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02/24/2005: "BeebWatch"
Those who know me, or who have been unfortunate enough to be my students, will almost certainly have heard me bang on about how the media has a responsibility to inform & educate, and that - not least in relation to 'bioethical' controversies - it often does this very badly. Here's the latest example from the BBC Online. Prize for the first person to spot the deliberate mistake. Nope? Ok. It is, of course, Oregon, not Florida, that has allowed assisted suicide (not, technically, euthanasia) since 1997. Indeed, the only legislation relevant to the decision whether or not to withdraw life-prolonging treatment from Ms Schiavo is that introduced by Jeb Bush to prevent her artificial feeding being withdrawn.
An email will be winging its way to the Beeb shortly, but while I'm on the subject, this seems as good a time as any to draw attention to Peter Singer's point that Jeb's rather better known brother has a very selective approach to 'Big Guvmint'; all for state autonomy when it comes to, say, environmental protection (or lack of), quite happy to impose federal will when it comes to something like this. One could also point out (as Singer does) that his respect for individual liberty fluctuates rather a lot, too.
