On dishing it out and taking it

Rather marvellous post from Ben Goldacre about LBC getting all shirty because he dared post a long clip of one of the presenters getting the MMR issue, how shall we say, completely arse and about face.
The LBC lawyers have written to Goldacre asking him to cease and desist because he's infringing their copyright (and nothing at all to do with writing embarassing things about them, oh no).
It's always very dodgy when journalists resort to libel lawyers. They really ought to know better.
One of my first ever libel threats (you remember them like you do the first time you realised Santa wasn't real) was from a Sunday Times journalist. This venerable hack was annoyed because I'd written that his speculative musings on who would be selected for a particular parliamentary seat were wide of the mark. They were, but we still wrote an apology.
It is quite possible that LBC's Jeni Barnett didn't want the suits involved and is mouthing "that's not the way to handle it".
What sympathy I have is tempered by the fact that on her blog she shows no contrition, no understanding and little empathy. She writes:

 "I am not a scientist, I would not claim to be a scientist. When tested on the contents of the MMR vaccine I told the truth. I did not have the facts to hand. Was I ill informed? Yes.As a responsible broadcaster I should have been better prepared as a parent, however, I can fight my corner. I don't know everything that goes into cigarettes but I do know they are harmful."

The difference with her and other parents is that she is in a postion of authority and her programme sets the terms of debate for the public.
That last sentence is beyond belief. The reason you know that cigarettes are harmful, Jeni, is because Richard Doll and many others carried out a huge amount of research to prove the link between smoking and lung cancer. That was then, slowly, reported by the media. There is no evidence to back-up your belief in the MMR scare; just the media storm.
Next we'll have Jeni on why the Earth is flat ("I don't know much but it's obvious all the water would just keep washing away from you.")
And as figures produced just recently show; falling vaccination rates cused by the wholly wrong and media-led MMR scare are having real and debilitating effects on children today.
It's not good enough to be a little ignorant and a bit fluffy and think you're just helping confused parents take control. You need to take this stuff seriously or you need to go and find a job where you can't cause damage to other people.