6. In an apparent nod to Hurricane Sandy, they say heroin has “washed over” Staten Island.
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Replying to @davidminpdx
7. The reporters further describe heroin use as a “scourge” and a “blight."
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Replying to @davidminpdx
8. They say that, like a cancer, it can "metastasize," "ruin" lives, and "poison[]" a whole "neighborhood."
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Replying to @davidminpdx
9. In one moment of obvious hyperbole, the reporters uncritically paraphrase a source who asserts that on S.I. heroin is "everywhere."
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Replying to @davidminpdx
10. The reporters also uncritically paraphrase unnamed “elected officials” who characterize heroin’s “hold” on S.I. as an “epidemic.”
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Replying to @davidminpdx
11. The reporters offer no data with which readers might assess whether heroin use really is an “epidemic” worthy of such inflated rhetoric
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Replying to @davidminpdx
12. Other media outlets have specifically rejected this characterization of heroin use and criticized such rhetoric as hyperbolic
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Replying to @davidminpdx
13. For example, when Sen. Grassley recently characterized heroin use as an “epidemic,”
@MarshallProj challenged that characterization.1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @davidminpdx
14. In response to Grassley,
@MarshallProj wrote: "federal data on heroin use does not support those claims." https://www.themarshallproject.org/2014/11/17/right-and-left-unite-on-drug-sentencing-what-could-possibly-go-wrong …1 reply 1 retweet 1 like -
Replying to @davidminpdx
15. Similarly,
@mtracey of@vicenews has challenged "epidemic" frame as “imprecise,” "dubious" and "hysteric[al]"http://www.vice.com/read/america-is-really-freaking-out-about-heroin-use-now …2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
@davidminbklyn Thanks for bringing the NYT article to my attention, I will read later.
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