The Culture of Fear (49 page)

59
Paul Ruiz, “Media Deform the ’Legal Reform’ Debate,”
Extra,
May 1995, pp. 10-11; Jim Naureckas, “Defusing the ‘Litigation Explosion’,”
Extra,
May 1995, p. 10; Aric Press, “Are Lawyers Burning America?”
Newsweek,
20 March 1995, pp. 32-35; Richard Schmitt, “Truth Is First Casualty of Tort-Reform Debate,”
Wall StreetJournal,
7 March 1995, pp. B1, 4.

60
Statistics from Ruiz, “Media Deform.“ “Contract” quoted in Naureckas, “Defusing.”
Ms.
article is Washburn, “Reality Check.” See also Martha Middleton, “A Changing Landscape,”
ABA Journal
81 (1 August 1995): 56.

61
John Broder, “Warning: A Batman Cape Won’t Help You Fly,“
New York Times,
5 March 1997, pp. C1, 2.

62
Ann Wood, “Pertussis Vaccine Scare Report Rebuffed by AAP,“
Pediatric News,
May 1982, p. 1. General background about the vaccine and controversies surrounding it: interviews with Dr. Cheston Berlin, former chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Drugs, and Dr. Edward Mortimer of Case Western University.

63
“Comments on DTP Issues Raised on the WRC/NBC TV Program,” photocopied report from the National Center for Drugs and Biologics, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Washington, DC, 1982. Statistics and general information about whooping cough: American Academy of Pediatrics “Red Book,” 1994; Lawrence Altman, “A New Focus on Whooping Cough Vaccine,”
New York Times,
8 June 1982, p. 20. On safety of the vaccines see also L. Cowan et al., “Acute Encephalopathy and Chronic Neurological Damage After Pertussis Vaccine,”
Vaccine
11 (1993): 1371-79.

64
For an example of the media commentary see ”Two Ounces of Prevention,“
New York Times,
18 May 1982, p. A22. Fisher quote is from a membership solicitation letter from her organization.

65
Japanese and British epidemics: interview with Dr. Stephen Chartrand of Creighton University, an expert on childhood vaccines, 13 December 1994; Julie Marquis, “A Vocal Attack on Vaccines,”
Los Angeles Times,
12 March 1997, pp. A1, 14; E. J. Gangarosa et al., “Impact of Anti-Vaccine Movements on Pertussis Control,” Lancet 351 (1998): 356-61. On my selection and use of statistics see note 2 in the Introduction.

66
Louise Palmer, “Government Can’t Meet Vaccine Injury Claims,”
New York Times,
25 April 1993, p. 6; Sarah Glazer, “No-Fault Federal Program Compensates for Injuries,“
Washington Post,
29 January 1991, p. Z9; Catherine Clabby, “Danger of Vaccines Discounted,“
Raleigh News and Observer,
18 December 1996, p. A3.

67
M. R. Griffin et al., “Risk of Seizures and Encephalopathy After Immunization with DTP Vaccine,“
Journal of the American Medical Association
263 (1990): 1641-45; James D. Cherry, “Pertussis Vaccine Encephalopathy: It Is Time to Recognize It as the Myth That It Is,“
Journal of the American Medical Association
263 (1990): 1679-80; Lawrence Altman, “Study Backs Safety of Whooping Cough Vaccine,“
New York Times,
11 January 1994, p. C7; ”Study Groups Make Vaccine Recommendations,“
Journal
of
the American Medical Association
272 (1994): 1088.

68
Emily Martin, Flexible Bodies (Boston: Beacon Press, 1994), p. 194.

69
Marquis, “A Vocal Attack”; issues of “DPT News” and “NVIC News,” 1983 through 1995 (statistic from NVIC News, November 1994).

70
Alan Patureau, “Alabamian Overcomes Deafness to Compete with a Select Few in the Miss America Pageant,“
Atlanta Journal and Constitution,
16 September 1994, p. A3.

71
Gary Freed et al., “Safety of Vaccinations: Miss America, the Media, and Public Health,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
276 (18 December 1996): 1869-72; Lewis Cope, “Vaccine Did Not Cause Winner’s Deafness,“
Star Tribune,
2 October 1994, p. E2; Sandra Evans, “How Safe Are Mandatory Immunizations?”
Washington Post,
27 September 1994, p. Z9.

72
Andrea Rock, “The Lethal Dangers of the Billion-Dollar Vaccine Business,”
Money,
December 1996, pp. 148-64; Marquis, “A Vocal Attack” (contains “doggedness” quote); John Schwartz, “FDA Approves New Vaccine with Fewer Risks to Control Whooping Cough,”
Washington Post,
1 August 1996, p. A24 (contains “culmination” quote); Arthur Allen, “Injection Rejection,” New
Republic,
23 March 1998, pp. 20-23.

73
Interviews with vaccine authorities Dr. Edward Mortimer of Case Western University, 12 December 1994, and Dr. Stephen Chartrand, Creighton University, 13
December 1994; “New Vaccine May Be Used For Pertussis,” Associated Press, 25 November 1994; Thomas Maugh, “New Whooping Cough Vaccine Safer,”
Los Angeles Times,
24 November 1994; “Pertussis Vaccine Controversy Continues,” Reuters, 2 February 1998.

