CBS News Exclusive: Study Of State Results Finds H1N1 Not As Prevalent As Feared

Chuck Simmins states:

I looked at the story and my jaw dropped. Without any research at all, I could tell something was wrong with their numbers.

CBS graphic for story on confirmed H1N1 testing

These numbers are supposed to be through late July, when the CDC asked the states to change their reporting. As we have shown in our prior reports, many of the states had ceased reporting case numbers long before.

Florida:

• Florida had stopped publicly posting case counts before Memorial Day in May, 2009. The numbers in the table were updated with the CDC’s count.
• CBS states that by the end of July, Florida had examined 8,853 specimens and only 17% were positive for H1N1. That means the CBS number of confirmed cases at that point is 1,505.
• However, based on the cases reported to the CDC by July 17, Florida had 2,188 confirmed cases.

California:

• CBS is reporting that California had examined 13,704 specimens and only 2% were H1N1. That makes the CBS case count 274.
• On July 16, 2009, California was reporting 2,655 confirmed cases and 513 probable cases of swine flu.

Alaska:

• CBS is reporting that Alaska had examined 722 specimens and only 1% were H1N1. That makes the CBS case count 7.
• As of August 31, a month after the apparent cutoff for the CBS data, Alaska reported 460 confirmed cases of swine flu.

Georgia:

• The final state that CBS selected to graph was Georgia. CBS says 3,117 specimens and only 2% were H1N1. That gives CBS a confirmed case count of 62.
• Through July 15, 2009, Georgia reported 178 confirmed cases of swine flu.

From the beginning, we raised questions about the data on swine flu. We noted, and were the media source responsible for correcting, the nearly three week delay in updating California’s numbers. We noted the “lost” cases, where the numbers on the state site were higher than those reported by the CDC.

We have editorialized about the lack of preparedness on the part of public health authorities to handle a large disease outbreak. Their unwillingness to divert resources from other areas such as lead paint abatement and childhood obesity has been noted.

We agree that the decision to stop widespread testing was unwise. We agree that there are a number of influenza like illnesses (ILI) circulating.

But this story by CBS does nothing to advance the cause. The numbers are just plain wrong. The selection of the four states they chose for their graph is also misleading. Alaska and Georgia did not suffer a major outbreak of swine flu in the spring. California’s was mid sized and Florida’s was, as well. If CBS wanted to look at states, Wisconsin, Illinois, Massachusetts and Washington would have been ideal picks. That is where the pandemic took hold the worst.

Surprise! The AP seems to have gotten its story about Army Emergency Relief a little wrong.

John of Argghhh:

Just where did Donn get his information? We really don’t know. Col. Cohen isn’t exactly sure, and neither are his counterparts at other military charities. The AP article says that they analyzed the tax records of the AER, but if they were doing such a great job, how did they miss the following:

1. During the period in question ( ’03-07), the AER distributed $250 MILLION in financial assistance
2. Outstanding loan balances are considered an asset of the trust, even though the money is actually not in their possession. Much like a 401(k) plan, outstanding loan balances are included in the total assets, as if they money was still there, because it’s expected to be repaid. Only when a loan is defaulted upon is it reported as an actual expense. Considering the increase in aid given over the past few years, this fact alone explains the increase in “cash” reserves. It’s simple accounting that AP doesn’t seem to understand.
3. Current investment capital available for grants and loans fluctuates between $190-$200 million, depending on the day and how well the market is doing. Donn says that the fund swelled to $345 million between 2003-2007, and perhaps at one point it was… but it’s not now. The trust is not sitting idly. In order to be a good steward of the money, it’s invested, awaiting distribution to soldiers and their families.
4. During the period in question, the AER distributed nearly twice as much in aid as they received in donations and loan repayments.

In From the Cold:

If all of this sounds a bit familiar, it should. In December 2007, the Washington Post ran a similar piece on a wider range of military charities. But the conclusions were strikingly similar, and the AP tracked down some of the same critics contacted by the Post, including Daniel Borochoff, President of the American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP). We should note that the Post article was based on a report from Borochoff’s organization.

