Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Power of the Press


Been away from blogging for more than a week because I went out of town for two days (leisure) and out of the house for two more days after (for work). And now my house is a mess of my bags strewn everywhere, but I thought I'd blog first before anything else.

The "work" part of my not coming home is actually a Science Writer's Workshop for Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, unknown as the biggest killer of children under 5 nowadays. And part of the workshop is letting the media (us) know how powerful we are at blowing news out of proportion--practically controlling what people get scared of (such as SARS and Bird Flu).

Used in a good way, we can properly alert the public of real threats hence, prompt public officials to do something about the situation. An example for this was given by Mr. Brad Geiser--he talked about how, by the participation of the media, the child de-worming programs in the country have shot up from worst in South East Asia to the best.

And I wondered whether this same power could do the same for contraception. It's a big money mill that banks on pleasure without responsibility, which may seem good for a short time but will definitely take its toll in the long run--and I'm not just referring to emotional and moral implications. Did you know that the Pill causes heart problems? I wonder how much change an article, a doctor and a writer can do....

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