1
Figures from David Hinson, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, in speeches and interviews: see, e.g., “Larry King Live,” CNN, 14 May 1996. See also Julie Schmit and Del Jones, “Some Drive, but Most Will Keep Flying,”
USA Today,
17 November 1994, p. A1; Paul Aldo, “Regulating Safety,” paper presented at the Eastern Sociological Society meetings, March 1996.

2
“Public Deserves Faster Action on Safety Measures,”
USA Today,
15 December 1994, p. A8; Adam Bryant, “Why No Airline Brags, ‘We’re the Safest’,”
New York Times,
9 June 1996, pp. D1, 3.

3
Laura Parker, “Airline Accident Rate Is Highest in 13 Years,”
Washington
Post, 13 January 1988, p. A8; Victor Cohn, “Probable Fact and Probable Junk,” paper posted in 1996 on the Internet by the Foundation for American Communications (FACS); Melinda Beck, “How Safe Is This Flight?”
Newsweek,
24 April 1995, p. 18.

4
Stephen J. Hedges et al., “What’s Wrong with the FAA,”
U.S. News & World Report,
26 June 1995, pp. 28-34. Fatality statistics from the National Transportation Safety Board.

5
Chistopher Farley, “Air Safety—Under a Cloud,”
Time,
26 December, 1994, p. 114; “High Anxiety in the Skies,”
USA Today,
17 November 1994, p. A1.

6
“Fifth Crash in as Many Years”: see, e.g., John Daly, “The Fear of Flying,”
Maclean‘s,
26 September 1994, pp. 26-27; Adam Bryant, “Outsted FAA Man,”
New York Times,
21 June 1996, p. A10. See also George Church, “Ripped from the Sky,”
Time,
19 September 1994, pp. 38-39.

7
Douglas Frantz, “Committed to Safety and Telling the World,”
NewYork Times,
27 November 1994, p. N2; Carl Quintanilla, “USAir Appoints Retired General to Oversee Safety,”
Wall StreetJournal,
21 November 1994, p. B7. Gina Kolata, “When Is Coincidence Too Bad to Be True?”
New York Times,
11 September 1994, p. D4; Arnold Barnett, “How Numbers Can Trick You,”
Technology Review
97 (1994): 38-46.

8
Barnett, “How Numbers Can Trick You.” A quarter century earlier Barnett had also shown consistency in safety records among airlines: Arnold Barnett et al., “Airline Safety,”
Management Science
23 (1979): 1045-56. On rankings by safety records see also Jonathan Dahl and Lisa Miller, “Which Is the Safest Airline? It All Depends,”
Wall Street Journal,
24 July 1996, p. B1.

9
Del Jones, “Avoid Small Planes, Warns Group,”
USA
Today, 15 November 1994, p. A1.

10
Farley, “Under a Cloud,” p. 114. The commuter scare and the FAA’s statistics: Annetta Miller, “We’ll Adjust Our Schedules,”
Newsweek,
28 November 1994, p. 46; Don Phillips, “If God Had Wanted Man to Fly,”
Washington Post
National Edition, 26 December 1994, p. 12; James Hirsch, “Small Planes Are Not as Safe as Big Jetliners,”
Wall StreetJournal,
15 December 1994, p. B1. For more on the IAPA see Robert Moor-man, ”A Swarm of Experts,” Air Transport World 32 (March 1995): 26-33.

11
Richard Newman, “How Safe Are Small Planes?”
U.S.
News
&
World Report, 14 November 1994, pp. 68-76. Newsmagazine statistic from Phillips, “If God.”

12
Stephen Chapman, “Commuter Airline Safety,”
Chicago
Tribune, 18 December 1994, p. D3.

13
Douglas Frantz, “F.A.A.’s ’Tombstone Mentality‘,”
New York Times,
15 December 1994, p. A16; Adam Bryant, “Poor Training at FAA Linked to 6 Crashes,” New York Times, 15 October 1995, p. A1; Beck, “How Safe”; Hedges, “What’s Wrong.” See also Owen Ullmann, “Wanted: A New Flight Plan for the FAA,”
Business Week,
1 July 1996, p. 39.

14
Jeff Brazil, “FAA’s Response Record Under Fire,”
Los Angeles Times,
12 December 1994, p. A1.

15
CBS, “Evening News,” 7 April 1995.

16
See Beck, “How Safe“; “The FAA: Too Slow to Act on Airline Safety?”
Consumer Reports,
June 1995, p. 385; Mark Honig, “Child Safety Sophists at CBS,”
MediaNomics,
May 1995, p. 4; Cornelia Dean, “Assessing Regulation in an Era of Regulatory ’Reform‘,” article posted on the Internet by the Foundation for American Communications (FACS), 1996. Criticism of the FAA continued in subsequent years. See, e.g., Eric Malnic, “FAA Failure Cited in Valujet Crash Report,”
Los Angeles Times,
20 August 1997, pp. A1, 10; Mary Schiavo,
Flying Blind, Flying Safe
(New York: Avon, 1997); ”Ground Unethical Trips,”
USA Today,
14 August 1998, p. A14; ”Troubling New Safety Report Shows FAA’s Shortcomings,”
USA Today,
1 April 1998, p. A10; Scott McCartney, ”FAA Data Deficiencies Hamper Effort to Spot Airline Safety Hazards,”
Wall StreetJournal,
27 July 1998, pp. A1, 7; ”Problem-Prone Airline Wiring Fails to Spark FAA Urgency,”
USA Today,
10 November 1998, p. A14.