But that assessment also revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of how the AER–and its Air Force and Navy counterparts–operate. In his 2007 report, Mr. Borochoff wondered why the charities didn’t spend more money on homeless veterans. Apparently, he didn’t understand there are virtually no homeless among the groups served by these charities–active-duty military personnel, retirees and their families.

In a novel twist, Frank Garcia, the suspect in the 4 weekend murders, had a legal pistol permit. It may be the only murder in several years in this area committed by a legal handgun.

Today’s Democrat & Chronicle reports on his multi-year attempts to acquire a permit, as well as his prior criminal record. Outstanding leg work by reporters Brian Sharp and Meaghan McDermott.

The story online is accompanied by copies of all the various documents which is exactly the way a story ought to appear on the Net.

After a slow start, all the local media have been working hard on this story. Garcia’s work history has been explored as well as how he knew the two female victims in the case. Lots of background from neighbors and friends filling in the picture of who the four were and what their lives had been.

Despite his arrest record, he was able to obtain an Registered Nurse license and a pistol permit. He was also able to serve in the military and the National Guard. That would suggest that he was never convicted of a felony.

It is worth noting the language used by Garcia in appeal letters. Referrals to the New World Order and the Republic of New York would lead me to believe that he was interested in militia issues and other far-right perspectives on politics in the U.S.

The deputy commissioner of police argued that the terrorists, who were holed up in two major hotels and became involved in floor-by-floor firefights with police, were gaining tactical information from TV. Using powers under Section 19 of the country’s Cable Television Networks Act, he ordered a blackout of TV news channels.

“Transmission of various clippings/live relay/coverage of the actions being taken by the police against the terrorists in South Mumbai is causing impediment in the police action … thereby endangering the lives of the police personnel as also of the hostages,” the order stated.

Cable and satellite channels went off air for nearly half an hour before the order was rescinded.

Media chiefs present at a meeting between the MIB, the Indian Broadcasting Federation and News Broadcasting Assn. hit back by accusing the government information departments and ministerial interfaces of failing to keep up with developments in the media industry.

They said it was unclear which officials had authority to speak to the media, that government and media had never agreed to procedures for coverage of national emergencies, and that the Press Information Bureau is set up to handle print rather than broadcast and online media.

Through blogs, file-sharing and social networking functions on the Internet, dozens of eyewitness reports, some coming from within the two besieged hotels, delivered information faster than conventional media and challenged some of its reporting. Twitter, a user-generated service that delivers text message-sized “tweets,” for instance, reported that there was still gunfire inside the Taj Mahal long after Indian media had said it was finished. Others transcribed lists of casualties from the hospitals faster than mainstream media could access it.

Variety
By PATRICK FRATER

Hurricane Gustav was far less a threat than many expected, this past week. It presented the new media, Web 2.0 and even Web 3.0, with the opportunity to strut their stuff. Community building, networking, two-way communication, citizen journalism and more were on display.

Rick Sanchez led the way over at CNN. On Twitter, Rick is @ricksanchezcnn. Using Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and other New Media tools, Rick covered the hurricane with up to the second reports from people in New Orleans and elsewhere in the affected region. He was also able to respond to questions and concerns on the spot. I was one of many who had their “tweet” read on the air during that time.

Twitter is an unusual product that has exploded into the Internet in 2008, though it has been in existence since March, 2006. It is similar to text messaging on cell phones, only the message is limited to 140 characters. A variety of third parties have joined with the Twitter people to create a variety of interfaces, programs that allow you to have Twitter running and updating on your screen just as you would AIM or another Internet messaging program. There are also interfaces for a number of cellphones enabling you to twitter from your phone.

People were doing just that in New Orleans and other places where Hurricane Gustav hit.

Companies and groups were also using Twitter, and very effectively. Home Depot, @TheHomeDepot , was able to let everyone know which stores were open, or, newly reopened, and which stores have been resupplied. The Red Cross, @RedCross , sent out updates on their relief efforts, safety tips and encouragement. Sprint Nextel Corp.’s “Public policy PR guy” John Taylor, @jbtaylor , kept the world current with Sprint’s activities concerning the storm, and general information on how telecoms handle events like Gustav.

