Fake News « Reading the Charlotte Sun Newspaper

There’s a new way to treat heartburn in our little town. Local physician Alvaro Bada says this about it: This procedure can significantly improve quality of life for our patients. Many reflux patients are unable to drink carbonated beverages, caffeine or eat rich foods or fruit without triggering reflux.

Strangely enough, Dr. William E. Kelly Jr. at Henrico (Virginia) Doctors’ Hospital, describes the same procedure this way: EsophyX can signficantly improve quality of life for our patients. Many reflux patients are unable to drink carbonated beverages, caffeine or eat rich foods or fruit without triggering reflux.

And amazingly, Dr. Paul Cirangle of San Francisco explains the procedure like this: EsophyX can signficantly improve quality of life for our patients. Many reflux patients are unable to drink carbonated beverages, caffeine or eat rich foods or fruit without triggering reflux.

Back in our town, Bada’s partner, Domingo Galliano, adds to the discussion: Recent studies of EsophyX have shown that the procedure can reduce patients’ dependence on medications with 80 percent of patients remaining symptom free after two years and experiencing a dramatic improvement in their quality of life. We are very excited to be able to offer our patiewnts the same incredible benefits with minimal risk.

But Kelley in Virginia “said” it first, back on June 23: Recent studies of EsophyX have shown that the procedure can reduce patients’ dependence on meedications with 80 perc ent of patients remaining symptom free after two years and experiencing a dramatic improvement in their quality of life. We are very excited to be able to offer our patiewnts the same incredible benefits with minimal risk.

Even the San Francisco doctor said it more than a month before the local guys got around to saying it: Recent studies of EsophyX have shown that the procedure can reduce patients’ dependence on meedications with 80 perc ent of patients remaining symptom free after two years and experiencing a dramatic improvement in their quality of life. We are very excited to be able to offer our patiewnts the same incredible benefits with minimal risk.

There’s quite a bit more, but you get the picture.

So, what’s so bad about this obvious marketeering? Michelle Ritter, the local writer, put her name on the story and failed to use quotes or attributions; doing so tells Charlotte Sun newspaper readers she wrote it. That’s clearly a lie for which there is a specific name: plagiarism. But the plagiarist doesn’t sully only her own reputation; she draws others into the journalistic muck.

Ritter puts prefabricated quotes into the mouths of the local doctors, as if they had really said those things.

And Feeling Fit editor Jennifer Wadsworth publishes the fake as a news feature, probably unaware that Ritter is now a three-time winner in the 2008 plagiarism scorecard.

All in all, about a full third of the wordage Ritter claims as her own has a common source with the public relations writers for hospitals in Virginia and California. Old Word Wolf suspects a manufacturer’s brochure or news release. At least the California and Virginia practitioners distributed generic notices, possessing an ethical compass that steered them away from claiming the words and work of others as their personal productions.

In other medical news, the Lake Placid Journal’s edition of Feeling Fit wants readers to recognize the herb known as St. John’s Wort. Here is the identification.

Congratulations to Sun Newspaper’s business editor, Terry O’Connor. Relatively new to the staff, he makes a front-page splash this morning with a publicity agent’s dream. He interviews a local construction company president, the president’s son, and a county parks director in order to describe – in glowing terms – the firm that built Sun Coast Media Group’s own addition to its telephone-company building in Murdock.

Unfortunately, it’s all fake news. As the reader swims through a sea of up-beat, uncritical praise for this sterling firm, she senses the editorial lard – a story greased with quotes that broadly support the paper publisher’s own policy of reporting whenever possible that the economic water glass is half full. It’s fake news, from start to finish. So, how does a critical reader spot fake news?

The first step is to look for the news nugget. If readers can’t find genuine news, usually near the top of the story, then all the words that follow may well be ersatz news. In this case, the not-news is presented as the grizzled construction mogul advising President-elect Barack Obama to “take care of our veterans [ ... give] them an affordable house.”

