When it comes to the phrasing of a message, two words can make all the difference.
Last week, the CDC made a subtle change in the “Prevention Methods” section of its annual Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment report released June 5. Whereas abstinence had once been recommended as “a” reliable way to prevent the transmission of STDs, the report now calls it “the most” reliable way.
On Monday night, CBS News national correspondent Chip Reid continued to promote an ad by a liberal organization that claims Republicans in Congress are responsible for cutting funding for research hoping to find an Ebola vaccine.
Reid stated at the conclusion of his report on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley how: “One independent liberal group released an ad criticizing Republicans for cutting spending that they say could have led to an Ebola vaccination. Scott, that ad is titled “Republican Cuts Kill," which shows just how tough the political battle over Ebola has come.”
On Thursday's Erin Burnett OutFront, CNN's Tom Foreman zeroed in on representatives on "both sides of the aisle...[who] are also clearly frustrated by what they see as a lack of answers and accountability from the CDC." Foreman highlighted that "CDC Director Tom Frieden dodged even basic questions – like how did two hospital workers get the disease" at a congressional hearing on the federal government's response to Ebola entering the U.S.
On Wednesday night, Bill O’Reilly blasted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Thomas Frieden and the federal government’s response to the Ebola epidemic during his Talking Points Memo at the top of his Fox News Channel (FNC) program. He reiterated his call for Frieden to resign in the wake of the CDC’s response and called him out for “spouting nonsense” and being “almost incohent” during an interview on FNC’s The Kelly File on Tuesday night.
During a segment attacking conservative Republicans who have been critical of the Obama administration's handling of the border crisis, MSNBC's Chris Matthews had an amusing Al Sharpton-like teleprompter moment, repeatedly trying, and failing, to pronounce "dengue fever." It's curious that Matthews, who once served in the Peace Corps in Swaziland, seems unfamiliar with the term, given how prevalent the disease is in many sub-Saharan African countries -- although not Swaziland itself.
The flub occurred as Matthews read for his guests -- California Democratic Reps. Loretta Sanchez and Juan Vargas -- a portion of a letter that Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) sent to the Atlanta-based federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about his "concerns that the diseases carried by these children may begin to spread too rapidly to control." Watch the clip below the page break.
Everyone knows there are gays and lesbians in everybody’s family. And no office would be complete without a sassy gay character. And just about every other kid in high school is wresting with his sexuality. I know. I watch TV.
Except it isn’t true, and the Centers for Disease Control just proved it. A new comprehensive study by the CDC with over 33,000 participants has confirmed earlier estimates; less than 3 percent of the U.S. population self-identifies as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Earlier, much smaller-scale surveys have put that number at 4 percent.
Michelle Obama’s highly touted “Let’s Move” campaign might not have its first victory after all. Despite healthy living advocates touting a decline in obesity among preschoolers, that CDC claim of a 43 percent decline in a decade might not be at all true.
In fact, the data is so vague that the obesity rate may actually have increased, according to Reuters. ABC and CBS praised the statistic as a victory for Obama’s healthy living campaign when it came out, but failed to mention on news programming the evening of March 16 or the morning of March 17 that the statistic was called into question.