Twitter traffic about Hurricane Gustav got so heavy that a “hashtag” or unique identifier was created so that the Gustav traffic could be found via Twitter Search. #gustav became the identifier for all Hurricane Gustav tweets and the entire list went up here.

Two other New Media sites were created for Gustav. The social network site Ning was used by Andy Carvin, @acarvin , to create a place to aggregate all the Gustav information flying around the Internet. He, and the people who worked with him, also set up the Hurricane Information Center Wiki. The Ning site was for tweets, e-mails and other up to the minute information. The wiki was a collaborative effort to put all the static information in one place.

Both site were very active and today contain a tremendous amount of information about Hurricane Gustav, the people it affected, the places it affected and how others world-wide helped and are still helping.

Rick Sanchez of CNN was not alone in working with the New Media while in Old Media. A number of reporters also were on Twitter and posting pictures to sites like Flickr where they could be seen by all. The Chicago Tribune had @GustavReporter also known as James Janega and several associates in New Orleans and they produced for both Old and New Media.

The hurricane was also blogged by many people, including some world-class experts. Brendan Loy made his place in Internet history with his outstanding blogging during Hurricane Katrina and continued it with Gustav. Dr. Jeff Masters continued his hurricane blogging with Gustav. Many others, weather experts and weather amateurs, contributed to the information and dialog throughout the period.

Hurricane Gustav allowed New Media to strut its stuff. It did not replace Old Media, but it gave Old Media an up-to-the-minute information stream and feedback that it had never worked with before. It was communication in its truest sense, media, companies and organizations and information consumers / providers all working together in real time to assist, inform and reveal the disaster that was Gustav.

In 1992, sixteen years ago, it was virtually impossible to view a picture on the Internet. Connection to the Internet was through a slow dial-up modem or, for a lucky few, through academic, governmental or business T-1 connections.

Today, I can look at a photograph taken in China at the scene of a disaster within moments after it was taken. I can read first person accounts of a battle in Iraq within hours. I can exchange points of view with a Peruvian in real time,

You young people, he says in a quavery old voice, don’t know how lucky you are.

The Internet has made the world realtime. The potential of the Net is that everything can be witnessed, worldwide, as it happens. The only obstacle is implementation of the existing technology.

CNN, Fox News, and others have been featuring photos from their viewers that involve current news. Fox isn’t very good about giving those folks credit but the pics do get put up.

There’s the rub. Should we, the public, be contributing to the success of media if we do not get credit or payment for our work?

Let’s face it. In the “old” days, freelance photographers got big money for capturing pictures of news value. Yet, here we are in the Internet age, sending our work to CNN or Fox or the local station for free. And much of the time we don’t even get a printed credit on screen for the effort.

The Internet makes this realtime coverage possible. But, it is destroying the economic model that used to pay for the coverage we saw. Is there a new model that will compensate the public for participating in news coverage yet allow for a valuation of that effort by the media?

I write for a couple of different sites that pay a fraction of a cent per view. For all intents, they do not do news, just opinion and features. I’ve made $19 in the last year off this work. If I wrote more, I’d make more but the incentive is rather low.

Could the local news media find an incentive price that would attract me to provide them articles or photos? You bet! I’ve covered a number of local stories that should have been in the paper or on the TV.

And, I’ve done some work that belongs on CNN. They could have had it for a modest, for them, sum, but there is no mechanism to do that sort of thing.

The old media is beginning to be a day late and a dollar short. They don’t need to be but that’s the way they are applying their business model. I can see up to the minute coverage of many stories on line at no cost. What does the old media have to offer?

Several memes are developing in the old media about the Sadr Revolt in Iraq. They seem to be relying on anonymous sources and lack of familiarity with operation in Iraq. Let’s take a look at some of them.

