Practical politics consists in ignoring facts. – Henry Brooks Adams
Don’t they teach the concept of “research” in journalism schools anymore? Or has it been replaced by “cut-and-paste 101” and “basic fabrication”? I have to wonder, because it seems that for every Pete Kotz or Darrell Dawsey who takes the time to investigate and question, there are dozens of Torsten Oves and Amber Lyon whose definition of “fact” appears to be “whatever a self-proclaimed authority tells me.” And when that “authority” is woefully ignorant on the subject one gets a ludicrous article full of mistakes which are blatantly obvious to anyone who knows anything about the subject. For example, here’s an article about the porn condom scam from the New York Times of February 10th; even with my cursory knowledge of the porn industry and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s antics I caught a couple of errors, but Mark Kernes of Adult Video News (AVN) found a dozen, as detailed in this letter to the editor of the Times. Here are a few edited highlights:
I normally respect The New York Times‘ coverage of events, but there was so much incorrect in Ian Lovett’s article “Condom Requirement Sought for Sex-Film Sets” that I have to question whether he did any research at all?
The errors begin with the first paragraph, where he claims that the AIM Healthcare Foundation…”abruptly shut its doors in December.” Mr. Lovett makes it sound as if this shutdown was voluntary, where in fact the clinic was served with an illegal “cease and desist” order from the Los Angeles Department of Public Health…
…Los Angeles has NOT moved to fill AIM’s role in performer testing, though it has been clear for at least two years that they desperately WANT to do so, thinking that it will bring a large influx in income to the city—which it won’t. But the city has no current plans to open any performer testing facilities, and in fact has not done so.
Paragraph 3 implies that AIM’s closing was somehow connected to the performer who tested HIV positive in October…The exact reason that performer became HIV positive is still under investigation, and the possibility that he contracted the disease through personal contact in his private life—he posted ads on the internet as a “male escort”—is considered likely.
… there is not currently any legislation being considered…which would “impose safety standards specifically on the pornographic film industry.”
…there has not been a “string of actresses” who “contracted HIV and filed lawsuits against production companies.” Just one actress (stage name Brooke Ashley) filed suit, and it was with the California Employment Development Department…NO other suits have been filed against production companies due to HIV infection.
…adult producers have NOT “agreed not to hire performers who had not been tested in the last 30 days,” much as many members of the adult industry wish they would…Moreover, AIM doesn’t “hound” performers who had possibly been exposed to HIV to get them tested; it simply informs them that they should come in for such testing, and keeps a record (accessible only to movie producers) of whether they have done so, and when.
… there have NOT been “just five cases of HIV infection among its performers … since a 2004 outbreak shut down the industry for a month”; there have been just five cases INCLUDING the 2004 outbreak…
Contrary to the implications of the article’s 14th paragraph, AIM continued to arrange for performers’ HIV and STD tests during the period when the clinic itself was not open; it simply arranged for the performers’ blood and urine samples to be drawn by outside physicians and clinics, but the results of those tests were disclosed only to AIM and to the performers themselves, and became part of AIM’s producer database as well…
The adult industry continues to question the STD infection statistics promulgated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health…the County has wildly inflated performers’ infection rates, which are at most 2.4 percent of the performer population during a “bad month,” and 1.8 percent during a “good month.” The idea that “a quarter of all performers each year” are diagnosed with a sexually-transmitted disease is ludicrous. The reason for the discrepancy is that not only does the County count original infections in its statistics, but also each time a performer returns to the clinic to be retested before the disease has fully cleared his/her body—which performers frequently do since they are generally anxious to get back to work. Hence, the County statistics improperly record an original report of infection as well as perhaps four or five retests within the following two weeks as if there were five or six original infections.
… if Mr. Lovett had done even a bit of investigation, he would have discovered that AHF is funded in part by the condom industry, and that AHF’s own HIV testing program, which uses one of the “10 minute” antibody tests for HIV, is itself seriously flawed, and can produce negative results in HIV-positive test subjects for as long as six months after infection…It has also been rumored that AHF itself would like a piece of what it sees as the “lucrative” field of performer STD testing.
