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30 September 2002  

Truth Prevails

I was just contacted by the Star's "ombud," Don Sellar, who tells me a correction should appear on page 2 of tomorrow's paper. Kudos to him for the quick action.

Unfortunately, statistics like this "16,000 lives saved" one tend to have lives of their own even after getting corrected by the source of the misinformation. Let's hope this one was quashed before it attained critical mass.

01:41 PM |

Suckered by the Star

Well, the Star fooled these guys, who are responding to Rex Murphy's column questioning the "more than 16,000 lives could be saved by Kyoto" claim.

12:14 PM |

The Star vs. the Facts

I reported last week on the Toronto Star's banner-headlined, front-page story about the supposed 16,000+ Canadian lives the implementation of the Kyoto treaty would save. I noted that some quick research revealed the Star story to be incorrect, that no one had made this incredible claim.

In addition to posting about it here, I sent an email to the office of the Star's ombudsman alerting them about the inaccuracy of the story. And just to be sure I didn't misunderstand something, I emailed Dr. Alan Abelsohn, one of the signers of the Suzuki Foundation's Physicians' Statement. He was at the press conference that provided the basis for the story and was quoted by the Star.

This morning I received two email messages:

• From the Star: "I asked our National editor about your concerns. He explained this coalition of health associations held press conference [sic] and made these comments."
• From Dr. Abelsohn: "the star got it wrong. we said what the physicians statement says."

11:32 AM |