CBS reports: “The Iraqis didn’t ask permission, they just went, which seems to have caught President Bush by surprise.”

Basra Province is under the control of the Iraqi national government, as are the Iraqi Army and other security forces. The Iraqis do not need anyone’s permission to conduct operations.

The Iraqi government has been moving troops south since late summer, which did not go unnoticed by our leadership. There are American advisors at all levels of the military, from the Ministry of Defense on down. To suggest that the United States was not aware that this operation was going forward is nonsense. Dozens of Americans had to have had been aware.

The quote that CBS feels proves Bush was surprised? “”You know, I’m not exactly sure what triggered the prime minister’s response, but nevertheless he made the decision to move and we’ll help him,” Mr. Bush said.”

Read it again. Bush does not know what triggered the decision to activate the operation. The implication of the quote, if accurate, is that Bush knew about the op but that the prime minister did not consult him about the timing. Fair enough, it is an Iraqi op.

The CBS story also quote an anonymous American officer that “many of the successes of the past 12 months are in danger of being cancelled out.”

Other analysts have also questioned this meme. It is very difficult to understand how this, minor revolt, could affect the Sunni regions of Iraq or undo the increased security in Baghdad. In the four days that the fighting has been underway about the only statement that can be made is that the Sadrists are suffering severe losses and have failed to achieve any gains in any city. They are barely holding the areas that they held four days ago and inroads have been made in that territory.

Reuters quotes Joost Hiltermann, of the International Crisis Group think tank: “If it allows (the crackdown) to go forward the ceasefire will unravel and the U.S. will face the Sadr movement in its full power.”

“This will be bad for both sides. Sadr will lose men and the United States will lose the gains of the surge”

Hiltermann said although the United States was “desperate to show progress by Iraqis”, the Basra operation was unlikely to yield results.

“I doubt very much the Iraqi forces in Basra can stand on their own two feet. They are not a national army.”

Again, no evidence is offered that the results of the surge are threatened. Indeed, the story mentions Sadr’s last two revolts which were very unsuccessful and cost the lives of hundreds of his poorly trained militiamen.

Hiltermann states that the Iraqi Army is not a national army. I’m not certain how he defines a “national army” but by most standards, this army is truly national. It is majority Shia, as is the nation, but Sunnis and Kurds have been successfully integrated. The Army has had extensive training, and American advisors accompany many of the units.

Other stories in the national news question the abilities of the Iraqi Army, and suggest that the Basra op is a failure since it has not been concluded in the last four days. Serious military observers realize that fighting in a city such as Basra, where the terrorists have had time to prepare positions, will take weeks. It took the best of the American military two weeks to reduce Fallujah, a smaller city.

I have seen two reports from the terrorist side by reporters from the major media and none from our side. I am not surprised, nor, I suspect, is George Bush.

Oh, God, I’m about to say something nice about the New York Times. Do not adjust your set.

The Times’ Baghdad Bureau has a blog. It’s called Baghdad Bureau – Iraq From the Inside.

It appears to be an outstanding effort at a group blog. It’s full of information, pics, video, and links.

OK, now back to the regularily scheduled critism of the New York Times.

BRAVO! There’s no reason this channel should not be on every cable system in the nation.

DVIDS
By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

Arizona cable subscribers will soon have access to the latest military news from the comfort of their living rooms, thanks to an agreement between an Arizona city and a national cable provider.

The Peoria City Council amended its cable franchise agreement with Cox Communications during a city council meeting last night. The change will allow the cable provider to share the city’s Pentagon Channel broadcast with Cox digital customers in the state.

Peoria was the first city in the state to offer the Pentagon Channel 24 hours a day to Cox cable customers, Peoria Mayor Bob Barrett said.

“We’re not aware of … (another) exchange of a PEG channel, a public education and government channel, for a systemwide broadcast of the Pentagon Channel,” said John Schell, director of intergovernmental affairs, who was instrumental in bring about the agreement between Peoria and Cox. “From that respect, it’s certainly historic for the city of Peoria and the state of Arizona, and it probably is for the rest of the country.”