It’s patriotism. It’s history. It’s good intentions. It’s a WWII vet’s recasting of the past as a viable future. But news? No – maybe a sympathetic set-up for the soft feature that’s about to swallow the news hole – but definitely not news. (If it were a real news story, O’Connor might somewhere have compared the number of returning WWII vets — 16 million — with 2.3 million troops since the 1991 Gulf war, and he might have pointed to the fallacy of wishful thinking as economic stimulus.) A real news hook might be that the county last week awarded its 25th contract to the company, or that the firm has merged or acquired or changed in some way. None of this is in evidence.

The second step is to look for hard facts, data, and numbers. Not too far down, O’Connor reports the company president says his firm’s gross revenues declined from about $20 million two years ago to about $10 million this year. Gross revenues are a suitably vague measure of a privately held business. What the company’s profits actually are relative to gross sales is “company business [that] stays in the company,” as the patriarch puts it. O’Connor fails to note if this construction firm is the only one in town (which his feature makes it sounds like), or if similar firms are experiencing similar 50-percent declines. It’s one thing to put a rosy glow on the recession with profits generated by a $10 million base. It’s quite another thing to survive with two trucks and a Rolodex. The reporter fails to compare this firm’s situation with any of the two or three major developers who have gone bankrupt or pulled out of major local projects. His hed says the contractor is “built to handle adversity,” but nothing in the story supports this claim — except that it thrives on government contracts: See Step Five, below.

The third step is to look for a cross section of what folks say about the “news.” The writer rounded up a county parks director (to give high praise for the nice construction company), a banker who needed a new building (to give high praise for the nice construction company) and the company president’s son (to give high praise for the nice construction company his dad owns and which has written him a paycheck since he was 10 years old).

The fourth step is to beware of “chamber of commerce” press release statements woven into the text. O’Connor manages to get the man who built his own boss’s new building to say “Charlotte County is one of the finest places in Florida situated between two huge growing metro areas.” It probably didn’t take too much prompting to get him to add, “Now more than ever, it’s a very affordable community. It’s beautiful and you’re not in the rat race.”

The fifth step is to look for the reporter’s dig. This one didn’t dig; he surfed. He used the construction firm’s Web site and copied its list of projects. Some are generous and big-hearted sounding: “support areas for Charlotte County Homeless Coalition,” and a safe house expansion for the homeless. What the reporter fails to report is the millions made seem to stem mostly from local-government funded construction. Tax revenue funds this firm’s profits – and the head of that firm is urging the next president of the United States to build bridges and homes for returning vets.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with government construction. OWW is a big liberal when it comes to homeless shelters, county parks, city marinas, and air-conditioned “justice centers.” She just wishes the reporter had made it clear this featured contractor’s revenue stream flows directly from taxpayer.

There’s no evidence of digging when a reporter fails to report on lawsuits, liens, layoffs, settlements, or even one less-than-perfectly satisfied client. There’s no evidence of digging when the reporter fails to investigate exactly what it was that happened in Mississippi to make the contractor decide he was “spread too thin.” There’s no evidence of digging when readers are given no hint of interests overlapping, country and yacht clubs in common, or mutual business interests between publisher and the featured gentleman of the day.

So what happened here? A promising new reporter, fast promoted to business editor, gets roped into his publisher’s dilemma. As a result, readers are asking if the cash-strapped, lay-off prone newspaper has had to exchange a little free, uncritical publicity — and a reporter’s soul — for a contractor’s debt.

Anonymous sources are wonderful. No names to spell correctly, no towns or occupations to identify. Every quote is a gem of relevance that fully supports the reporter’s ~~prepackaged premise~~, lede.

Such is the case with today’s Big Story (not): “Smoke Out … a day to help smokers quit” by Susan Hoffman. But even before the array of “one woman said” bits, Hoffman seems to making it up, from the very start.

Smokers huddle close to the walls of a building, or sit together under a shelter far from the door.

Hoffman doesn’t tell readers which building she saw, which “shelter” she visited or when she made this foray into smokers’ huddles.

For starters, Arcadia has shelters? Pray tell: are they of the bus, bomb or homeless type? Not a one, as far as we know.

