Tuesday, November 16, 2010

THIS JUST IN: HUFFINGTON POST COLUMNIST BLAST'S THEROLF'S SLOPPY REPORTING

Check out this column from Daniel Heimpel of Fostering Media Connections on Garrett Therolf's child welfare coverage in the LA Times.  Heimpel is a former journalist, based in Los Angeles, who now runs Fostering Media Connections, a foster care reform group.  Here's how Heimpel sums up Therolf's stories:

one finds the upward trend in child deaths built on contested, murky numbers, requests from sources to correct errors disregarded and the theory explaining the suggested jump based in conjecture, its only anchor a data point taken widely out of context. The Times' myopic, misleading and reckless reporting has sparked a misinformed panic, posing a very real threat to many of Los Angeles' most vulnerable children.

And see the alternative LA Weekly's take on Heimpel's column here.