H1N1 News in Finland Are Meant to Be Scary

So far have had a single digit count of H1N1 fatalities in Finland. Reporting these is normal, albeit yearly influenza strains make much fever headlines than H1N1. Actually, any scary speculation regarding the Swine Flu makes a headline.

The most recent headline from YLE on the topic is "Some H1N1 Vaccinations End Up in the Trash" more or less directly translated. They proceed to write how the vaccinations are packaged with several shots in one container, so that once a container is opened it will stay good for 24 hours or so.

Yeah, and the more you read the less scary the article becomes. They quote Merja Saarinen, an advisor for the health ministry, who explains that the vaccinations are good for a day and if properly stored a container can be used the next morning if it's opened in the afternoon, and that usually an opened pack is used that day. She even goes as far to say as that there shouldn't be many lost units of vaccination since the 24 hours is enough for next morning.

This normal for vaccinations. Sure, some stay longer, but nobody expects individually packaged shots when you are inoculating the whole population of a country.

It's just another example of writing about a popular topic with a headline that gets the most readers. This would be fine for the tabloids like Iltalehti but YLE should hold itself to a higher standard. The thing to do is keep reading these articles and try to figure out if they are they meant to scare people or is that just a by-product of a reader grabbing headline.

The linked article is just one example - its not the first, but lets see how many more pop up.
http://yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/2009/11/osa_h1n1-rokotteista_paatyy_roskakoriin_1142945.html?origin=rss

This Is Why You Do Not Want to Exaggerate

I'm just going to select a few choice bits from the most recent AP post about the Typhoon Lupit.

Cruel, erratic, baffling, frustrating, would ram, barreled on course, dangerous system.

Even though I've selected the words and taken them out of context they are a very descriptive selection. The whole article makes it seem the Typhoon could be a serious shock just after a huge one.

Would you like some reality instead?

Lupit is a tropical storm, downgraded from a typhoon. It's not going to slice trough Philippines like the article says, it's not barreling on course to anywhere since it's moving at 1 knot. It's sustained winds are 55 knots peaking at 70. That's still a 10 (of 12) on the Beaufort scale, but it wouldn't qualify as a hurricane.

Sure, there is now a storm headed for Philippines, but that's a serious swing and a miss for AP. Hrvoje Hranjski wrote it, but he should have checked his facts near publication too.

I kept wondering why Lupit didn't get any more attention in the news (while it still was a typhoon heading for Philippines,) and when someone finally wrote something we got this. Instead of say, reliable reporting.

Here is the article I'm talking about:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091023/ap_on_re_as/as_asia_storm

Here you can find the storm warning I used to check my facts:
http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/wp2209web.txt

A Nothing in the Kings' Valley

A Ticking Time Bomb in the Kings' Valley - approximately translated from our lovable YLE.

The news is that the original diggers left a time bomb in the Valley people are now trying to defuse. But let's start with the basics, who did what, when did it happen and how?

How? They dug to a fault line because the ground was easier to dig than solid bedrock.
Who? Ancient Egyptians.
When? Not stated, but studies have shown recently these are a problem.
What? Here the whole article crumbles much unlike a pyramid. The reporter writes that trough the burial chambers water can access the ground. That is all. That is f'in all. I'm no geologist, but I thought water could access the ground anyway. The article doesn't state how this might be a problem.

How water getting somewhere makes for a time bomb I do not know. And no, the pyramids are not in danger of collapsing, they would have said so. The author has no idea either. He or she does not even state the source, so the reader should accept the article is original YLE research. That is not the case, if it was, the author could explain things at a basic level.

It is obvious from the text the writer has no understanding of the issue and has either hastily translated the news from somewhere else or misunderstood an explanation overheard somewhere.

Perhaps they hope a catchy title is enough for a piece of news if the topic is even remotely interesting. They expect their readers to go "ooh" every time someone says "ancient Egyptians."

It's useless gutless reporting, and (in Finnish) can be found here:
http://yle.fi/uutiset/kulttuuri/2009/10/kuninkaiden_laaksossa_piilee_aikapommi_1093840.html?origin=rss

Misleading Titles Anyone?

Kauppalehti is a Finnish paper focused on financial news and articles which uses misleading headlines online to gather visitors to their site.

The most recent example is this article (again in Finnish, sorry) here:
http://www.kauppalehti.fi/5/i/talous/uutiset/etusivu/uutinen.jsp?oid=2009/10/26784

The title is freely translated "Bank: The stock market might crash again"

The article itself is based on a comment from Paul Achleitner, the financial director of Allianz who said that it's his solely personal opinion, that the financial market has moved faster than the economy has recovered. That is it. He says that Allianz is now careful at the stock market.

There is no immediate threat of a stock market crash. Allianz is mostly an insurance company anyway, but they do offer asset management.

The topic is misleading and created to draw traffic, intentionally so. Keep an eye out if you will, it's not the first time Kauppalehti exaggerates a headline to make it more interesting.

Satu Hirvelä is responsible for this turd.