Schell was instrumental in bring about the agreement between Peoria and Cox Communications.

Ivan Johnson, vice president of public affairs and business development for Cox Communications, said the cable provider was excited about the agreement with Peoria.

“We’re actually taking it from channel 98 up to channel 122. In being able to do that, we’re going to take it statewide,” he said. “We will get it to Tucson, … all of the Phoenix area, and then, by the end of next year if we finish rebuilding some of our network, will be down to Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca.”

While Johnson said his company offers the troops support in many ways, the agreement to provide the Pentagon Channel to all its digital cable subscribers just makes sense, he said.

The Pentagon Channel currently is available in 178 countries to 2.6 million active-duty, National Guard and reserve troops, and 650,000 Defense Department civilians. Sailors and Marines on 185 Navy vessels at sea also have access to Pentagon Channel programming. When Cox extends its broadcast of the Pentagon Channel to Fort Huachuca, Ariz., it will reach 600,000 homes, Johnson said.

Service members and their families, whether serving at home or abroad, especially value the military news channel, Peoria’s mayor said. He found positive proof of this while visiting relatives serving in Germany.

“They did with the Pentagon Channel what most of us here in the states do with CNN: You turn it on, and you leave it on in the background,” Barrett said. “If a point of interest comes up, you turn it up and watch it, and then you turn it back down.

“It’s the only way for people in the military to get unbiased, clean, clear news that’s not filtered through any other news organization or any other country’s news organization,” he added.

With Arizona’s large military presence, the channel also is important to the state’s many civilians working at military installations, Barrett said. The Pentagon Channel provides a way to keep up with what’s happening to them.

Barrett said he hopes his city’s agreement with Cox Communications will have other states following suit and finding a way to provide the news station to its residents. “I’m really hoping the Cox system will understand what they’re doing and how important this is, and in all the states where they have service, hopefully the same thing will happen,” he said.

The evening also included recognition of city employees who are serving or have served in the military. About 50 of the 200 employees the city identified were on hand to stand and be recognized for their service and sacrifice. They had received dog tags featuring Peoria’s insignia on one side and the America Supports You logo on the other prior to the ceremony.

“When I came back from Vietnam, it was a different world than it is now. We can’t do that to our people again,” Barrett said. “I don’t care what you think about the war in terms of the politics of it. I don’t care if you think it’s right or wrong. Don’t treat our people like that.

“That’s why America Supports You is such a wonderful program,” he added, referencing the Defense Department program that connects citizens and corporations with military personnel serving at home and abroad.

Earlier, Pro Tem Mayor Joan Evans had said the night’s recognition was a great way to display the city’s support of the troops. She directed individuals looking for ways to support the troops to the America Supports You website, which features links to troop-support groups.

Arizona Rep. John Nelson, who chairs the state’s Military Affairs Committee, said people’s opinions of the war don’t seem to be influencing their support of the troops.

“What I’ve seen in the last three or four years is just an outpouring (of support),” Nelson said. “I don’t care what their opinions are if they get involved and work to help the military.”

AP

The 2007 honor went to the Russian leader because of Putin’s “extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability,” said Richard Stengel, Time’s managing editor.

And the trains run on time!

What a really lousy choice, Time. bin Laden wasn’t available?

Thers at firedoglake has posted a response to the David Hazinski piece in the Atlanta paper as so many of us have.

He, she or it makes the same points that all of us have tried to make. Well, 50% of them anyway. You see, lefty blogs are citizen journalists. Blogs like mine, well, he doesn’t believe we’re in the same category. He expresses that perspective quite er… profanely.

I thought we were all tarred with the same brush and that this was an issue that had neither left nor right to it. My bad.

I’m not at all sure why this topic has to turn into an “us versus them”, at least here on the Internet. I am flattered that he likens me to Michelle Malkin, despite me being a tall, bearded, white man whose ancestors have lived in these United States since New Amsterdam was founded. OK, I have better legs than Michelle Malkin, but how he, she or it knew is beyond me.

