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[ News Release]
UK Press Complaints Commission Orders Sunday Times
“Remove MMR Journalist’s Stories”
on Dr. Wakefield from Paper’s Web Site
Work by Reporter Brian Deer is at Center of
Investigation Being Conducted by Medical Regulators
July 2, 2009, Contact: James C. Moore, Thoughtful House – Center for Children – 512.300.9232 – media@thoughtfulhouse.org
[Updates:-
5/Jul/09: Sunday Times’ Discredited – Wakefield’s Autism Research Verified
9/Jul/09: Sunday Times Defies Press Complaints Commission – News Release ]
(Austin, Texas) – The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) of London, an independent body that oversees journalism fairness in the UK, has issued an interim order calling for the Sunday Times to remove stories written by Brian Deer about Dr. Andrew Wakefield from its web site. Dr. Wakefield had filed an extensive complaint with the PCC regarding errors of fact in Deer’s reportage on the MMR vaccine and its possible relationship to autism. The General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK is presently hearing evidence involving Dr. Wakefield and two of his colleagues following a complaint to the GMC by Deer himself. The PCC decision today appears to indicate there are questions about the accuracy of the Deer stories.
The PCC complaint by Dr. Wakefield provides clear evidence that Deer’s allegations of “data fixing” by him are false. The complaint also accused Deer of an undisclosed conflict of interest since Deer also failed to reveal in his articles that he was the person who made the original complaint to the GMC, misleading the newspaper’s readers over the accuracy of his reporting.
“Given the ongoing nature of the dispute,” Stephen Abell of the PCC wrote, “the articles should be removed from the newspaper’s website until this matter has been concluded. This would not be an admission of any liability on the part of the newspaper.”
Although media are expected to respond promptly to complaints through an informal process, the Sunday Times took more than three months to answer detailed issues raised by Dr. Wakefield, and called upon legal representation to write the paper’s response. Despite this the paper’s management have failed to produce any evidence of “data fixing” by Dr. Wakefield. In its letter to Dr. Wakefield regarding his complaint against Deer, the PCC “expressed concern at the initial slowness of the newspaper’s response.” The PCC said it delayed a complete ruling until it has a fuller accounting of all information submitted to the GMC, but that the outcome of the GMC hearing is not relevant to a final decision by the PCC.
“My contention has always been,” Dr. Wakefield explained, “And it always will be that journalism, before it is published, must stand on its merits with good documentation, sources, and corroboration. Deer’s stories fail on every count. I see no connection between the GMC’s hearing and a decision by the PCC. If the Sunday Times cannot defend the information today, which it can’t, then it was unable to do so at the time of publication.”
Wakefield has been one of the subjects of the longest GMC hearing in history. Although the hearing was expected to be concluded in August 2009, information from attorneys involved in presenting evidence indicate the case is not likely to be decided upon by the panel until December and may not conclude until early 2010.
About Thoughtful House: Thoughtful House advocates a multi-disciplinary treatment approach to treating autism and supports a ’safety-first’ vaccination policy. The research program at Thoughtful House is dedicated to understanding the biological origins of childhood developmental disorders and establishing best practices in treating children affected by these disorders. www.thoughtfulhouse.org
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Filed under: ADHD, Aspergers, Barak Obama, Child Health Safety, Disease Statistics, Hannah Poling, John Poling, MMR, Obama, Vaccine Damage, Vaccines, autism, vaccination, vaccine, vaccine court | Tagged: ADHD, Andrew Wakefield, Aspergers, autism, Barak Obama, Baron Cohen, CDC, David Kirby, fraud, genetic, genetics, Hannah Poling, immunisation, Jon Poling, Julie Gerberding, MMR, Obama, Professor Baron Cohen, Professor Simon Baron Cohen, research, research fraud, Simon Baron Cohen, vaccination, vaccine, vaccine adverse reaction, Vaccine Damage, vaccine risks, Vaccines, Wakefield
As there is nothing about this on the Press Complaints Council web site, is there any independent source where the facts can be checked? Alternatively, is it just another lie from the anti-vaccination liars?
All these many years, I have been following Brian Deer’s unsubstantiated, venomous attacks on Dr Wakefield’s proposition, that there may exist a negative synergism in predisposed children who are struck autistic, upon receipt of the poorly tested 3 in 1 Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine. It seems to me the Mr. Deer is eminently
UNqualified to bring charges against Dr Wakefield since there were few if any charges would stand up if the least bit of honest investigation were performed. The zeal with which Mr. Deer pursued the Dr Wakefield and his theory makes me think that Mr. Deer thought he had found an issue that would bring him recognition and he hammered straight ahead without doing due diligence.
The Sunday Times failed big time in it’s responsibility to fact check Mr. Deer’s challenges before publishing and continuing to publish this unsubstantiated story all these many years. Attempting to bring down Dr Wakefield’s effort to help these families.
I guess selling papers is more important than getting the facts straight. Shame and shame!
