Time to be Proactive and Educate The Media by Steve Chase
I just took one for the team by watching the infamous Ellen Hahn interview again.
It is just as reprehensible and disgusting as I remembered. I had visions of Jack Nicholson choking Nurse Ratched but a little nicotine calmed me back down. Don’t get me wrong I think Ellen Hahn is a despicable individual but since she is a professional spin-doctor I expect sensationalism and lies from her. The major problem I have with this interview lies with the television station that produced it. It seems obvious to me that Ms. Hahn’s organization initiated the idea for this interview and from her point of view it was a splendid success. The correspondent was pitching softballs and lapping up every response like they were gospel. The reporter and the station were being played like a Stradivarius and didn’t care that their integrity was on the line. Clueless, used, irresponsible, incompetent…take your pick.
It is the responsibility of any news organization to have qualified reporters who have the skills and knowledge to conduct an interview. Someone who has done their homework so that they will know the difference between facts and mule muffins. No research or fact checking here though…apparently all that is needed with this station is a title from a government agency and a guest can say anything they want and the validity of what they are saying is beyond question. The pitiful thing is that it is the same throughout the media…and even worse, they are giving credibility to shills whose existence relies on the advertising arm of the pharmaceutical industry.
Let’s give credit where credit is due, big pharma knows how to play offense very well. By funding humanitarian named advocacy groups they buy their way into credibility and at the same time are able to hide under the radar. The average citizen never sees what’s going on behind the scenes. All they see is a benevolence organization with a name like “ Keeping Children Safe from Smoking” and their message is “We just want to help you to quit smoking and we recommend only FDA approved products to accomplish that”. Unless average Joe takes an extraordinary step and does a little research for funding sources they have no idea that these organizations are being propped up by drug companies. The message they are receiving is really a commercial designed to let zealots peddle their products for them and vilify almost any other option.
I also have to give a big thumbs up to the Vapor community for the defensive effort that is displayed every time one of these hit pieces sees the light of day. The response is fast, numerous and spot on. However, my concern is that while the average Joe citizen might watch the original report, chances are pretty good that he will never read the responses. It’s time to quit playing defense and go proactive and try to educate the media before the anti-ecig groups contact them.
The chances are slim to none that a reporter is going to confront me out of the blue and ask my opinion about vaping. That’s probably a good thing because I would clam up and look like a deer in headlights. But let’s suppose it happened…I see myself better suited as being a source of information for this reporter and not someone to put on camera. I definitely want to take advantage of this opportunity however and I would want to turn the tables and interview the interviewer. I want to understand their motives and to make sure they have a clear understanding about electronic cigarettes and Tobacco Harm Reduction. My hope is that they will take note of the following questions and follow up with some thorough research.
1- What prompted this story? The newsroom or an outside source?
2- What is your knowledge about the product and what are your sources of information?
3- Do you plan to interview local health care professionals or bureaucrats that have the
credentials to speak on the subject?
4- Are you aware of CASAA or anyone on a national level with expert knowledge
about ecigarettes and Tobacco Harm Reduction?
5- Are you aware of the testing that has been done over the past several years?
6- Are you aware of the cost and success rate of FDA approved cessation
products…and the same for electronic cigarettes?
7- What are your thoughts about Chantix?
8- Have you ever considered that big pharma sees the ecig as a competitor?
9- Are you aware that government and big pharma are the funding source for most of
the advocacy groups that are trying to ban electronic cigarettes?
10- Would you like the names of local people who have had success converting from
smoking to using electronic cigarettes?
Since the chances are pretty slim that the above scenario will happen all by itself, what can we do to preempt the issue? We can take the initiative and do just what the big pharma/advocacy groups have been doing and contact the media before they consider a story about vaping. By getting to the press in advance the chances are much better to get the whole truth out.
I wish I could tell you that I have had great success with this strategy. I have not…yet. I have contacted several media outlets in my city and so far there doesn’t appear to be much interest. In a strange way I see that as a positive sign that the people in my area don’t see ecigs as a problem…but I am sure that will change. I have no doubt that sooner or later the ANTZ will start up a campaign and my contacts with the media will finally pay off. Now they will have information from the positive side of the issue and be able to question the misinformation they are receiving from the “ban” wagon crowd.
The bottom line: Go proactive with the issue. We have seen time and time again how inept the media is and if we want fair treatment we need to educate them BEFORE the damage is done.
Very well thought out and laid out. You might want to consider sending this to your local newspaper or local new station. This might give them an idea for a piece that will open the eyes of many non vapers that just read and see they bad stuff reported on daily about E-cigarettes.
This is a very thought out post, thanks for taking the time to write this out for us!
Wow great post
Very good post. Thanks!
wow i hadn’t seen that video, geez i hate the fda for all their corruption, so irritating.
Thanks for the post. We need more people thinking like you to make vaping a viable option for the masses.
nice post
In my role at the radio station i work for, I’m always talking/writing/phoning broadcast people in radio and TV. This subject has come up many times; I know, cause I bring it up.
