As a scientific/technical/medical communicator, clear, concise, accurate communication is important to me. I think about public health and education policy messages with respect to the data upon which they rest. Remember the mammogram recommendation controversy in 2009 – do we start at 40 or 50? I watched a UW lecture on that last night in my down time (scary, I know). So when I happened to catch a press conference today that did not uphold what I consider to be key tenets of credible communication, it gave me pause.

President Obama announced the troop withdrawal from Iraq is going to remain on schedule for Dec. 31, 2011.  Bush signed into the law the termination of US forces in Iraq during his term in 2008 – see attached status of forces agreement. This is not a “new policy” as stated by Obama in his press conference which I’m listening to now. See page 15, Article 24, #1: http://usiraq.procon.org/sourcefiles/SOFA-11-19-08.pdf

While all politicians engage in shaping news to their advantage, when they do so without appropriate context, it diminishes credibility. This agreement was jointly negotiated by the Bush administration with the Iraqi government, three years ago. However, President Obama several times indicated that he had developed a “new policy” to withdraw troops in 2011. If he were to actually have credited Bush’s policy upfront, and then gone on with his remarks as planned with respect to his determination to uphold this “new” policy, his message would have remained intact. His credibility would have been enhanced, not eroded. Not only did he forget to footnote a reference, he plagiarized policy. If this were a journal submission, it never would have made it past peer review.

Reference your sources. Ask questions, keep an open mind. Be discerning. Another election is around the corner.