The blogger cites my list of blogger news accomplishments, and tries to refute them all. I wrote about things that a citizen journalist ought to be proud of. How about a comparative list instead of nit picking mine? Surely, if Thers wants to be called a “citizen journalist”, he has accomplishments to cite that justify his claim to that title.

Curiously, the one personal accomplishment I cited that ought to have been leapt upon by Thers like Oprah leaps on a ham sandwich is the interview with Major Awad. Here is a black man fighting the system, crippled by the violence he witnessed. Should be a slam dunk to be popular with Thers.

I guess I can do no right in his mind. Wll, no left, I suppose.

Two asides. He calls me a wingnut. I’m pretty sure I know what that piece of hardware is. How is it an insult? It’s a pretty useful item, making it easy to undo and redo the tightening of a bolt. It’s symetrical, balanced, and a child can operate it.

The original piece talked about “unfettered citizen journalism”. I am pretty sure I have a fetter or two around here. I had a girlfriend that used to braid them. With feathers. Fun feather fetters.

The learned among us have chosen the term “citizen journalist” to describe what I do, what Glenn Reynolds does, what Matt Drudge does.

I object!

Let me describe what I do.

I find stories on the Internet that inform me, interest me, or entertain me. I also comment on a variety of matters that concern me.

If other people read me work and find it informative, interesting or entertaining, they come back again to read more of what I publish. Some people engage is dialog by commenting on my posts.

I do exactly what the old media does, only better.

Wait, you say! Most of what you publish is written by someone else.

Yep, in my case most of what I publish is written by someone in the military. Take a look at the first section of your newspaper today. Any stories from Associated Press, Reuters or AFP? No one at your paper wrote those. The paper paid to obtain those stories from a business that provides content to old media.

When you see a story reported on Fox News or CNN or the Weather Channel, did they thank “our affiliate WXYZ”? They didn’t do the story, WXYZ did, and the network used it.

One of the many dirty little media secrets that Jayson Blair exposed was that many reporters were using locals, stringers, and reporting their work as done by the reporter. It’s been a matter of pride in my business, blogging, whatever you call it, that we give a hat tip or a link to a site where we find a story.

Our stories are sourced, many containing multiple links as references. Do you see that in your newspaper? You’ll find a host of anonymous sources but if you want to learn more or determine the validity of the story, lotsa luck.

Remember that only one news organization claims to be “fair and balanced” and they’re mocked for it by their competition. The notion that old media do not have self interest or interests in causes is utter nonsense. It’s the big lie that the media have foisted upon their consumers for the last forty years.

I’m not a very good reporter. I’m very timid about talking to people. That’s one reason why this thing I do doesn’t have podcasts or video like many of my colleagues do. The other reason, and I’m fighting a loosing battle here, is that podcasts and video are called radio and television. Aren’t we the new media?

There are good bloggers and poor bloggers. There are lots and lots of bloggers. You can probably find a blog about any given subject if you look. We fill a gap that the old media does not, perhaps cannot.

So… Why isn’t Dan Rather called a “citizen journalist”? Which part of the phrase doesn’t apply? Yeah, I get it. Neither, for most people. My point is why aren’t the members of old media “citizen journalists”?

If the journalism schools want to reform the profession, they can begin with an honest admission that media will always have a point of view, a loyalty, a perspective. You can only be “fair and balanced” if you just don’t care. It’s in people’s nature to care, and as long as old media are run by people, it will have a bias. Admit it, and you are on the road to recovery.

I call myself editor and publisher. I own America’s North Shore Journal and post all its contents. You can call me “sir”.

Here’s what a journalism educator says about what I do and my response is below the fold. Hardly any foul language.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Having just anyone produce widely distributed stories without control can have the reverse effect from what advocates intend. It’s just a matter of time before something like a faked Rodney King beating video appears on the air somewhere.

Journalism organizations should head that off. Citizen reports can be a valuable addition to news and information flow with some protections:

• Major news organizations must create standards to substantiate citizen-contributed information and video, and ensure its accuracy and authenticity.

