Linda Smith wrote:

<Please be VERY careful when referring to any reporter's interpretation
of
Dr. Ruth Lawrence's statements on herbs. Or anyone else's statements on
any
aspect of BF, for that matter. Reporters write stories that are designed
sell newspapers, and exaggerating the alleged risks of BF is a very
common
tactic.>

I agree 100 percent that it's important
to look at original sourcing. I do want to quibble with one statement,
though. Reporters in the U.S. seldom write stories "that are designed to
sell
newspapers." The vast majority don't think about it at all. It's
actually sort of a point of pride among most journalists to be
anti-business, anti-promoting the paper. I think in other countries the
newspaper culture is probably different; I'm only speaking for this
country.

What can make reporters dangerous, however, is that they do like
conflict of any sort. Stories about how wonderful breastfeeding is are
"dog bites man" stories. Everyone supposedly knows it, is how the
thinking goes. Now, if someone comes out with something that says BF can
kill your baby, that's a "man bites dog" -- and worth a lot more
attention.

U.S. journalists also tend to be very mainstream in their
thinking. Very few workaday women journalists who return to work
breastfeed. Including myself, I knew three in my 10 years as a staffer
-- and I'm the only one who went longer than 6 months. Many of the
other mothers I knew had a bit of a chip on their shoulders about
breastfeeding. They know it's best but didn't do it themselves. It's
satisfying to write or run stories that justify your own choices, no
matter how much you try to be objective. That's why most stories about
breastfeeding exaggerate the difficulties or emphasize breastfeeding
problems.

The vast majority of U.S. journalists also fall to the left of center
politically,
and that crowd can be hostile to the idea that baby needs mom --
believing instead that baby needs a happy,
making-lots-of-money-during-long-separations mom. In general, I would
say most writing about breastfeeding in mainstream newspapers simply
reflects the cultural beliefs of our society.

I posted this privately at first, which is why it's so late.

Best,
Kathleen McKernan Whitfield
retired newspaper editor
freelance writer
lay breastfeeding counselor
Riverside, CA

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