Archive for March 2010
So who gets access to embargoed studies, anyway?

Photo by B I R D via flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/greatwork/
Last week, a blogger who goes by GrrlScientist applied for access to embargoed materials from EurekAlert!, the the press release clearinghouse run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Within four minutes, she was denied.
GrrlScientist was angry, and in a blog post titled “Goddam, But I Hate Embargoes,” she spewed venom in a number of directions. She called the policy “stupid.” She had some choice words for the mainstream media, too, and wrote that “If a MSM reporter breaks embargo, their organization is almost never ‘punished’ by having their literature access revoked.” I’d have to take issue with that: See this example, this other one, and this third one all since Embargo Watch debuted in late February, and this one from 2007 that I referenced last week. (I should note that she later called this rant “mild by internet/blogosphere standards.”) Read the rest of this entry »
AHCJ wants medical societies to stop conference recording and photography bans

Feel free to use these at conferences, but don't dare use your camera or recorder. Photo by RogueSun Media via Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/shuttercat7/
If you’ve ever covered a medical meeting, you’ve had some version of the following experience: You’re sitting in a crowded presentation, scribbling as fast as you can in a notebook, or typing into a laptop, as a researcher runs through PowerPoint slides at breakneck speed.
If you’re at most conferences, you’ve got a safety net: Whip out your camera, and take pictures of the slides to check later, or record the presentation so you don’t miss anything. Or do both.
But if you’re covering one of at least four medical societies’ conferences [see update below], neither of those things is an option. That’s because they prohibit recording and photography. Read the rest of this entry »
About to post a story on a Nature study? Check that embargo time again
Most weeks of the year, the embargo for the print issue of Nature would be lifting right now — at 1 p.m. Eastern — and many websites and wire services would be full of stories reporting on Nature studies. Today, however, anyone who posts before 2 p.m. Eastern will be breaking an embargo.
That’s because while the U.S. sprang ahead into Daylight Savings Time early Sunday morning, the U.K. doesn’t do so until March 28, 11 days from now. Every year, there’s a two-week window when the usual five-hour time difference between London and New York is actually four hours. Read the rest of this entry »