For seconds, here in Our Little Town, chawing, smoking, and spitting are considered fundamental rights. Hoffman’s Big City stereotype of huddled outcasts is pretty hard to find, if it exists at all. Outdoor smoking in these parts typically happens in parking lots, leaning up against a pickup truck, or under one of our magnificent grandfather oaks. Tell me where, Hoffman found huddled outcasts, please.

It has made many smokers paranoid. None of the smokers approached for comments realized the Great American Smokeout day was approaching, but [sic] none planned to quit, even for a day.

“I haven’t thought about quitting at all,” said one man. “I enjoy it too much.” One woman said she had actually quit for five months while she was in the military service and had no choice. “But as soon as I got out, I strated right back up again.”

Several said the cost of cigarette is not much of a deterrent here. “But if I lived in New Jersey or up north where it’s $5 or $6 for ap ack, then I’d think about it,” one said. Most of them said they don’t think about smoking while they’re working. “As long as we’re busy, you don’t even have time to think about it,” one woman said.

And who, exactly, is “one woman” who speaks for all of the smokers? Old Word Wolf is just cynical enough to think she smells, not smoke, but a story the writer merely phoned in. That is, Hoffman was ordered to write a story that’s not news but the calendar and an organizational agenda handed her editors an easy topic. And rather than actually report, Hoffman took the easy way out, complete with faked stereotypes and faked sources to tell faked news.

It’s a sad day for community news. This morning’s Big Story carries a Milwaukee dateline and splashes this brief-worthy filler across the page: A Wisconsin farmer tears down a shed and finds a rusty box filled with deteriorated dollar bills. The grand sum may be $1,700; once redeemed, the man plans to use the money to help pay for a new shed.

That’s the front page. Over in the local section, the local boxing columnist creams over a night spent watching “full impact wrestling” and the page is dominated by an oversized color photo of the event. That’s not enough coverage, however. Page 7 – a wide-open space that might have carried genuine news – is crammed with five more wrestling photos . Pictures are easier pour, I guess, than asking any of the three local reporters to write real stories about real issues in Our Little Town.

When Old Word Wolf worked at newspapers, editors sat down together each afternoon to discuss the day’s major stories and plan how to allocate space to them. Evidently such budget meetings don’t happen at the DeSoto Sun. OWW cannot imagine three adults facing each other around a conference table and seriously agreeing the top story of the day goes to a farmer’s $1,700 find. Neither can she imagine three adults – college-educated editors – would agree the most newsworthy local event – two pages newsworthy – is a noncompetitive, commercial nonsport.

“Don’t put off your mammogram this summer” is an article bylined to Sandy Powers and credited as being “Special to Feeling Fit,” the health-topics tab that’s the domain of editor Dawn Krebs and distributed with the Sunday Charlotte Sun.

In fact, the article is not special to Feeling Fit. It’s a word-for-word reproduction of an article posted on the Web at E-Zine Articles Dot Com.

As it turns out, the mission of E-Zine Articles is to have legitimate publishers use its free material – and it gives a lengthy list of “terms of service.” People who have a book to sell or a Web site sales pitch to promote seem willing to write these articles and hope editors like Krebs will give them a little free publicity – without telling local readers that the writer isn’t a local writer (remember, this is America’s Best Community Daily), is not necessarily an established expert in the field, and has no particular credentials or other recommendations. Sandy Powers is offering a freebie in exchange for a plug for her book on “organic” health products.

As if that weren’t enough, Krebs violates several of the E-Zine’s terms of service.

Krebs and Sun Coast Media Group did not provide the full “resource box” or sig line at the end of the article, as required. It did not credit E-zine Articles with an active link to its site. Sun Coast charges readers to view the article (neither its newspapers nor its e-edition are free) in violation of a specific requirement that the article be made available without charge. It also changed the title of the story from “Is Your Mammogram Working For You?” to “Don’t put off your mammogram this summer,” another violation.

So, local newspaper readers are being misled on several levels. Krebs and her editors are violating both the letter and the spirit of this little Web site’s enterprise. This is not ethical journalism; this is not ethical health reporting. And it’s certainly not an ethical use of the readership’s trust.

