missed a pattern of warnings from health care workers, patients and others that something was very wrong with the company’s popular sleep apnea devices and ventilators”.
The FDA and Moderna’s cosy relationship: how lax rules enable a revolving door culture. By Peter Doshi.
Concerns about a “revolving door”- movement of people between the government and the private sector - have persisted for decades, with public confidence in the balance over the integrity of government decision making. A BMJ investigation reveals two troubling cases of high-ranked officials with the US Food and Drug Administration that played a key role in the agency's regulation of COVID-19 vaccines, then moved on to work for one the companies whose products they had been tasked to assess.
https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2486
Evaluating modeling scenarios.
A project by Thomas Starck and Maxime Langevin.
This site aims to provide a retrospective on the main modeling scenarios used to guide the major decisions taken over the last years in the course of the international crisis that has disrupted life as we used to know it, worldwide (e.g. confinements, curfews, or the implementation of the COVID pass). Modeling scenarios have played a key role in public policy since 2020. However, in order to make good decisions, it is important to have models that anticipate reality. A retrospective analysis that compares the most popular models, with real-life measurements, for a work-in-progress project by two French scholars.
https://evaluation-modelisation-covid.github.io/france_eng/index.html
Get the basics and the troubles that come with modeling public health by listening to this handy podcast by Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson for Trust The Evidence.
#Film & Podcast
Bad Surgeon. Love under the knife. By Ben Steele.
A three-episode true crime Netflix series about disgraced surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. Hailed as game-changing specialist, and exposed as a con artist that didn't shy away from using patients as Guinea pigs. A case we had featured in this chapter of the GIJN Health Guide.
Broken Medical Science. By Peter C Gøtzsche, Institute for Medical Freedom.
Scientific censorship, bad evidence, and even worse policies. Professor Gøtzsche breaks down many of the severe dysfunctions of medicine and public health.
Branding Diseases - How Drug Companies Market Psychiatric Conditions: An Interview with Ray Moynihan. By Ayurdhi Dhar for Mad in America.
The labeling of everyday life struggles as disorders and how patient advocacy groups, doctors, medical journalists, and respected academics are often manipulated by a powerful, corporatized healthcare system. A must-hear interview with one of Re-Check’s international advisors, the Australian academic and researcher Ray Moynihan.
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