17
Don Phillips, “Personal Feud, or Professional Problem?”
Washington Post,
16 July 1995, p. H1; Matthew Wald, “Counterfeit Airliner Parts Are Said to Be Often Used,”
New York Times,
25 May 1995, p. 18; Hedges, “What’s Wrong”; Willy Stern, ”Warning!”
Business Week,
10 June 1996, pp. 84-92 (Schiavo quote and photo on p.87). For another example of spare parts coverage see CBS, “Evening News,” 24 May 1995.

18
Don Phillips, “Bogus Aircraft Parts Threat Debated,”
Washington Post,
25 May 1995, p. B12. On NTSB criticisms see, e.g.: Hedges, “What’s Wrong“; ABC, “Primetime,” 18 November 1994.

19
ABC, “Primetime,” 18 November 1994. For more of Schiavo’s fear mongering about bogus parts, see Shiavo,
Flying Blind, Flying Safe,
ch. 5.

20
Stem, “Warning!” For other coverage in 1996 see Gary Stoller, “Counterfeit,”
Conde Nast Traveler,
March 1996, pp. 37—40.

21
Lance Bylow and Ian Savage, “The Effect of Airline Deregulation on Automobile Fatalities,”
Accident Analysis and Prevention
23 (1991): 443-52. Erik Larson, “Death in the Everglades,”
Time,
20 May 1996, p. 20.

22
Other articles include: ”Death in the ’Glades,”
Newsweek,
20 May 1996, p. 31; ”Fliers May Rethink Low Fares After Crash,”
USA
Today, 14 May 1996, p. B10. FAA
study and coverage thereof: Matthew Wald, “F.A.A. Cites Problems at Valujet,”
New York Times,
18 May 1996, p. A6; ABC News ”Nightline,” 16 May 1996. See also ”Hinson on Safety of Low-Cost Airlines,”
USA Today,
25 June 1996, p. A13.

23
Art Pine, “Budget Airlines’ Repairs Endorsed,”
Los Angeles Times,
14 May 1996, p. 12; ”Polls Show Confidence Gap,” CNN (online), 18 May 1996; Scott McCartney, ”Start-Ups Still Suffer from Valujet Crash and FAA’s Missteps,”
Wall Street Journal,
9 December 1996, pp. A1, 10.

24
Mary Fackler Schiavo, “‘I Don’t Like to Fly,”
Newsweek,
20 May 1996, p. 32.

25
Tom Squitieri, “Outspoken Inspector Angers FAA, Others,”
USA Today,
15 May 1996, p. A3; Cindy Skrzycki, “DOT Inspector General Keeps Flying in the Face of Caution,”
Washington Post,
17 May 1996, p. F1; Adam Bryant, “Outspoken FAA Critic Quits,”
New York Times,
9 July 1996, p. A9; Asra Nomani, “Even in Leaving, DOT’s Schiavo Draws Criticism,”
Wall StreetJournal,
9 July 1996, pp. B1, 4; Shiavo,
Flying
Blind, p. 199.

26
Graham Boynton, “Plastique Bombs vs. Slack Security,”
New York Observer,
29 July 1996, pp. 1, 7; Pam Belluck and John Sullivan, “Despite Warnings, Most Air Cargo Is Unscreened,”
New York Times,
26 July 1996, pp. A1, 12. Other quotes from Sam Husseini, ”Media Bomb on TWA Crash,”
Extra,
January 1997, pp. 20-22; ’Jumping the Gun,”
Extra,
September 1996, p. 5 (contains Haberman quote). For a correcting piece see Matthew Purdy, “Why One Flight 800 Theory Fit All,”
New
York Times, 24 November 1996, pp. E1, 4. On reporters jumping prematurely to incorrect conclusions about the causes of crashes, see William Boot, “The Accidental Journalist,”
Columbia Journalist Review
(January 1990): 17—21.

27
Robert Davey, “A Missile Destroyed TWA Flight 800,”
Village Voice,
21 July 1998, pp. 34-38. See also Robert Davey, “Flight 800: The Missing Evidence,”
Village Voice,
21 April 1998, pp. 35-39.

28
Mark Hosenball, “New Static on TWA 800,”
Newsweek,
23 December 1996, p. 26.

29
See, e.g., Julie Schmit, “Some Drive, But Most Will Keep Flying,”
USA Today,
17 November 1994, pp. A1, 2; “Flyers May Rethink”; Andrea Stone, “Crashes Giving Many Fliers the Jitters,”
USA Today,
15 December 1994, p. A3; Susan Carry and Jonathan Dahl, “Flying Scared,”
WallStreetJournal,
22 July 1996, pp. B1, 8.