Part II Seed Media's "Science"Blogs: A 180 Degree Shift in Reporting

Part I, "Science"Blogs: Seed Media's Aggressive Weed is HERE.

By Jake Crosby

In spite of Seed Media Group and subsequently “Science”Blogs’ obvious ties to the drug industry and its stance on the autism-vaccine controversy as a result, many questions remain unanswered. Such as, are there any posts that are actually critical of the drug industry? If so, what is the penalty for blogging unfavorably about drugs such as vaccines? What is the Blog’s connection to other online sources tied to pharma? What are the connections of the top people at Seed Media Group, including Adam Bly? And last but not least, has Seed Media ever represented this controversy even-handedly?

SEED: A Fair Magazine Once Upon A Time?

 The short answer to that question is yes. Though Seed Media Group is clearly not without conflicts of interest; SEED Magazine to its credit did publish a 12-page cover story critical of thimerosal in vaccines called “The Rise Against Mercury,” by psychologist Dr. Sarah Bridges in 2004, the year before SMG was created. (HERE) The story included photos of Mark and David Geier, the only two outside researchers ever allowed any kind of access to the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink. The article was written by the mother of a son who suffers from seizures, mental retardation, and autism as a result of his DPT vaccine, and who is one of 1800 recognized by vaccine court as vaccine-damaged. In an email exchange with me, she suggested Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had some involvement with the magazine publishing the article. Ironically, RFK Jr. is now regularly bashed on “Science”Blogs as an “anti-vaccine crank.” But I was curious. So I sent a letter in the mail to Adam Bly because he does not post his own email address online. I asked what the reason was for Seed’s 180-degree shift in its coverage of the controversy, especially with the launching of “Science”Blogs. I referred him to the story his magazine ran five years ago, but Adam Bly did not reply.

Censorship at Work

That was the first and last article to run in a Seed publication, be it online or in print, that suggested a vaccine-autism connection even-handedly. What gained front-page coverage then, would be met with censorship by Seed today. On the German-speaking “Science”Blogs, co-managed by Seed Media Group and Hubert Burda Media, censorship is exactly what happened to Austrian journalist, author and documentary filmmaker Bert Ehgartner. He had been blogging for the German “Science”Blogs from August until December of 2008 when an entry by him stirred up a firestorm. The thread title was “"Aluminium muss raus aus Impfstoffen!"” which translates to “Aluminum must be eliminated from vaccines!” It featured an interview between Ehgartner and a vaccine safety researcher, Dr. Klaus Hartmann, who criticized the presence of aluminum salts in the HPV vaccine, and its inadequate safety trials. This quickly prompted a full-flung attack from the bloggers and readers of the US “Science”Blogs, calling Ehgartner an “anti-vaccinationist.”