It’s just another day at Sun-Herald newspapers, where readers don’t get what they pay for.

May 27 Update: Charlotte Sun Editor Chris Porter tells Old Word Wolf the article’s author is a local woman, from Englewood, in fact. And, he says, she herself submitted the article to the Sun for publication. E-Zine Articles’ terms of service and its author’s guidelines do not bar the writer from re-submitting her own work, in which case E-Zine’s stipulations probably don’t apply. However, OWW maintains this article is not “Special to Feeling Fit” and its editors should not tell readers that it is.

Barbara Oehlbeck offers Sun-Herald readers a feature today that explains the origins of “Decoration Day.” Unfortunately, she didn’t explain the origins of 99 percent of her prose in the article. Old Word Wolf is happy to remedy Oehlbeck’s oversight.

For most of the article, Oehlbeck appears to have cut and pasted directly from The History Channel’s Web site. Where the History Channel leaves off, Oehlbeck turns to World Book Encyclopedia, a excerpt of which has been reposted — with attribution — at Ancestors.com. Here’s the word-for-word comparison of Oehlbeck, writing for the Sun-Herald under her by-line with no further attribution, and the sources she appears to have appropriated as a fitting memorial to those who died for their country.

The History Channel: Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day because it was a time set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves.
Oehlbeck: Turning back to 1868, we find the beginnings of what is now known as Memorial Day, a time that was set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves.
The History Channel: It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers. On May 5, 1868, Logan declared in General Order No. 11 that: The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
Oehlbeck: The day was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers. On May 5, 1868, Gen. Logan declared in General Order No. 11 that: The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
The History Channel: During the first celebration of Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
Oehlbeck: During the first celebration of Decoration Day, Gen. James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
The History Channel: This 1868 celebration was inspired by local observances of the day in several towns throughout America that had taken place in the three years since the Civil War.
Oehlbeck: This 1868 celebration was inspired by local observances of the day in several towns throughout America that had taken place in the three years since the Civil war.
The History Channel: In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon Johnson, declared Waterloo, N.Y., the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo—which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
Oehlbeck: In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon Johnson, declared Waterloo, N.Y., the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo—which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
World Book via Ancestors dot com: To honor members of the armed forces who died at sea, some ports of the United States also organize ceremonies where tiny ships filled with flowers are set afloat on the water. A boat filled with flowers, made by the students of Easton High School, is set afloat on the Delaware River. Since the end of World War I, Memorial Day has also been Poppy Day. Ex-servicemen sell small, red artificial poppies to help disabled veterans.
Oehlbeck: To honor members of the armed forces who died at sea, some ports of the United States also organize ceremonies where tiny ships filled with flowers are set afloat on the water. A boat filled with flowers, made by the students of Easton High School, is set afloat on the Delaware River.Since the end of World War I, Memorial Day has also been Poppy Day. Ex-servicemen sell small, red artificial poppies to help disabled veterans.
World Book: Memorial Day originated during the Civil War when some Southern women chose May 30 to decorate soldiers’ graves. The women honored the dead of both the Union and Confederate armies. It is believed that a Virginia woman, Cassandra Oliver Moncure, was largely responsible. Of French origin, she may have chosen May 30 because in France this date was “The Day of the Ashes.” This French memorial day commemorated the return of Napoleon Bonaparte’s remains to France from St. Helena.
Oehlbeck: It is believed that a Virginia woman, Cassandra Oliver Moncure, was largely responsible for May 30 Being chosen. Of French origin, she may have chosen May 30 because in France this date was “The Day of the Ashes.” This French memorial day commemorated the return of Napoleon Bonaparte’s remains to France from St. Helena.

For the rest of “her” article, Oehlbeck returns to The History Channel: Today, Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. Also, it is customary for the president or vice-president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. About 5,000 people attend the ceremony annually.
Oehlbeck: Nationally, Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. Also, it is customary for the president or vice-president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. About 5,000 people attend the ceremony annually.

