Nexus - 1704 - New Times Magazine-pages

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OB OY Le VEN? OVER HALF OF OUR NEWS IS "SPIN" Tre Australian Centre for Independent Journalism analysed 2,203 stories across 10 newspapers between 7 and 11 September 2009 to see whether they were initiated by public relations or promotions. The study found that nearly 55 per cent of stories analysed were driven by some form of public relations; for example, a media release, a public relations professional or some other form of promotion. Sydney's Daily Telegraph topped the study, with 70 per cent of stories analysed found to have been triggered by public relations sources. The least-PR- driven publication was its competitor, the Sydney Morning Herald, with only 42 per cent PR-driven stories. Papers owned by News Ltd, which controls more than two-thirds of the Australian metropolitan print media market, were found to have been more PR driven than those owned by Fairfax Media. (Source: Crikey.com.au, 15 March 2010) For this study, published in Psychological Science, volunteers a were shown two 10-minute slide shows on two different days. The first one was a neutral slide show, with pictures of furniture. The second was one of two options: a disease slide show, showing people with pox, blowing their noses, sneezing and so forth, or a slide show of guns. Before and after the slide shows, a blood sample was aken from each volunteer. Some bacteria were added o the blood sample, and en the researchers measured the strength of e immune response. People who had looked at the pictures of people sneezing, coughing or otherwise showing signs of disease had a stronger immune response than people who had looked at pictures of men aiming guns at them. (Source: ScienceDaily.com, 28 April 2010) Va JUST SEEING DISEASE SYMPTOMS PROMOTES IMMUNE RESPONSE prices research has found that when people see someone who looks sick, they have a psychological response: they feel disgusted and want to stay away. Researchers from the University of British Columbia wanted to go one step further, to see if looking at sick people might also affect how the immune system itself works. NZ HEALTH MINISTRY FINDS THAT FLUORIDATION DOES NOT REDUCE TOOTH DECAY tatistics from a New Zealand Ministry of Health study suggest there are no advantages derived from fluoridation. These statistics actually match similar arguments set forth by the American Dental Association. The latter organisation conducted a large study on some 39,000 American children and found that they did not derive any advantages from the use of fluoride. The practice of adding fluoride to water supplies is to help in the prevention of cavity development. Yet recent studies reveal that fluoridation does little, if anything at all, in terms of cavity prevention. The study, conducted in New Zealand by the Ministry of Health, reveals that children living in areas "| knew some of those World Financial Crisis stimulus funds would trickle down to us eventually." 6 * NEXUS JUNE - JULY 2010 www.nexusmagazine.com