Bad Science / MMR and corporate bullies
Dr Ben Goldacre who blogs at Badscience.net posted the following on 5th Feb: Er, “help”. Legal Chill from LBC 97.3 and “Global Radio” over Jeni Barnett’s MMR scaremongering
LBC have instructed their lawyers to contact me.
Two days ago I posted about a broadcast in which their presenter Jeni Barnett exemplified some of the most irresponsible, ill-informed, and ignorant anti-vaccination campaigning that I have ever heard on the public airwaves. This is important because it can cost lives, and you can read about the media’s MMR hoax here.
To illustrate my grave concerns, I posted the relevant segment about MMR from her show, 44 minutes, which a reader kindly excerpted for me from the rest of the three hour programme. It is my view that Jeni Barnett torpedoes her reputation in that audio excerpt so effectively that little explanation is needed.
LBC’s lawyers say that the clip I posted is a clear infringement of their copyright, that I must take it down immediately, that I must inform them when I have done so, and that they “reserve their rights”.
~Click on the link I posted to read more.
The issue seems to be that the people who are backing the bad science are being legal bullies. Legal in that they are likely to be legally correct in applying the law. Bullies in that they are really trying to suppress a particular opinion. I don't know lots about the issues (I do know a bit about the MMR issue, that is different) and invite people to check it out for themselvs.
