What a jackass.

Blogging wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is if journalists accurately reported news instead of going for the big headline. A couple of days ago I stumbled on a great example of this:

“BOSTON (Reuters) – In studies described as “stunning,â€? researchers on Thursday reported that a drug already used to treat advanced cancer can prevent half of all breast tumors from reappearing after standard therapy.”

Did you get that — it can prevent half of all breast tumors.

Sounds exciting, eh? Unfortunately it’s also patently false. The studies Reuters is citing have shown that the drug Herceptin can cut breast cancer recurrence by 50% in patients with a particular form of breast cancer called HER2-positive…only 1/5th of all breast cancer patients have HER2-positive disease.

So, how exactly do tumors in a small minority of patients somehow become “half of all breast tumors?” You’ve got me. I guess I need a math lesson. Unfortunately, due to this shoddy reporting, I got a number of cancer patients, my wife included, asking me about this new wonder drug that was going to increase their chances of surviving without a recurrence by a whopping 50%.

Shoddy reporting leads to a shoddy reputation…if anything, Daniel Lyons should be attacking other journalists for F***ing-up the credibility of their own industry.

Unless the mainstream media somehow cleans up it’s act, blogging is here to stay.

And probably even then.