Media: November 2007 Archives

Daryl Cagle / MSNC

This one just strikes a little too close to home ...

... comes by way of this Associated Press piece, which, unfortunately, found its way into today's Daily News. Let's start with the first 3 grafs:

WASHINGTON - Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.

"At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners" among teenagers, the study concluded.

The report, which was based on a review of research into teen sexual behavior, was being released today by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Anyone notice that the author makes sure to call the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy "nonpartisan" twice? "Nonpartisan" apparently being some sort of synonym for "objective."

But we have to get to the no-man's land of the bottom of the story before finding out:

The study, conducted by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, also sought to debunk what the report called "myths propagated by abstinence-only advocates" including: that comprehensive sex education promotes promiscuity, hastens the initiation of sex or increases its frequency, and sends a confusing message to adolescents.

Oh, the study "sought to debunk" one side of the debate's "myths." Gee, you would have thought from the lead that this was an objective attempt to wade through the facts, then arrive at a conclusion. Instead, we learn, there was an agenda from the get-go.

There's more:

The sponsors of the study praised Kirby for his "thorough research" and for being "fair and evenhanded," but they also acknowledged that ETR Associates developed and markets several of the sex education curricula reviewed in the report. Several of the previous studies that were reviewed also were written by Kirby.

So this is merely a study of previous studies, conducted by the author of many of those studies himself. Said author is also an employee of a company that publishes sex-ed curricula. And, amazingly, he seems to have found that his employer's curricula were highly successful, but its competitors' were not. Wow, what a shock. Next thing you know, the AP will be running stories like, "Coke Study Finds Americans Hate Pepsi," "NRA Research Shows Gun Laws Don't Work," or "Clinton Campaign Report Shows that Obama is a Doofus."

This is a textbook case of slanted journalism: Load the headline and the lead, and save the discrediting info for the bottom -- that way no one will see it, but no one can say you left it out, either.

For the record, I don't doubt that abstinence-only programs are of limited value -- there's only so much schools can do in the face of an entire culture sending exactly the opposite message. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking that the "comprehensive" approach to sex-ed is doing any good. If it were, one if five California youths wouldn't have an STD.