In Mr. Lovett’s 22nd paragraph, he refers to “Previous efforts to pass legislation that would specifically require condom use.” There have been no such legislative attempts, although a reading of the California Health Code, in a section that was originally enacted to protect hospital workers, implies that not only condoms but also dental dams, rubber gloves, goggles and face shields may be required for on-camera sex scenes. This portion of the Health Code has been the subject of five public hearings so far between Cal/OSHA and the adult industry, and is far from being resolved.
Perhaps the next time Mr. Lovett decides to write about the adult movie industry, he might want to speak to some people who have actual working knowledge of the medical and legal issues involved.
That sentiment in the last line could certainly be applied to literally every mainstream article about prostitution. Reporters interview cops, prohibitionist groups and government agencies who are highly motivated to lie in order to protect their jobs and promote their own anti-prostitution agenda instead of simply speaking to some people who have actual working knowledge of prostitution…namely, whore bloggers like myself or any of the ladies whose links appear to the right of this column.
I find this to be true with much of what, today, is called the media. This country has avoided honest debate on many very important issues of the last decade and I find a fair amount of culpability with the media. There seems to be no national discussion on issues like the torture policy of the last administration, the drug war or our current wars in the middle east (which is a personal peeve of mine). With some exceptions, the MSM has failed miserably in addressing this topics and fostering any sort of debate. This is why I read blogs.
What about the torture policy of the current administration?
I agree completely but I have to be careful with my first amendment rights because of UCMJ article 88.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/punitivearticles/a/mcm88.htm
Not that I’m worried that anyone here would turn me in, but the Army can be vindictive and I don’t want to create any bad habits. Radley really does amazing work and I wish more people would read it. I link him as often as I can.
A common counter-insult is “it takes one to know one.” For instance, when my sister and cousin fought, twenty-five years or more ago, one called the other “WHORE!” and the other told the one, “It takes one to know one!”
I tend to think that we are better off dropping the use of juvenile insults as we grow up, but in this case, at least, perhaps we should not forget them altogether. If you want to know about porn, or prostitutes, or podiatrists, well, it takes one to know one.
This is something I constantly bitch about. We lack a serious voice. An organization, a union, a coalition made up of people like you and me and Kelly and Amanda and Jill and dozens of others. Look at the work that people who have the same interests that have organized have done. MADD, ACLU, New Zealands Prostitutes Collective, SWOP, etc. Perhaps if we had something that was representative of us all that people could reference and ask questions of we could be taken more seriously. “Members of the ASWC submitted a report to the government lobbying for blah, blah, blah” sounds more important than “One sex worker said that blah blah blah”
Have no clue as to whether it can or will be done but hey… sounds good in theory 😉
An example of how even 2 people can change things greatly for the better is the wonderful group Parents of Murdered Children. It was founded by 2 people, has grown every year and is a huge help to many every day. What this group has accomplished has taken time, of course, but that’s a sacrifice that’s needed to get anywhere. They’ve helped me greatly along with many others. Don’t ever underestimate the power of even 1 person or a few working together in the world to at the least expose things that need to be, etc. Thanks for listening.
Define “research”.
The newest crop of journalists was educated in a system which viewed advancement based on (or even recognition of) merit as inherently unfair and damaging to the self-esteem of any student who had the misfortune of being average by birth or apathy. This beget a generation taught to do what was needed to pass and no more.
They went on to universities and colleges where reporting the facts has been superseded by “educating the public”, “changing hearts and minds” and “will it sell?”
With few exceptions, journalism can only be found today in alternate media. The Old Grey Mare, she ain’t what she used to be.
I think that the overall decline of the fourth estate, and it’s takeover by corporations has inevitably led to this nanny stupidocracy in which we now live. If anything, the media is interested in using whatever misinformation and scare tactics at it’s disposal to create more and more rapacious consumerism; leading of course to big profits and happy shareholders.
I’ve noticed for decades that reporting on Science in the mainstream press tends to be highly inaccurate. Sometimes the reporter can be so ignorant that I can’t even get a decent idea of what the supposed discoey even entailed.
So it’s not surprising that similar mistakes occur in reporting of other subjects. Sadly, since I don’t know a great deal about pornography or prostitution (at least not until I discovered this blog), there’s no telling how much incorrect information I may have learned over the years.
People like you are my intended audience: I really want to reach out to intelligent, reasonable folks who simply haven’t had access to the truth about whores because the media and “authorities” have conspired to hide it from them.