Oehlbeck purports to be a professional writer: “author of nonfiction books, articles, and essays…” and she runs her own Web site to feature her local-color and history pieces. Today’s article suggests that the professional is not always professinal about giving credit to her sources and that she’s liberal with the cut-and-paste feature of her computer.

When You Steal Something, Tell Us Where it Came From
And over on page 11, local businesman Robert Dunaway “submits” an article about “The Bicycle — a clean, green, perfect machine.” Old Word Wolf gives him credit for not putting a real byline on the top of the article.

However, he fails to recognize anywhere in the piece that it originally appeared on http://penncycle.com/page.cfm?PageID=952 and it’s a piece of corporate writing from start to finish.

OWW is sure Penn Cycle is happy to promote biking and may even not mind the outright theft of its article. But newspaper readers expect better. If you steal something, say where you got it.

It’s Friday and you’re a reporter for America’s Best Community Daily. Page designers need 12 inches for the bottom of Saturday’s local front. It’s too hot to leave the air-conditioned office. It’s too late in the day to make any phone calls. What’s a reporter to do?

Easy. You click on the electronic in-basket, and voila! A decently written news release from the state’s commissioner of consumer services about how dry things are pops up on the screen.

Ctl+C From the electronic in-basket: Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson is urging people across the state to be extremely cautious about their outdoor activities this weekend to prevent new wildfires from occurring.
Ctl+V: “Reporter’s” version: Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson wants Floridians to be cautious about their outdoor activities this weekend to prevent new wildfires from occurring.

Ctl+C: From the electronic in-basket: “People don’t realize how many fires are started by a spark from a piece of equipment outdoors,” Bronson said in a statement. “Right now, the conditions are such that the public needs to be extremely cautious with equipment, with outdoor barbecues and remember not to throw lit materials out the car window.”
Ctl+V: “Reporter’s” version: “People don’t realize how many fires are started by a spark from a piece of equipment outdoors,” Bronson said in a statement. “Right now, the conditions are such that the public needs to be extremely cautious with equipment, with outdoor barbecues and remember not to throw lit materials out the car window.”

Ctl+C From the electronic in-basket: Bronson is also advising people to forego any yard waste burning until the weather conditions improve. Six counties have instituted burn bans, but Bronson says conditions are not good for yard waste burning in any area of the state.
Ctl+V “Reporter:” Bronson also advises people to not burn yard waste until dry conditions improve. Six counties have instituted burn bans, but Bronson says conditions are not good for yard-waste burning in any area of the state.
[...]

Ctl+C Electronic in-basket: “Even if some parts of Florida are fortunate enough to get some rain this weekend, it won’t be enough to eliminate the danger,” Bronson said. “We are still in a deficit rainfall situation and there is a lot of dried out vegetation which acts as a fuel for fires. Also, the same storms that may bring rain will also bring strong winds as well which is real problem for firefighters.”
Ctl+V “Reporter:” “Even if some parts of Florida are fortunate enough to get some rain this weekend, it won’t be enough to eliminate the danger,” Bronson said. “We are still in a deficit rainfall situation and there is a lot of dried out vegetation which acts as a fuel for fires. Also, the same storms that may bring rain will also bring strong winds as well which is real problem for firefighters.”

For this, the parents paid for J-school?

When we copy the words or ideas we found on someone’s Web site and fail to acknowledge the source, it’s called plagiarism.

Starting in about the 10th grade, Florida language-arts teachers school students in two important writing skills. The first is paraphrasing, that is, expressing ideas we read about in our own words. The second is citing the source of the ideas we paraphrase.

Ethical journalists and editors practice these skills on a daily basis. Either they use quotation marks, quote someone word for word and append a little tag at the end along the lines of “Smith said” or “according to a press release from Senator Windbag’s office,” or some such. Or, they skip the quotation marks and put the news into their own words – paraphrasing that’s usually shorter, clearer and less ambiguous than the original (although there are numerous exceptions to this ideal).

Even when the information is paraphrased, ethical journalists and conscientious reporters still say “Jones said,” and “according to police reports.” They cite their sources.

