Reporter checks sources’ responses for accuracy in controversial stem-cell story
Cassy Boyda, who suffers from septo-optic dysplasia, receives a stem-cell treatment in China, for which her family paid $32,300.
Mark Johnson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel does a thorough investigation of a Chinese company offering stem-cell treatments that aren’t available in the United States, questioning their effectiveness.
The story follows a Wisconsin family who paid $32,300 for the treatment to China, talks with experts that question the procedure and challenges assertions by the Chinese company, Beike Biotechnology, that markets the therapy.
He writes that the 370 American families who have visited Beike in the last two years “are entering a medical marketplace that turns human cells into a cash commodity and human hope into a sales pitch.”
Mark Johnson
Mark examines the improvement rates touted by the company and finds that the numbers don’t add
up. He also looks into the names of scientists supposedly associated with the company and learns that they aren’t.
Today’s Tip: Journalism isn’t stenography; always check it out.
When writing about a controversial topic, don’t feel that you have to be a moderator. Give all sides a chance to respond, then check their responses for accuracy. Once he did that, Mark distilled the answers down into a grid that lays out for five illnesses Beike’s claims and what experts in those conditions have to say about the company’s assertions.
