Here is my complaint to the ABC regarding one of their recent articles regurgitating anti-vaccine propaganda from the AVN loons.
ABC News recently published an article titled “Vaccine could be ‘more dangerous than swine flu’.”
Judging by the title and text, the entire article appears to be nothing more than a credulous regurgitation of propaganda from a known anti-vaccine campaign group. The article contains direct quotes from only a single source – Meryl Dorey, from the Australian Vaccine Network – and even a cursory examination of the background of Dorey and her organisation shows that they are not only not a reputable source, but they about as biased a source as the author could find.
I find it worrying that the ABC is assisting the AVN – by publishing their entirely discredited views – to undertake behaviour that is the subject of a complaint to the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission, a fact that the ABC has itself mentioned in previous reports (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/06/2647604.htm).
I hope that the ABC will take steps to ensure that future coverage of this and similar issues – which, after all, may already be resulting in the preventable deaths of Australian children – are based in fact obtained from credible sources. Continuing to spread such disinformation is, in my opinion, a discredit to the ABC and its audiences.
Regards,
Me
See Sean the Blogobaut’s post Aunty* gets it wrong - ABC online aids in the promotion of vaccination fears (though my ego point’s out I tweeted about it yesterday) and there are plenty more stories at Podblack, Skeptic Zone, and Sean the Blogonaut.