It is important to remember that while reporters and journalists often claim
to be objective, and often WANT to be objective, in reality, they are
influenced very much by their own experiences and biases. As a writer, I
have talked to many journalists and editors about breastfeeding. The
majority are women, and the vast majority of these women bottle-fed their
own children, often because they returned to work when their babies were
very young. They HATE seeing new research on the risks of formula, because
it makes them feel badly that their babies missed out, and they LOVE to see
anything that is even slightly critical of breastfeeding. They will jump at
the chance to print that kind of article. I have had long conversations with
some of these women, and I think in some cases I've helped them to get a
better perspective, but the reality is that most will eagerly support the
formula companies because it makes them feel better about their own choices.

Also, earlier on Lactnet there were some links provided to the Today's
Parent magazine article on formula which is now on-line. I thought the
article was fairly mild. You might like to know that in the October issue of
Today's Parent they have printed a whole raft of letters complaining about
the article and how terrible it was: there are comments like "I am surprised
Today's Parent would publish such a biased article." "If breastfeeding
doesn't make you happy, just don't do it." "I am sick of hearing everyone
from the next-door neighbour to pushy nurses jamming breastfeeding down
everyone's throats." "There are many advantages to formula." Thankfully,
there was one positive one!

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario, Canada

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