IRIS Scoops the MSM on Sharon Medical Crisis

Yet again the blogosphere has run circles around the mainstream media (MSM) in terms of publishing accurate news information. On the three key elements of the Ariel Sharon medical story, the MSM took up to 80 times as long as IRIS.

15 minutes into the story, IRIS clearly stated:

1. The accurate medical truth of the situation (some likelihood of survival, but no chance of meaningful recovery)
2. The correct cause of the medical condition (stroke #2 was caused by the treatment of stroke #1 in terms of the aggressive anti-coagulation strategy)
3. The proper political conclusion (his political life has conclusively ended)

Apparently the first mention in the mainstream media for these items occurred after:

1. Almost 11 hours
2. 5.5 hours
3. A little more than 3 hours

Here is a summary of how much quicker IRIS was to publish these news items than the MSM:

News Item	IRIS Reported	MSM Reported	# of Times Longer
1. Medical Truth	15 minutes	10:47 hours	43
2. Medical Cause	15 minutes	5:30 hours	22
3. Political Conclusion	15 minutes	3:10 hours	13
4. Medical Cause in Headline	15 minutes	20 hours	80
5. Recognition of Allegations Link	6.5 hours	22.5 hours	3.5
6. Explanation for Negligent Care	19 hours	42 hours	2

Of course, I am being charitable in comparing IRIS's speed to the first MSM story. A more typical example of MSM reporting is the current lead story on Google News, Doctors: Sharon stroke caused by bleeding in the brain, which was posted on CNN one hour ago, 19 hours after IRIS reported the information contained in the headline.

Update (9 pm Israel): Points 1, 2 and 3 above were stated confidently in the headline of IRIS's original post. The first MSM stories to tell the medical story in the headline have appeared one hour ago (e.g. Sharon's Setback Blamed on Blood Thinners). Therefore I have updated the table above to show "4. Accurate medical assessment stated in the headline."

Update 2 (4 am Israel) The Jerusalem Post, echoing IRIS's neurologist commentary of 16 hours earlier, appears to be the first MSM source to suggest the possibility that the "recent reports of developments in the police investigations severely harmed his health." I am therefore adding this to the above table as "5. Recognition of the possible corruption allegations link (high blood pressure is a typical precipitator of brain hemmorrage in Sharon's condition)."

Update 3 (Jan. 8): Another scoop: Two days after describing in detail how a major element of Sharon's negligent treatment was ironically due to his VIP status, the first news story has appeared which echoes IRIS's analysis.

The neurologist said he believed Sharon was suffering from 'VIP syndrome', "that out of a desire to help a senior public figure physicians do things that might be unnecessary and may carry potential risks."

In the table above, I am therefore adding "6. Explanation for his negligent care (ironically due to his VIP status)"

Click here for complete IRIS Sharon coverage.