I warn my students about stories that are accurate but not true. Bret Stephens' anti-mask screed today is a good example of that — and what makes it accurate is a brief aside that he buries in order to cover his sorry ass. #journalism #covid My Media Nation post: https://dankennedy.net/2023/02/22/bret-stephens-wants-you-to-misunderstand-an-easily-misunderstood-report-on-masking/
@dankennedy_nu The reporting on this meta-analysis is absurdly sloppy. For instance, Tayag's article in the Atlantic says that it incorporated data from 78 masking studies. It only used 17 masking studies of masking (the bulk focused on hand-washing). This information is in the abstract of the Cochrane article -- which Tayag apparently did not read.
#journalism #covid #masking
@dankennedy_nu The studies used for each analysis are also listed clearly in two figures:
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/references#CD006207-fig-0005
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/references#CD006207-fig-0006
@DecaturNature @dankennedy_nu
Also from the Author’s conclusion section:
“The high risk of bias in the trials, variation in outcome measurement, and relatively low adherence with the interventions during the studies hampers drawing firm conclusions.”