When the ongoing Court case concludes and I predict Dr Wakefield is cleared I hope he sues Mr. Deer and the Sunday Times so he can be compensated monetarily for the pain and suffering they caused him and his family.
You say: “It would be an enormous lie to suggest the PCC had made such an order when it had not”.
So show me an official statement from the Press Complaints Commission mentioning Brian Deer.
Start with the list of press releases at http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/press-2009.html
Oh, and I have never lost a defamation case in my life. If you believe otherwise, perhaps you could point to a final court order saying so.
I had to pay costs, did I? You will be able to point to a court order saying so, won’t you, one that supersedes the real court order which said “No order as to costs”.
Is it possible for you to go a day without lying?
And yes, I am saying that anyone who says that the PCC made such an order is lying, because the PCC has made no such order.
In fact, when I wrote to them they told me exactly that.
In fact, they are planning to do nothing until after the GMC have finished with Wakefield.
Remember, all you have to do is produce the PCC’s “order” in some official form directly attributable to the PCC. Reports on anti-vaccination liar web sites do not count.
Let’s see…you make a claim that the PCC ordered Deer to removethe articles, and, Peter Bowditch says that the PCC website does not mention it. Then, you personally attack Pter Bowditch. Sounds like you are desperate.
As for Wakefield, the testimony during the Omnibus hearings should be use to indict him for gross negligence, willful harming of children and being a lying quack in the first degree. I read the entire transcript, every single word, and listened to much of the testimony. The experts submitted by the government destroyed any pretense of objectivity and competence that Wakefield may pretend to have.
Fascinating exhange. Bowditch is one of the internets biggest xxxxx. If his lips are moving he’s xxxxx. If he’s typing, he’s xxxxx.
Bowditch was successfully sued for xxxxxxxxx.
Bowditch was also xxxxxxxx for xxxxxxx xxxxxxx.
The only real question is: Is Bowditch a xxxxxx xxxx or a xxxxxxx that xxxx.
[ED: Yes. We know. Any hard information welcome - can send by email.]
The latest round from Deer, posted on LeftBrian/RightBrian – demonstrating his idiosynctratic take on the facts. Many interested parties were witness to the fact that the Sunday Times did remove the stories last week as directed by Stephen Abell, although they have now put them back up again, indicating contempt for the PCC. But that this happened is beyond doubt.
Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:12:00 +0100
To: “Joanna Bower”
From: Brian Deer
Cc: Thoughtful House
Ms Joanne Bower,
RadcliffesLeBrasseur LLP
Dear Ms Bower,
Your client, Dr Andrew Wakefield, has published, and caused to be
published, on his website, thoughtfulhouse.org, and on other sites,
false claims that the Press Complaints Commission has issued an
“interim order” concerning my investigation into his conduct. Dr
Wakefield claims that The Sunday Times has been ordered by the PCC to
remove my stories about him from its website.
I understand that the PCC has written to your client to point out that
these claims are untrue. In fact, all of my stories concerning him are
available at the Times Online website.
thoughtfulhouse.org is unquestionably controlled by Dr Wakefield, and
his publication there has caused similar untruths to be published on
websites either directly controlled for his interests, such as
cryshame.org, which, as you may know was set up by Mrs Isabella
Thomas, the parent of two of the children anonymised in the now-
infamous Lancet MMR paper, or indirectly controlled for his interests,
such as ageofautism.com, operated to promote and profit from concern
over children’s vaccines.
It is, of course, nothing new for Dr Wakefield to mislead the public,
and especially the parents of autistic children. He has faced the
longest ever proceedings before a General Medical Council fitness to
practise panel, following the GMC’s reinvestigation of my journalism.
In due course, I’d expect he will face a hearing of the PCC, covering
much of the same ground on a significantly different evidential base.
However, you may feel it advisable to explain to your client that
either he accepts the untruth of his latest claims and takes them
down, or he maintains them in publication, in which case his conduct
would not merely be wrong, but would be dishonest.
With best wishes,
Brian Deer
As you obviously have a copy of the PCC interim order against Brian Deer, can you please publish it in full, or provide a link. I only request this as I cannot find any such order and am interested in reading the text. Publishing the full text of this interim order will also shut up those critics who suggest that no such order exists, and make them look quite silly,.
Thank you.
Damn, you anti-vac dirtbags will do anything to spin this.Wakefield had no business, under the genteleman’s agreement, putting out that press release.
I see you have had a visit from [ED: anonymous poster] [xxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxx - ED: abuse edited out], although why you had to xxx out things I don’t know. You ask for confirming emails about a court case I was involved in when all you have to do is go to the web site of the Federal Court of Australia and do a search for cases with my name in them. All the orders are there, including the final order which says that I didn’t lose, I didn’t have to pay the other side’s costs (unlike Wakefield, who had to pay Brian Deer’s costs in a case), and where no mention is made of any requirement for me to display any notice on my site.
Now, back to the original question. Please provide evidence that the PCC ever ordered the Sunday Times to do anything about the Wakefield article. Don’t tell me to do it myself, because the PCC has told me that there was never any such order. You are the one saying an order was made. Produce it.