Date:    Fri, 15 Aug 1997 18:04:39 -0500
From:    "J. Rachael Hamlet & Duncan L. Cooper" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: 20/20

Rachel Hamlet said (in part): <<After speaking to Stefanie Hirsch...I have
considerable hope that she is serious about researching the piece and
presenting it in a way that doesn't make us all look like freaks.

I am not surprised that she feels compelled to find a opposing person for
"balance"  This is...the "centrist bias" of the press: present two wildly
opposing views as if they are of equal value and proclaim the truth to be
somewhere in the middle.  Maybe we can give her a name of an "expert" who
will proclaim [extended nursing] to be sexual abuse, but not have a crumb of
scientific evidence to back it up.  Next to our articulate, learned and funny
Dr. Kathy D., that person will look like the idiot s/he is.>>

First, let me say that my earlier post ("Can 20/20 be trusted? I think not!")
was not directed towards our learned and media wise Katherine Dettwyler and
Elizabeth Baldwin.  I have complete faith in their ability to explain the
benefits of extended nursing on national television.

However, I'm considerably less confident that their calm, rational,
intelligent exposition will be shown in its entirety.  Their interviews will
be prerecorded and edited.  Even the best and the brightest are vulnerable
when their carefully prepared speeches are shredded by an editor who prefers
sensationalism to science.  20/20 is not Nova!

I am also concerned because Ms. Hirsch is soliciting interviews from mothers
practicing extended nursing---mothers who may not have much media savvy, and
who may regret their participation once they see the finished product.

Once again, I would recommend that everyone involved proceed with caution.

Best wishes,
Rita