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Sunday Times Ordered ‘Remove Wakefield MMR “Data Fixing” Story’
Posted on July 2, 2009 by childhealthsafety

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[ News Release]

UK Press Complaints Commission Orders Sunday Times

“Remove MMR Journalist’s Stories”

on Dr. Wakefield from Paper’s Web Site


Work by Reporter Brian Deer is at Center of

Investigation Being Conducted by Medical Regulators


July 2, 2009, Contact: James C. Moore, Thoughtful House – Center for Children


512.300.9232

media@thoughtfulhouse.org

(Austin, Texas) – The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) of London, an independent body that oversees journalism fairness in the UK, has issued an interim order calling for the Sunday Times to remove stories written by Brian Deer about Dr. Andrew Wakefield from its web site. Dr. Wakefield had filed an extensive complaint with the PCC regarding errors of fact in Deer’s reportage on the MMR vaccine and its possible relationship to autism. The General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK is presently hearing evidence involving Dr. Wakefield and two of his colleagues following a complaint to the GMC by Deer himself. The PCC decision today appears to indicate there are questions about the accuracy of the Deer stories.

The PCC complaint by Dr. Wakefield provides clear evidence that Deer’s allegations of “data fixing” by him are false. The complaint also accused Deer of an undisclosed conflict of interest since Deer also failed to reveal in his articles that he was the person who made the original complaint to the GMC, misleading the newspaper’s readers over the accuracy of his reporting.

“Given the ongoing nature of the dispute,” Stephen Abell of the PCC wrote, “the articles should be removed from the newspaper’s website until this matter has been concluded.  This would not be an admission of any liability on the part of the newspaper.”

Although media are expected to respond promptly to complaints through an informal process, the Sunday Times took more than three months to answer detailed issues raised by Dr. Wakefield, and called upon legal representation to write the paper’s response. Despite this the paper’s management have failed to produce any evidence of “data fixing” by Dr. Wakefield. In its letter to Dr. Wakefield regarding his complaint against Deer, the PCC “expressed concern at the initial slowness of the newspaper’s response.” The PCC said it delayed a complete ruling until it has a fuller accounting of all information submitted to the GMC, but that the outcome of the GMC hearing is notrelevant to a final decision by the PCC.

“My contention has always been,” Dr. Wakefield explained, “And it always will be that journalism, before it is published, must stand on its merits with good documentation, sources, and corroboration. Deer’s stories fail on every count. I see no connection between the GMC’s hearing and a decision by the PCC. If the Sunday Times cannot defend the information today, which it can’t, then it was unable to do so at the time of publication.”

Wakefield has been one of the subjects of the longest GMC hearing in history. Although the hearing was expected to be concluded in August 2009, information from attorneys involved in presenting evidence indicate the case is not likely to be decided upon by the panel until December and may not conclude until early 2010.

About Thoughtful House: Thoughtful House advocates a multi-disciplinary treatment approach to treating autism and supports a ’safety-first’ vaccination policy. The research program at Thoughtful House is dedicated to understanding the biological origins of childhood developmental disorders and establishing best practices in treating children affected by these disorders. www.thoughtfulhouse.org
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From: Peter Bowditch <myfirstname@ratbags.com>
Newsgroups: misc.health.alternative,misc.kids.health
Subject: Re: Sunday Times Ordered 'Remove Wakefield MMR "Data Fixing" Story'
Organization: The RatbagsDotCom Empire
Message-ID: <rbnr4513k2g1ac6vbb4khk0fuf9kuk87jp@4ax.com>

Peter Bowditch <myfirstname@ratbags.com> wrote:

>Mark Probert <mark.probert@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On Jul 2, 7:36pm, Peter Bowditch <myfirstn...@ratbags.com> wrote:
>>> "john" <nos...@bt.com> wrote:
>>> >http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/briandeerdowninflames/
>>>
>>> Searches at the UK Press Complaints Commission web site
>>> (http://www.pcc.org.uk) for the keywords "deer", "mmr" and "wakefield"
>>> do not produce anything suggesting that any order has been made
>>> referring to any of them.
>>>
>>> The full list of 2009 press releases from PCC can be found athttp://www.pcc.org.uk/news/press-2009.html, with the latest being
>>> dated July 2. None of these media releases mention Brian Deer.
>>>
>>> Why do anti-vaccination liars have to tell such transparent lies?
>>
>>I can confirm that the article that Wakefield was whining about has
>>been removed pursuant to a *consent* order. Brian Deer assures that it
>>will return when Wakefield gets his due.
>
>I've emailed Brian for clarification, and also the Press Complaints
>Council. If the article has been removed "by consent" then it almost
>certainly means as part of the court proceedings and is therefore a
>perfectly normal part of litigation. The PCC would have had nothing to
>do with it. My question about liars still stands.

I've received a reply from the Press Complaints Commission and,
surprise, surprise, nobody has ordered any newspaper to remove
anything written by anyone about any crooked doctor.

What they said was: "The PCC has reached no formal ruling on the
substance of the case. It has indicated that it will temporarily stay
its investigation until the conclusion of the GMC hearing. In the
meantime, it has requested that the paper remove the articles under
complaint until a ruling can be reached by the PCC. This would be
without any admission of liability on the part of the paper".

So we catch anti-vaccination liars lying again. And such transparent
lies, too.

--
Peter Bowditch aa #2243
The Millenium Project http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
Australian Council Against Health Fraud http://www.acahf.org.au
To email me use my first name only at ratbags.com
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We'll keep an eye on them... :-)
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