Somewhat complicating this clear edict are publicity departments that want to help an organization get out the word about worthy activities. Generally, PR folks are happy to have local organizers use prepared material. They love to see their upbeat words folded into locally produced news stories and notices.

What the locals don’t get is that the standards of journalism, fairness, and Miss Crabtree’s 10th grade language arts class still require an acknowledgement of those PR sources. To do otherwise is to lie about who wrote the material – and to hide from the reader important information about the possible motives of the information provider.

As it happens, there’s a perfect example of this lie in the morning DeSoto Sun. Cherie A. Hollingsworth, the DeSoto County 4-H extension program assistant, has placed her byline on top of a news item about a public speaking contest for club members. She did a yeoman’s job of getting in all the local names of the contestants, judges, and topics.

But she blew it with the three paragraphs she tacked onto to her locally assembled copy:

Hollingsworth claims that she wrote: Florida 4-H is proud to offer the annual 4-H Tropicana public speaking contest. Working with youth in grades four to six, this contest helps thousands of young people annually learn how to write and deliver a speech. More than 150,000 young people in more than 50 Florida counties at this grade-level have participated.

Tropicana has sponsored the contest since 1969 and provides classroom materials for teachers, certificates of participation, medallions for school winners, trophies for county winners, summer camp scholarships and Tropicana orange-juice refreshments for county contests. Close to 2 million students have participated in this program since its beginning.
Tropicana Products, a division of PepsiCo Inc., is the leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices.

In fact, Hollingsworth copied “boilerplate paragraphs,” so called because they are standardized wording repeated without changing a comma in scores of prepared news releases. Hollingsworth probably found the copy at the “news and information page” of the Florida 4-H Web site describing the contest. Here’s the Web site version:

Florida 4-H is very proud of the 4-H/Tropicana Public Speaking Contest. Working with youth in grades 4-6, this contest helps thousands of young people annually learn how to write and deliver a speech. More than 150,000 young people in over 50 Florida counties in grades 4-6 participated in the contest last year

Tropicana has sponsored the contest since 1969 and provides classroom materials for teachers, certificates of participation, medallions for school winners, trophies for county winners, summer camp scholarships and Tropicana orange juice refreshments for county contests. Close to 2 million students have participated in this program since its beginning.
Tropicana Products, Inc., a division of PepsiCo, Inc., is the leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices.

Notice the little advertisement, for PepsiCo?

Hollingsworth is not a trained journalist and is probably oblivious to the long, slanted shadow the line casts over the whole effort. A professional reporter would have paraphrased the information in all three paragraphs and clearly attributed the information (cited the source), ending on a note something along the lines of “Pepsi Co. is the parent company of Tropicana Products, which provided classroom materials and prizes for the contest as a publicity effort in 50 Florida counties.”

A real newspaper editor or publisher concerned with his or her newspaper’s reputation for objectivity would never have allowed the PR department’s copy to leave the desk.

Hollingsworth played right into the hands of the corporate PR machine – and she plagiarized to win the honor.

This week’s Lake Placid Journal’s edition of Feeling Fit features a story too good to be true. For one thing, it’s quackery, plain and simple, promoted by a “master herbalist” who needs to recoup her $1800 investment in a foot-bath detoxifier from gullible spa-goers.

But more important, the Winter Haven quack has apparently plagiarized her story. The article is nearly identical to a 2006 posting by a South Carolina spa quack (scroll down about five entries). Here’s the side-by-side comparison.

Corlis Johnson of Winter Haven, writes her own top to the article, but quickly moves in her second paragraph to a nearly perfect copy of a colleague in quackery from North Carolina:
xxxxxxxxxxxxx Tired of feeling tired?
Today, it’s our good fortune to live in an age in which remarkable advances in medicine are giving us potent new tools to help us live longer healthier lives. As a pharmacist specializing in alternative treatments. I am always seeking new ways to help my clients improve their health. One new technology that I am excited about is Bio-Electric Stimulating Technique. It works to help your body strengthen and balance itself, recharging your body’s “battery.”