• They should clarify and reinforce their own standards and work through trade organizations to enforce national standards so they have real meaning.

• Journalism schools such as mine at the University of Georgia should create mini-courses to certify citizen journalists in proper ethics and procedures, much as volunteer teachers, paramedics and sheriff’s auxiliaries are trained and certified.

Journalists generally don’t like any kind of standards or regulation. Many argue that standards could infringe on freedom of the press and journalism shouldn’t be regulated.

But we have already seen the line between news and entertainment blur enough to destroy significant credibility. Continuing to do nothing as information flow changes will further erode it. Journalism organizations who choose to do nothing may soon find the line between professional and citizen journalism gone as well as the trust of their audiences.

The author blurb reads

David Hazinski, a former NBC correspondent, is an associate professor of telecommunications and head of broadcast news at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism.

As I read the piece, Professor Hazinski is calling for standards and regulation of “citizen journalists”, bloggers and Matt Drudge types. He admits that there is little or no such standards and regulation for those he calls journalists. But, we’re the real danger here.

Professor, I am insulted. When I look at the world of journalists, the men and women that you educate and graduate, I see little sign that ethics and standards are practiced.

Anonymous sources, misstatements of fact, misquoting, staging photographs, outright falsifying of documents, and lack of fact checking are rife in journalism today. I, and those like me, could hardly do worse. Indeed, we do better.

After the Indian Ocean tsunami a United Nations official accused America and Americans of being stingy. His comment was repeated widely in the media, and not challenged. It was left to me to produce the “Stingy List”, over a billion dollars in donations from American individuals, companies and charities that went to tsunami relief and reconstruction. Reuters interviewed me about this effort.

I just published an interview with Major Gamal Awad. AP and ABC’s 20/20 had done stories on this man, and gotten it wrong. Major Awad called me after I published to tell me that I got it right.

I’ve covered the men and women who have won medals for valor in the War on Terror. Keith Yoakum and Walter Jackson were both awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in November. Jackson got his November 2, Yoakum November 11. As of November 13, no media outlet had a story about Jackson and only three had stories about Yoakum. I had covered them both.

There are dozens of other stories that I’ve covered, that the old media ignored or reported incorrectly. Other bloggers discovered and reported on Dan Rather’s creative use of forged documents, Reuters’ staging photos in Beirut, AP’s repeated bogus reporting of incidents in Iraq, and The New Republic’s utter failure to fact check a series of stories. Let’s not forget the murders and rapes in the New Orleans Superdome that never happened. There’s lots more, frauds and mistakes by journalists, journalists that graduated from institutions like the one Professor Hazinski teaches at. Oh, yeah, Professor, that whole gay general YouTube thing. CNN set that up, not citizen journalists.

Maybe I don’t want to be tarred with the term “journalist”. It makes me feel dirty, and not the nice dirty either.

I once had a manager who owned a “bullshit” stamp. Anything that qualified got kicked back to me with that stamped all over it.

The multi-page New Republic piece qualifies.

The nastiest, illiberal, homophobic bit was:

The Army didn’t announce this to The New York Times or even The Weekly Standard, let alone in a public report. It first gave the story of Beauchamp’s supposed fraudulence to a former porn actor turned blogger named Matt Sanchez.

The shot at Matt Sanchez was cheap. I could say that Franklin Foer was a former bed wetter, since the odds are really high that he had at least one accident as a toddler. It’s what they do as journalists that matters, and I’d pick Matt over Franklin any day.

AP

(11-19) 09:49 PST WASHINGTON (AP) –

In a Nov. 7 story about homeless veterans, The Associated Press, relying on figures from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, gave an incorrect estimate of 495,400 veterans who were homeless at some point during 2006.

Lowering its estimate, the alliance now says that 336,627 veterans were homeless at some point last year.

The report’s overall finding that one in four homeless people in the United States are veterans remains accurate.

The newly corrected claim is that 1.3% of the vet population is homeless. And, from the last paragraph, that 1.3 million Americans were homeless at some point in 2006.

Soon to be corrected again?