Things to do in Sacramento and Beyond: Call Kurtis: The Sequel

Things to do in Sacramento and Beyond

The Bee's guide to events, activities, arts and entertainment

November 8, 2007

Call Kurtis: The Sequel

Today in The Huffington Post, the popular online news site, blogger Trevor Butterworth (who heads an organzation, STATS.org, which examines how the media covers science and statistics) takes recent reports on "toxic mattresses" to task. Among those reports was "Call Kurtis"; Channel 13's Kurtis Ming (pictured, right) aired his story Friday.

Step-by-step, Butterworth (pictured, left) dismantles the legitimacy of the TV reports - which originated at Channel 13's sister station in Chicago - and scolds reporters for failing to mention that the man making the claims has a huge conflict of interest.

Here's an excerpt:

The real evidence that reporters are asleep on the job does not come from the jumble of junk science about chemical poisoning, but the fact that People for Clean Beds is run by a rival mattress manufacturer with a hefty economic stake in scaring people about buying mattresses that meet the new regulations.
Mark Strobel founded "People for Clean Beds" specifically to oppose the new fire-safety requirements. He manufactures beds, which are exempt from the regulations and, as a consequence, can only be purchased with a doctor's prescription. He has no apparent scientific background beyond a BS degree. It's also not clear that anybody but Mark Strobel is involved in running "People for Clean Beds."

What is clear is that if you scare people into thinking that the new regulations will cause them harm, you raise the odds of more people getting a prescription for a Strobel Bed.

Conflict of interest anyone?

Strobel, by the way, is quoted extensively in the "Call Kurtis" segment.

On a positive note, Ming did give credit to "our sister station in Chicago" for the interviews, which he didn't do when airing a report from San Francisco station KPIX on online ripoffs the other day.

Butterworth, whose journalism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and Salon.com and other publications, goes into more depth in debunking the mattress story in an article posted in STATS.org's Web site.

About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.

blog comments powered by Disqus

FOLLOW US | Get more from sacbee.com | Follow us on Twitter | Become a fan on Facebook | Get news in your inbox | View our mobile versions | e-edition: Print edition online | What our bloggers are saying