Archive for March 5th, 2008
The Tumor Rumor: Evolution Of A Headline
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008So, is Patrick Swayze going to be dead in a month?
Some sources say yes, and quite a few people are getting up in arms about it. Here’s one article on the subject, taken from TransWorldNews:
Patrick Swayze Diagnosed With Cancer, Five Weeks Left to Live
Patrick Swayze, best known for his role in Dirty Dancing, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told that he has just five weeks to live.
Swayze, 55, has been sick with the disease since he was diagnosed in late January with pancreatic cancer. The cancer has since spread to other organs and now the actor/dancer is dying.
For the past month, Swayze has been traveling to Stanford University’s prestigious cancer center in Palo Alto for radical chemotherapy, but his doctors are no longer optimistic that the treatments will be successful, according to the National Enquirer.
Swayze received three treatments of chemotherapy, causing the tumor to shrink, but less than his doctors had hoped for. He was then told that he should prepare for the end.
For more people news, please check out http://news.finditt.com/NewsList.aspx?cat=14&wcat=16
Note the source. Yup, that’s right, The National Enquirer. The same ‘newspaper’ that rose to fame by printing stories of celebrities getting raped by Sasquatch and giving birth to alien children.
The difference this time is that other news sources are picking this story up and giving it publicity. They’re treating the Enquirer as a credible source.
Since when is the National Enquirer a trusted news source? Is it becoming more credible on its own or are readers just getting dumber? Is this now a reliable source of news?
I suspect that the reports of his limited lifespan are being greatly exaggerated. It just pains me to see the National Enquirer taken seriously by other news sources that are supposed to be credible.
UPDATE: Fox News is now reporting this story citing the same sources. Apparently they’re using the Enquirer as a credible source as well. Here’s the link:
UPDATE: Celebrity gossip hound Perez Hilton is now reporting on his website that this story is in fact true. He claims someone representing Swayze released a statement confirming his illness.
I’m finding this so fascinating because it just shows the evolution of a headline story. By tomorrow this will be all over the news, if in fact the confirmation is true.
UPDATE: People.com has revealed that the rumors regarding the actor’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer are true, but his imminent demise is not. Here’s the statement from his doctor as reported by People:
“Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far,” Dr. George Fisher says in a statement. “All of the reports stating the time frame of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue. We are considerably more optimistic.”The actor’s rep adds: “Patrick is continuing his normal schedule during this time, which includes working on upcoming projects. The outpouring of support and concern he has already received from the public is deeply appreciated by Patrick and his family.”
And that, kids, is how the media works. I hope you enjoyed today’s foray into its inner workings. I guess the lesson here is this: Tabloids aren’t credible. They publish anything they can get in order for you to buy their publication. Thanks to some pretty resourceful folks on the internet, tomorrow’s issue of the National Enquirer which features the story of the Swayze’s battle for his life will sell far fewer copies as the truth has come out.
But don’t get me wrong here, I’m not trying to make light of Patrick Swayze or his condition. I actually like him as an actor, and have enjoyed many of his films. I hope he makes a full recovery. My purpose here was to use it as an example of how rumors spread because of the media. I was lucky to catch this one in its infancy stage, so I ran with it.