I’m always dishing out the latest stuff from both sides and pointing out the errors, lies, and distortions I see. This morning I was contacted by a reporter from the Orlando Sentinel who is doing some research on e-cigs, asking my advice and opinions. She’s gonna get it, too…. We all need to make an effort to reach out to these news organizations and let them know when we catch them playing lapdog to petty bureaucrats like this witch.
Such a shame to think someone who might benefit from an ecig would run interviews like this and it be a deciding factor in them not giving it a go. So many of us are proof that we can quit smoking with these regardless of how they are marketed. In my opinion someone scaring someone out of a safer alternative is helping kill some people along the way..intentional or not.
Never trust the media
Great post. Bad interview. I feel sorry for anyone who takes this woman at face value and passes up the chance to benefit from ecigs.
Just like most things, it’s all about the dollars, not the ‘sense’.
great post
if da loca media were doin its job day would have both sides of the contraversay on at da same time….is all i can say
One of the better blogs I’ve read anywhere. It is obvious to me that Ellen Hahn is a Big Pharma lapdog
Unfortunately I feel if there was a check enclosed with your correspondance the media outlets would respond.
The traditional Journalism I was taught as a child is dead, I’m not sure if it was ever a reality, or just the idealistic model that is often taught to school children.
We as vapers should make the community aware of coverage like this and make our voices heard.
In the U.K we have the Independent Television Commission that you can make complaints to if programs mislead the public. They can be fined and forced to apologies on air. Also the Press Complaints Commission for printed press. Do you have similar organizations you can report this kind of thing to?
Thanks for letting us all know this. Hopefully it can be used to help our fight.
Silly ass Woman…..(excuse the french)
Pharmaceutical Hooker…..
Thanks for taking the time to write all of this, and for watching this horrible lady. She sickens me and i can no longer watch it again. Sorry. Lol. Btw, she looks like a gremlin.
lets get it done
don’t you hate how we let foolish people spread propganda on tv
Thanks you for writing this, and yeah they aim to make ecigs look like garbage or a life threatening device, which in reality it’s the complete opposite.
Looks nice thanks for the info
I nominate Steve Chase as Smack-a-Big-Pharma-Hoah-In-Da-Face person for ECA!
i second that
I third that
Slap dat hoe
lol omg lol
Have you seen the article Include ecigs in smoking ban? It wouldn’t surprise me if the anonymous person who wrote it was this nitwit right here. Amazing how much drivel can come out of one place.
The issue is these media outlets need to be told that they are saying is incorrect information. Maybe they will do a retraction. This isn’t the first time the media put incorrect or mis-leading information out to the public.
I agree correct information should be in the media outlet. Like correct scientific data.
Cigarettes are like squirrels. They’re perfectly harmless until you put one in your mouth and light it on fire.
Thank you Steve: In the sixties, sit-ins, be-ins, marches, picket signs were the only way to obtain the news media’s attention. This is the instant communication age. Still, spring is on it’s way what a winter we’ve had though. Picketing “cheap cigarette outlets”?, picketing the AHA, ALA, AMA, and all the Big Pharmaceuticals, especially Robert Wood Johnson, makers of nicorette gum and patches. Those groups. That create The Campaign For Tobacco Free Kids….. Does anyone agree that it may take physical action such as was in the 60′s for civil rights and a war in Asia that college kids didn’t want to die in!
Thank you Steve for sharing this with us all.
Its a shame that this woman has not done her research in the right places! Lets hope that she has never eaten tomatoes, egg plant, or broccoli…why people may ask? Because they all contain NICOTENE and CHEMICLES (forgive the spelling).
It sickens me to the core to see this out in the media..but I know that it exists.
Thanks for your CORRECT information!
Thanks.
Nice
god this lady is stupid
Oh this surprised me. If everything was as good as it appeared to be then it’s a shame for all 3 that it’s ended.
It’s not her we have to worry about. It’s the one’s with the $$ for whom she is speaking. She has been bought and paid for…..
amazing!
Here, here Steve!
Very good article. We need more voices like yours in the e-cig community and less of the self-promotional pieces. I’d amend question #3 a bit – Do you have any plans to interview someone that will provide a counter argument to the ones made here by Ms. Hahn?
I know you and others have good intentions when you talk about immediately responding to negative e-cig articles and interviews such as this one and agree that few people read the comments that follow articles and clips. However, I disagree that a barrage of comments is what is called for. The more comments people make, the more relevant it is seen by search engines and those comments drive the anti-ecig propaganda higher in the search results pages. If we all simply ignored their bogus rhetoric, those pieces would end up in search engine oblivion.I wrote a blog piece about it on February 10th, as a matter of fact. Out of respect for your website I won’t link to it from here.
Instead of commenting, I’d recommend creating articles about the bogus ones (much like yours here) and welcome comments. We need the community commenting on the positive e-cig pieces in order to drive them higher in the search engines and leaving the negative ones to rot.
awesome
The state of mass media news outlets is unsettling at best.
WOW GREAT POST!
cool