Accuracy in the media

My blogger friend posted an interesting reflection on Canadian, vs. American or UK spelling.

My other pet peeve are Canadian publications or shows citing America data. It doesn't always apply; especially in education and health care. I loathe the mid-day radio or talk shows that interview American authors. With a population of 300 million, let the Americans target Americans. Canadian publishers have a hard enough time promoting to 33 million Canadians whose TV programs, air and print media, seem to fawn all over the big name publishers.

Self-serving lobby groups are another bone of contention for me!
I belong to the Canadian Association of Retired People (CARP), which is an affiliate with AARP. Often, the headlines are grabbed from AARP-written articles. I find that some of their message apply, but others, especially health care for seniors do not apply. We have vastly different issues with our health care system; their's is hopefully becoming more universal, but I speculate still and post this elsewhere: American Health Care Reform. I saw the lobbying on-line in July!

I was reading alive (sic), a magazine purportedly "Canada's Natural Health and Wellness Magazine". As I read through it, I found issues of concern to healthy Canadians, but includes data from American sources. This confounds me. My tax dollars go to supporting this magazine.

An article about ADHD & diet, by Joey Shulman (who runs a weight loss clinic in Toronto- do you think she has a hidden agenda?), cites DSM-IV and the US National Institutes of Health as her sources for definitions. DSM, which I had to study for my Counselling & Psychology degree, really is a convoluted document, some say massaged by the big pharmaceuticals.

In another article on Autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder - ASD) by C. Leigh Broadhurst, she cites US Federal courts, and makes a connection between diet and ASD. Fair enough, but she is a US government geochemist and geobotanist. She is advocating for getting kids off Rx, and onto healthy eating. Not a mistake, but as an educator, I can tell you that I have taught a number of ASD students and for some the medications are the way to go. Tell me how these articles can purportedly be rightly printed in a Canadian magazine? If this magazine is for Canadians, it should be based on Canadian data and issues and written by Canadians.

To move to on-air media, many CBC Arts or entertainment programs (Q, The Hour, Ontario Today, Ontario Morning) interview American entertainers, musicians. Many news programs feature US-based books on issues like education and health care. We really must have a better focus. We know our Canadian health care and educational systems are vastly different. Yet, during my career in education, many of the bandwagons originated in the US, and were guaranteed to fail in a Canadian system. I think it is high time that producers weeded out the free advertising for big time American publishers and promoters, and focused on what it means to be Canadian.