“VAXXED” and “the Streisand Effect”

From the Levi Quackenboss blog:

“Surely you’ve heard a few times this month that Robert De Niro deselecting Andrew Wakefield’s movie VAXXED at Tribeca was the best thing that could have ever have happened to it.  Even though De Niro was kicking himself for his knee-jerk reaction on the Today Show last week in the greatest six-and-half-minute interview of all time, no one can deny that this has turned into quite the phenomenon.

I’m not going to lie– I was momentarily devastated when I saw the news that it was pulled three weeks ago. “Pharma wins again,” I thought.  “No surprise there.” I figured that the two-day ride that the movie had at the top of Facebook’s trending news was over; VAXXED would disappear into oblivion without anyone outside of our circle ever seeing it.

Raw Milk’s Media Shadow

Global TV Crew interviews Farmshare mom at the Newmarket rally

Here’s wondering whether at least some major media have been spoken to, either by their corporate masters, or by other shadowy figures that lurk behind the scenes and orchestrate the media circus.

Notably at the March 16th rally in Newmarket — with the biggest turnout ever of supporters and with the prospect of lots of photogenic attractions including the on-site milking of a cow, kids and families, and placards, and the prospect of raw milk facing criminalization for the first time — not many local media sent reporters or camera crews.

43 Mainstream Media Outlets Cover Michael Schmidt’s Raw Milk Appeal

Michael Schmidt talks to a CBC news reporter on the steps of Osgoode Hall Wednesday.

According to Michael Schmidt’s first lawyer, Clayton Ruby, this case will be won or lost in the court of public opinion. And that’s why the news media coverage is significant. Because coverage in the press helps spread public awareness of the issue. Regardless of the slant of the stories, questions are being raised in the minds of thinking people across the country. By the way, that count of 43 is as of Saturday, Feb. 8th, according to Google’s news aggregator. Here are 25 examples from that list:

Raw milk appeal breaking news in TO

From CP24 news:

Click image to go to story on CP24

“TORONTO — An Ontario dairy farmer convicted of producing, selling and distributing raw milk has won the right to appeal.

Karen Selick, a lawyer for Michael Schmidt, said the Ontario Court of Appeal granted the leave to appeal Thursday following arguments.

Schmidt was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $9,150 for operating an illegal cow-share business….”

A new twist in raw milk news stories

From David E. Gumpert on the Complete Patient blog:

“There have been many newspaper articles about raw milk over the last few years, and they nearly all use the same presentation formula. They begin with an example of a farmer producing raw milk for many happy customers. Then the narrative switches to all the warnings about raw milk’s dangers from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control. They conclude with favorable quotes from raw milk drinkers and unfavorable quotes from public health officials.

With that in mind, the article in the Minneapolis StarTribune on Sunday is curious. It contrasts the case of a young child allegedly sickened by raw milk from dairy farmer Michael Hartmann two years ago with the claims by a customer that not only is raw milk highly nutritious, but she has the right to privately obtain milk from Hartmann’s dairy

Danielle Smith speaks up for the “conscience rights” of Alberta civil servants; raw milk anyone? UPDATED!

Danielle Smith, from a recently photo op in an ice cream store. Photo via Danielle's Facebook page.

The following quote is taken from a newspaper story by Warren Kinsella, in the Calgary Sun, that’s in general harshly critical of the views of Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith. Danielle’s party is a strong contender in the upcoming Alberta elections.

“How does she get away with that? How, in particular, does her caucus — who are, overwhelmingly, hard-Right social conservatives — let her get away with that? How can she, for example, say she’s “pro-choice” and also call abortions at four months “horrific?”

To do that, Smith has come up with an interesting little bit of “doublespeak” — she calls it conscience rights. It means, under a Wildrose government, if a doctor or nurse’s “conscience” opposes abortion, then they can refuse to perform them.

CBC news: Slaughter looms for a rare sheep herd tomorrow / Rally April 2nd

From CBC News, April 1, 2012 (and no, this is not a joke):

A pair of English farm children prepare a Shropshire ram for the 1954 Royal Agricultural Show in Britain. (Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Getty) via CBC news.

“More than 40 sheep from a rare, heritage breed on an Ontario farm are to be put to death tomorrow by the federal government.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is euthanizing the sheep because a single member of the flock was sold to an Alberta farm in 2007 and, three years later, tested positive for the degenerative livestock disease scrapie.

None of the other Shropshire sheep at Wholearth Farmstudio near Peterborough, Ont., has ever tested positive for the fatal infection, owner Montana Jones says.

But the federal agency has a mandate to eradicate the disease as well as the power with which to do so.

Illegal raw milk bust makes CBS news

California, where you can buy raw milk in the store, but not from your farmer:

Click to go to page to watch video from CBS news.

“An undercover agent posting as a mom busted a Bay Area operation that offers participants raw milk. Dr. Kim Mulvihill reports.”

Vaccination choice movement growing in West Virginia, says TV news story

From Augie, at the Journal of Natural Food and Healing:

“The vaccination choice movement is growing fast. Today, I was at a Gun Show and spoke to many young fathers and mothers–some pregnant and some holding babies or had them in strollers. They were very concerned about the safety and need for so many vaccinations. They wanted several of our vaccination choice flyers to give at work, at school or their moms club.

One worked at a day care center and is going to hand them out to all the young mothers. No sooner I got home, Ann Daschel, an editor of Age of Autism, alerted me to this excellent TV news coverage–and it is fair and balanced–and focuses more on the right to choose and vaccine-injured children. This is in West Virginia–one of the strictest vaccine before education [states] in the nation.  (I have clipped the news story under fair use for education under the copyright law.)…”

Canadian Medical Association slams alternative medicine proposal — CBC

From Mark Gollom at CBC news:

“Some medical groups are concerned that proposed guidelines on how Ontario doctors should approach alternative medicine may require physicians to accept and incorporate the practice.

“We believe the draft policy should be revised to sharpen its focus, and should respect the conviction of many physicians and clinical researchers, that [alternative medicine] has minimal scientific validity and that recommending it to patients achieves no clinical purpose and may be unethical,” the Canadian Medical Association says in a written letter to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO).