The article focused on the deadly Ebola outbreak sweeping across three countries in West Africa is likely to last 12 to 18 months more, much longer than anticipated, and could affect hundreds of thousands of people before it is brought under control.
The article drew on multiple sources which consisted of scientists, epidemiologist and researchers. These sources included Bryan Lewis (Epidemiologist at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech.), Tom Skinner (Spokesman of Centers for Disease Control & Prevention), Dr. Thomas R. Frieden (CDC Director), Alessandro Vespignani (Prof. of Computational Science at Northern University), Jeffery L. Shaman (Associate Prof. of Environmental Health Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health), Thomas Giesbert (Ebola Expert at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galvenston), Lone Simonsen (Research Prof. of Global Health at George Washington University), and Stuart T. Nichol (Chief of CDC's Viral Special Pathogens Branch).
I had never heard of any of these experts, so I did a Google search of the names cited in the article and found multiple sources that could collaborate their positions and credibility in their respective fields of epidemic research and tracking.
While the article contained numerous sources in these fields there were no sources listed. Just this announcement/advertisement - A version of this article appears in print on September 13, 2014, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Scientists See Long Fight Against Ebola. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe. Even though the New York Times has a positive reputation for it's reporting, however, how can the audience trust that the information from the sources cited isn't manipulated to address one side of this topic?
I agree that the lack of information on the sources is a reason to believe that argument being presented could easily be manipulated. However, I think the problem is that people don't care enough to even do any fact checking they just take everything at face value.
ReplyDeleteMelina Dawson