Letters to the Editor
Nequals1
Published Letters: 296 Editor's Choice: 7
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Oops - published prematurely
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From the Society of Professional Journalists:
The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility.
Seek Truth and Report It
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Journalists should:
— Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
— Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
— Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.
— Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.
[snip]
— Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story
— Never plagiarize.
— Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
[snip]
— Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
— Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public's business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.
[snip]
Minimize Harm
Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.
Journalists should:
[snip]
— Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
Act Independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
[snip]
Be Accountable
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.
I added the emphasis and included the link to the full Code of Ethics at my name.
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The Other N Word: N****
[Read the article: Healthcare needs you]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In every health policy discussion, there is an enormous gap never mentioned and yet pivotal to patient outcomes, cost efficiencies and health. The word that is never written is nurse: a licensed professional who focuses on health and patients' ability to gain, regain, maintain it or to die a peaceful death.
Because nurses deal with patients in the contexts of genetic and inherited health attributes as well as environmental conditions, they focus on coaching and assisting patients in making informed health choices, learning how to manage their health challenges as independently and frugally as possible, and learning how to influence their own health by obtaining nutritious food, safe work and school practices, and healthy lifestyle and activity choices.
Nurses work in all settings where patients are: hospitals - of course - but also in homes, schools, public health agencies, community agencies, nursing homes, workplaces, research labs and in academia.
There are almost three million registered nurses in the US. They provide about 95% of ALL reimbursed professional health services, given the nature of patient contact they have, and yet, they receive zero media coverage in health reportage.
The public is ill served when nurses and nursing are kept out of health CARE discussions, since they provide the vast majority of it and significantly influence patients' health.
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@ lastlaugh re: Nurses and Healthcare Costs
[Read the article: Healthcare needs you]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Only 10% of hospital nurses are represented by unions or by any form of collective bargaining. Nurses overwhelmingly are exposed to workplace violence and assaults by physicians, other nurses, patients, and visitors and other employees, in that order. The NLRB has ruled in recent years in ways which have undermined and weakened rules and laws for overtime reimbursement.
Nurses are decidedly NOT contributing to overages in healthcare spending. The major sources for that come from the for-profit health insurance industries, from big pharma and from for-profit biotech and software companies.
Your misinformed but well intentioned comment is illustrative of the problem of nurses and nursing not being included in healthcare reportage. It doesn't serve the public's interest to have this information withheld.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing website is a good starting place to read about nursing demographics and issues.Here's the url to its Nursing Fact Sheet.
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/FactSheets/nursfact.htm
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Party pols versus party voters
[Read the article: What Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Fred Hiatt mean by "bipartisanship"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And can you blame Republicans? If I were a hard-core Bush follower
More and more, I think that when referring to Dems, REpubs, etc., one must ditinguish between those parties' politicians and voters who designate themselves members.
In my view, citizens from all point on the political party spectrum are so fed up with the unconstitutionality and unethical actions of politicians that the voters are entirely uncoupled from the politicians on these issues.
And as a point of interest, just how many people still call themselves Republicans now, and what is the change from 2000? 2004? Same questions for Democrats?
If I recall, aren't there now more people who identify as unaffiliated or as Independents than with either party?
I think voters are fed up and the best way to get at this disaffection is to market fundraising to oust incumbents, regardless of party, who exhibit contempt or ignorance for the constitution and for the citizenry.