Here’s where the copy cat enters. Our Winter Haven quack writes:
xxxThe unit works through the most basic and plentiful substance in your body — water! xxxThe human body is approximately 80 percent water.
xxxWater is an excellent conductor of electricity. The human body functions off of electromagnetic signals.
xxxThe brain sends signals to each part of the body and back to the brain. When cells have enough energy they are able to function properly. The new Bioelectric Stimulating technique uses an Energy Foot Spa that electrically charges water in a foot bath.
xxxThe water (which your feet soak in) charges your body which allows the body to absorb vital energy on a cellular level, creating cell balance.

And the North Carolina quack wrote some two years ago:
xxxThe unit works through the most basic and plentiful substance in your body: water! xxxThe human body is approximately 80% water. Water is an excellent conductor of electricity. The human body functions off of electro-magnetic signals. The brain sends signals to each part of the body and back to the brain. When cells have enough energy they are able to function properly. The Energy Foot Spa charges the water and the water (which your feet soak in) charges your body. This allows the body to absorb vital energy on a cellular level, creating cell balance.

Winter Haven Quack:
xxOnce the body receives the energy, the body starts detoxing on its own. This may happen through the feet while in the bath, or through the urinary system, bowels and skin. As the Energy Foot Spa starts detoxifying and energizing on the cellular level, the body is able to release waste products more readily.
xxxThe unit charges the water and the water charges the entire body. Similar to a car battery that charges a car, the human body greatly benefits from being re-charged.

North Carolina Quack:
xxOnce the body receives the energy, the body starts detoxing on its own. This may happen through the feet while in the bath, or through the urinary system, bowels and skin. As the Energy Foot Spa starts detoxifying and energizing the system on a cellular level, the body is able to release waste products more readily.

xxxThe Aqua Chi unit charges the water and the water (in which your feet are soaking) charges your entire body!. Similar to a car battery that charges a car, the human body greatly benefits from being re-charged.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxWhat to expect
Winter Haven Quack:
xxxAn energy foot bath is a natural health modality that may help you eliminate toxins and increase your overall sense of health and well-being.
North Carolina Quack:
xxxIn just 35 minutes, the Aqua Chi unit may energize cells, may balance and strengthen the body to eliminate toxins and may increase your overall sense of health and well-being.
At this point, Winter Haven Quack departs from the script and skips the warnings about not treating clients who wear a pacemaker, might be pregnant, has had an organ transplant or takes prescription blood thinners. Instead, Winter Haven Quack prescribes the device for low energy, depression, anxiety, headaches, blood pressure, joint pain, insomnia, menopausal symptoms, muscular pain, constipation, skin conditions and indigestion.

xxxAnd just so we know, she explains away the murky water and gives us some hokus pokus about the body absorbing energy from the water:
xxxAt the end of an energizing foot spa treatment, the footbath will always be discolored. Much of this discoloration is due to the minerals in the water or the type of sea salt that is being used in the foot bath, and some of it may be due to the body releasing toxins from your skin into the water. The color changes will vary between clients and sessions.
xxxThe important thing is to realize that the machine itself is not pulling things out of the body, rather while your body absorbs the energy in the water it is absorbing vital energy on cellular level. Once the body receives the energy, it starts detoxing on its own. The results can be dramatic — eliminating the toxins and giving you more energy and vitality
Corlis Johnson is a holistic pharmacist, master herbalist, nutritionist, and weight loss
specialist. She owns My Natures Delight Natural Foods and Herb Shop at 3015 Cypress Gardens Rd., Winter Haven.

Miss Media isn’t going to take the time or effort to debunk the idea that the body is absorbing “vital energy” on a “cellular level” from a salty foot wash and all the devolves from there. Maybe later.

This week’s Lake Placid Journal’s edition of Feeling Fit features a story too good to be true. For one thing, it’s quackery, plain and simple, promoted by a “master herbalist” who needs to recoup her $1800 investment in a foot-bath detoxifier from gullible spa-goers.