It's always funny when two publications feud over a story, but in the case of drugs things can get extremely petty:
Another pointless brouhaha about drugs has erupted, this time between Wired magazine, the New York Times, and a reporter's blog...
Reporter Mat Honan... created a table of eight drugs which affect your thinking for last month's Wired — seven prescription or over-the-counter drugs, plus methamphetamine. And that's when the tabloid-esque headlines started.
"Is Wired Pushing Illegal Drug Use?" read one headline, linking to a New York Times article by reporter Lia Miller. In the Times' "Media and Advertising" section, she'd asked disingenuously "does Wired magazine really mean to promote drugs?" calling their eight-drug table "somewhat disarming."
First of all, the idea that Wired promotes drug use goes way beyond this chart. Their name is 'Wired', remember? Secondly, the 'cognitive enhancement' story of students using drugs to boost performance has hit many major outlets (Time, NPR, Guardian, local news, etc.) and the NYT has no problem with these. This is because corporate publications and radio shows never mention meth in their reports, only Adderall, Ritalin, and other corporate prescription drugs. Wired puts meth in the same category as these patent amphetamines and NYT throws a fit and says Wired promotes illegal drug use. Anyone else see the hypocrisy and corporate protectionism here?
Thanks to Lou Cabron for sending this our way. Check the story for links to all the articles.
