Media Watch July 4, 2007

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

By PJH Staff

I guess we overreacted
Remember the uproar created by an Atlanta attorney gallivanting around Europe and the U.S. by plane? You know, the guy with drug-resistant TB who was said to be highly contagious and a danger to himself and those with whom he intereacted?

The guy who was ridiculed and quarantined in Denver upon his return from his wedding in Europe?

The event sparked debate about border security, as the guy, Andrew Speaker, was allowed to enter the U.S. despite orders to contact public health officials. He was made to testify by phone to Congress. The story sent the media into a frenzy.

Turns out his TB isn’t so bad after all. Yahoo News reported yesterday that instead of drug-resistant TB, which is virtually untreatable, Speaker’s sputum tests reveal that he has multi-drug resistant TB. In other words, some drugs will treat him, but some will have no effect.
— Melanie Stein

Another reason to pay your cell phone bill
In a true, modern-day Batman and Robin rescue story, Arman Deganian notified police that his brother and friend had been kidnapped after receiving a text message.
“We’ve been kidnapped,” David Deganian texted his brother. “Please call the police and help us.”

David sent the text message from the hot, dark trunk of his kidnappers’ car after two men accosted him and a friend as they exited an Atlanta nightclub and kidnapped them at gunpoint. Robbed and shoved into the trunk of a car, the kidnappers stopped at an ATM before bringing their hostages to an abandoned house where they were held at gunpoint until police rescued them.

Authorities immediately tracked ATM withdrawals and credit card purchases thanks to the early notification of the emergency at hand from a cell phone and recovered the hostages 14 hours after the kidnapping.
— Lucille Rice
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Media Watch July 4, 2007 | Planet JH News Article: Media Watch

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