Autism News Beat

Tweet If you look long enough, our faith in science journalism was restored in 2010, as the Chicago Tribune’s excellent investigation of dangerous medical quackery continued. In January, science journalists extraordinaire Trine Tsouderos and Patricia Callahan introduced America to Boyd Haley, a retired chemistry professor who marketed an industrial waste treatment chemical as a food […]

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Tweet It’s been three years to the day since I started AutismNewsBeat. You can see my first post here. Much has changed since then, mostly for the better. Top notch investigations by the Chicago Tribune, Wired Magazine, Scientific American, PBS Frontline, and others and shown a light on the anti-vaccine movement. Master prestidigitators Penn and […]

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Tweet News and entertainment media coverage of autism and vaccines in 2009 will be remembered best for some outstanding works of investigative journalism. The Chicago Tribune schooled the moribund newspaper industry with two blockbuster exposés on autism quackery and child abuse. In May the paper introduced America to two physicians who rake in big bucks […]

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Tweet In what is surely a sign of the coming apocalypse, anti-vaccine celebrity activist Jenny McCarthy has agreed to mind meld with Oprah Winfrey’s stable of talk show hosts. According to the Hollywood Reporter, McCarthy has signed a contract to join Winfrey proteges Rachel Ray and “Dr. Phil” McGraw. For now, she’s blogging about PMS […]

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Tweet Universal assent is like oxygen to the anti-vaccine movement. While scientists debate, question, and squabble amongst themselves, vaccine rejectionists nurture one another with sympathy and shared delusions. OK, fine. To each his own. I just wish they could be more honest about the nature of their movement. I bring this up because I was […]

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Tweet Shorter Jeni: Sure I misinformed the public about vaccines and added to the fear mongering and ignorance that is harming children, but it’s not my fault because I didn’t know what I was talking about. And talk radio is hard work, so please knock it off with the challenging questions. I am not a […]

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Tweet Overall, mainstream press coverage of autism spectrum disorders improved in 2008, as more major media outlets bravely recognized that deadly childhood diseases are a bad thing, and it is a good thing when we can prevent them. And there seemed to be a growing recognition that “overwhelming scientific consensus” is not the same as […]

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Tweet Honda throws talk radio shock jock Michael Savage under the bus for his intemperate and misinformed comments about autism. Sears, Radio Shack, Hoover Vacuum and others have also distanced themselves from Savage Nation. Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008 Subject: RE: Michael Savage Dear Mr. ___, Your communication regarding Michael Savage has been referred to […]

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Tweet In the spring of 2005, UPI reporter Dan Olmsted wrote that autism is rare among the Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. “Where are the autistic Amish?” he asked. “I have come here to find them, but so far my mission has failed, and the very few I have identified raise some very interesting questions […]

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Tweet I’ve started this site as a resource for journalists looking for accurate, evidence-based information about autism. I plan to review and comment on print and electronic coverage of autism, and interview journalists, editors, and others to gain their perspectives on this much reported but little understood story. Web development is new to me, and […]

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