We’ve looked at Margaret Wente’s similar problems here and here.
Her column in today’s Globe not only borrows quotes, but in one case, appears to reproduce a whole paragraph - including another journalist’s introduction and connecting sentence.
A 2009 article by Helen Rumbelow in the Sunday Times quotes Michael Kramer of McGill. Rather than taking the trouble to contact him herself for some fresh observations (they are on the same side of the Atlantic, after all), Wente reproduces the two Kramer quotes along with Rumbelow’s introduction and linking observation, “the trouble is, he said, that the breastfeeding lobby is at war with the formula milk industry”.
Wente: One of the world’s most authoritative sources of breastfeeding research is Michael Kramer, professor of pediatrics at McGill University. “The public health breastfeeding promotion information is way out of date,” he says. The trouble is that the breastfeeding lobby is at war with the formula milk industry, and neither side is being very scientific. “When it becomes a crusade, people are not very rational.”
Rumbelow: …one of the world’s most authoritative sources of breastfeeding research: Michael Kramer, professor of paediatrics at McGill University, Montreal. “The public health breastfeeding promotion information is way out of date,” Kramer says. The trouble is, he said, that the breastfeeding lobby is at war with the formula milk industry, and “neither side is being very scientific ... when it becomes a crusade, people are not very rational.”
Another quote, and some language regarding Joan Wolf also appears to come from Rumbelow:
Wente: “The evidence to date suggests it probably doesn’t make much difference if you breastfeed,” says Joan Wolf, the author of a daring book called Is Breast Best? Ms. Wolf, an American academic, has examined the medical literature in detail.
Rumbelow: Joan Wolf is an American academic who… examines the medical studies in painstaking detail. “The evidence to date suggests it probably doesn’t make much difference if you breastfeed.”
And while Wente identifies the following quotes as something Wolf “told one group of moms”, the following exchange appears to come from an online Q & A with Wolf on the blog “Fearless Formula Feeders”.
Wente: “Breastfeeding is part of what I call total motherhood, the belief that mothers are both capable of and responsible for preventing any imaginable risk to their babies and children” she told one group of moms. “We are making mothers crazy by telling them that they have the power, if they are willing to put forth the effort and make sacrifices, to prevent all sorts of bad things from happening to their kids.”
Fearless Formula Feeder: Finally breastfeeding is part of what I call total motherhood, the belief that mothers are both capable of and responsible for preventing any imaginable risk to their babies and children…But we are making mothers crazy today by telling them that they have the power, if they are willing to put forth the effort and make sacrifices, to prevent all sorts of bad things from happening to their kids.
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Do they not pay Wente enough to gather her own material? Does she have to borrow not only from established journalists, but bloggers? Perhaps a little Wentism is in order. Can I say Margaret Wente is a lazy sloth? After all, she described Elizabeth May as a “hyperactive chipmunk”, ‘media spotlight hog’, and “biggest loser”. She didn’t offer much to back up that bit of name-calling. I searched the article in vain for a little bit of work - three, two, or even one reason why May is like a hyperactive chipmunk. The high priced, laconic contrarian could have at least done something with nuts. So (for free) we’ll close with three facts about sloths:
1) The coarse hair of the sloth grows in a direction opposite to that of other mammals.
2) While nominally a mammal, a sloth's fluctuating body temperature makes it seem cold-blooded, like a snake or reptile.
3) The sloth is so lazy it remains hanging from its perch long after it’s dead and has stopped writing anything interesting or original.
