http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/return-to-newshour-robert-macneil_b61812
"For the first time since his retirement as co-anchor in 1995, *Robert MacNeil <http://www.mediabistro.com/Robert-MacNeil-profile.html>* will report a major series for the *PBS NewsHour. *The six-part “Autism Now<http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/www.pbs.org/newshour/news/autism>” will start tomorrow. It’s described as “the most comprehensive look at the disorder and its impact that’s aired on American television in at least five years.” MacNeil has been prepping the series for more than one year. ”It grew out of the fact that I have a six year-old grandson, who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who’s on the autism spectrum,” MacNeil said in a preview chat <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiOwZ9NIcho> with *Hari Sreenivasan<http://www.mediabistro.com/Hari-Sreenivasan-profile.html> *. “When I see how it has impaired his development, and his physical well-being, and the impact it’s had on his family…I just felt I had to do something about that.” The series will be available online each day prior to airing during the broadcast. (link to the first 15' segment available at the link above)" ********************************************** It is great to see him back, but it will also be very interesting to see how he tells this story, given that he has such a personal connection to it. Autism is one of the most emotionally distressing disorders currently known, and the parental distress it causes has been gold mine for quacks and charlatans of various stripes. One of the most heart-breaking parts of it is that typically the children are very healthy and normal for the first year to 18 months, and then take a sudden and devastating U-turn. Subjectively it seems there must be some specific environmental cause responsible, and the human tendency to confuse correlation with causation, or to succumb to the myth of post hoc ergo propter hoc, is almost irresistible. But there is no evidence that autism is caused by vaccines (see for example: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/index.html) or food coloring or fluorescent lighting, even though these kinds of explanations are very seductive to parents. Clearly it is a complicated disorder, and we need to understand it better. It is more than just a neurological disorder of cognition and language - a large fraction of people with autism have gastro-intestinal problems, and maybe hearing problems, and sometimes those symptoms are not treated because they are attributed to some incurable aspects of the disorder. In this first episode MacNeil demonstrates again what a deft touch he has always had in reporting a story - letting his subjects (in this case mostly his daughter and granddaughter) tell their own stories, while gently asking the questions needed to draw them out. But will he have the heart to present some of the harsher facts that might break his daughter's heart? We shall see. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
