Journalistic values — whether code of ethics-style values like truth, context and fairness, or news-style values like impact, novelty and human interest — are nothing to be shy about and can make for great journalism. But some values can be distorted and drag journalism down a dead end, argues the new WatchDog Opinion. Two environmental cases where false balance does damage.
"A new study found that 75 streams in Alaska’s Brooks Range have turned orange due to thawing permafrost, which releases metals like iron, aluminum and cadmium that exceed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency safety thresholds for aquatic life."
"Residents of Indianapolis’ Martindale Brightwood neighborhood are confronting stubbornly high rates of hypertension, and public health experts point to lead exposure as a likely contributor."
"If you eat a daily serving of fruits and vegetables, critical components of a healthy diet, you’re likely ingesting a hefty dose of pesticides too, new peer-reviewed research shows."
"Experts fear that Donald Trump’s anti-painkiller tirade could lead to an increase in risk factors for autism, and don’t trust the administration to assess data as it continues to search for a cause."
"It’s been seven years since Germany’s Bayer bought US agrochemical giant Monsanto, inheriting not only the company’s vast portfolio of seeds and pesticide products, but also more than 100,000 lawsuits alleging Monsanto’s popular Roundup herbicide causes cancer. Bayer, which has so far paid out billions of dollars in settlements and jury verdicts to cancer victims, has been working – so far in vain – to put an end to the litigation and to block any future such cases."
"Scores of instruments are peering down through Earth’s atmosphere, finding pollution all across the globe every day."
"The Trump administration is proposing to narrow the scope of safety reviews of chemicals that are already out on the market, it said Monday."
"In a unanimous decision, the Democratic caucus in the Senate wrote a letter on Monday in opposition to the Trump administration’s proposal to axe a 2009 endangerment finding, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determination that concluded that the accumulation of six greenhouse gases posed a serious threat to public health."
"No U.S. city has more toxic lead pipes pumping water into people’s homes. And millions of federal and city dollars earmarked to replace them remain unused, a city official said Monday, at the same time that the city is struggling to keep up with deadlines to warn people of the risks."
