All Blog Posts from Public Eye

What’s more laudable, avoiding a mistake or correcting one after it’s been made? That’s the question we’re left with after one reader registered a measure of disgust with the way in which we handled the “Early Show” controversy about its coverage of thyroid disorders. You can read our original coverage here. Reader Eric W. writes:

"There is one paragraph at the end of the story that I find to be the result of either lazy writing, shameless pandering, or blatant self- promotion. In particular, I am referring to this statement: ‘Kudos to Bass for acknowledging and investigating the AACE’s concerns and for responding to them by further clarifying the issue for viewers this morning.'"



"Here's the problem: The whole article is in essence an admission that CBS did not do it's job by presenting balanced reporting. The producer of the segment admits this in writing, and to his credit, he corrects the issue in a later broadcast. But ‘kudos’ is something that is reserved for a job well-done. The fact is, Mr. Bass would not have had to issue an apology, or produce a segment to correct his previous one if he had initially spent more time investigating his subject, his guest, and the controversy that he was looking to capitalize upon in the first place. In my experience, ‘kudos’ are reserved for getting the job done right the first time, and not for correcting an obvious, expensive, and ultimately dangerous mistake. It was very sloppy work, made sloppier by ‘The Public Eye’ awarding a ‘gold star’ for fixing a poor piece of work."



"I can only hope that this lapse in judgment (both on Mr. Bass' part, and on the part of the easily impressed Public Eye) is only a temporary one, attributable to the major changes in the News Dept's management."

Eric’s point is well-taken, but I felt “Early Show” producer Michael Bass deserved credit for acknowledging where the broadcast had erred and airing a second segment to correct itself. The easy way out would have been to throw a line in during some related segment, to have aired a segment correcting the information without mentioning the previous interview, or to simply ignore it.



It’s not every day that a broadcast of any kind takes the step of correcting itself. That’s why I think “kudos” were deserved.

Read full post…

Last week, PE learned that Dr. Bill Law Jr., president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, recently sent a letter to Michael Bass, executive producer of “The Early Show,” regarding a segment from the broadcast on Sept. 19 during which anchor Rene Syler interviewed Dr. Steven Hotze about thyroid disease.



You can watch the segment below:












In the letter, Law expressed the organization’s “extreme concern and disappointment with the unchallenged and scientifically erroneous comments” that Hotze made about the disease during the segment “and the effect that this information may have on the health of patients with thyroid disorders.”

From the letter:

“Many of Dr. Hotze's claims about the incidence and development of an underactive thyroid condition, commonly referred to as hypothyroidism, were completely erroneous and unsubstantiated, and are readily refuted by a large body of solid scientific evidence.”

Law then cited several examples of such statements that Hotze had made during the segment, and continued:

“It was truly astonishing and puzzling that Ms. Syler, an educated professional journalist on a national television program, would not challenge the validity of Dr. Hotze's statements in any fashion. His self-serving performance amounted to a thinly veiled infomercial for his practice and book, and the fact that it was permitted, and even invited, does not reflect well on your network.”


"AACE believes strongly that the national forum CBS provided to Dr. Hotze was a great disservice to your viewers, particularly those seeking and needing scientifically substantiated medical advice on the treatment of hypothyroidism. AACE would be happy to provide legitimate professionally-recognized medical experts to appear on CBS to discuss thyroid and other hormonal disorders in the future. In the meantime, we encourage you to view AACE’s guidelines on thyroid disorders at www.aace.com.”

Read full post…