FW: News Media and How to Deceive

["Charp, Paul" <pac4@cdc.gov>]

some of us might find this interesting - especially those of us who
interface with the media --
paul charp (pac4@cdc.gov)


> Primer on media tactics to deceive
> 
>                          Science and Environmental Policy Project,
> Fairfax, VA
>                                           August 9, 1998
> 
> 
> 
>      Nationally syndicated columnist Alston Chase gives a run-down of
> some of his more miserable experiences with
>      the environmental media. Here's his column. See our comments at
> the end. 
> 
>      Copyright 1998 THE WASHINGTON TIMES 
> 
>      "Primer on media tactics to deceive"
>      by Alston Chase
>      August 2, 1998
> 
>      I don't know about you, dear reader, but personally I'm not moved
> by the crocodile tears the national media are
>      shedding upon finding that some of their best and brightest are
> liars, cheaters, prevaricators, and
>      Munchhausen-sized exaggerators. 
> 
>      I refer to the orgy of self-flagellation over the rash of
> journalistic scandals. In recent weeks, the Boston Globe and
>      New Republic confessed to publishing articles fabricated, at
> least in part, by their writers. CNN and Time
>      conceded their Vietnam nerve gas story wasn't true. And the
> Cincinnati Enquirer retracted articles it had
>      published on Chiquita Brands International and agreed to pay the
> company millions of dollars to avoid a lawsuit. 
> 
>      Only ombudsmen for the industry could be surprised by these
> exposures. We readers know such inaccuracies
>      are daily occurrences. False and distorted reporting is so
> entrenched in the national news business it couldn't be
>      dislodged with an abalone knife. 
> 
>      And nowhere are these falsehoods more frequent than in
> environmental reporting. Here are a few of the tactics
>      used to deceive us, based on this writer's personal experience: 
> 
>      1. The pre-interview. The producer of a major television show
> calls to ask if the writer would appear on-air to
>      talk about global warming, but first she asks, "Do you believe
> it's a major threat?" When he answers 'No," she
>      replies, "We'll get back to you." 
> 
>      2. Peer pressure. A prominent op-ed writer for a major newspaper
> reads a book about mismanagement of the
>      national parks. She tells its author she's writing a rave review
> of his work. Two days later, she calls to say she
>      cannot praise the book after all, because her colleagues don't
> like it. 
> 
>      3. The editor's decree. A reporter is assigned to investigate
> mismanagment in the national parks. His editors, not
>      wishing to offend authorities, order him to "tilt" in favor of
> the government. When he refuses, they rewrite his
>      piece, thereby ignoring the evidence of scandal he has assembled.
> 
> 
>      4. The magazine's imagination. During Desert Storm, a magazine
> editor asks the writer to investigate
>      environmentalist predictions that burning Kuwaiti oil fields will
> darken skies, causing crop failures worldwide.
>      After consulting with the nation's top scientists, the writer
> reports to the editor that such a "petroleum autumn" is a
>      physical impossibility. Nevertheless, the magazine runs the scare
> story anyway. 
> 
>      5. The fact-check blues. Over time, the writer learns that
> publications never bother to check claims they already
>      believe are true and usually refuse to publish reports they think
> false, no matter how well verified. 
> 
>      6. The art of innuendo. The writer reaches middle age known only
> as a harmless sort who loves his wife and is
>      kind to animals. Then he makes the mistake of challenging
> environmentalist dogma. Suddenly, the national news
>      magazines are calling him "cantankerous," "a curmudgeon" and most
> hurtful of all, "a conservative." 
> 
>      7. The half-truth. The writer discovers that, according to
> weather balloon and satellite data, the Earth has been
>      cooling for 14 years. He waits for the national media to report
> these findings--and waits and waits. Likewise, he
>      searches in vain for balanced news reports about ozone depletion,
> species extinction, sport utility vehicles,
>      second-hand smoke, pesticides, nuclear waste and national parks. 
> 
>      What accounts for this free-fall of journalistic ethics? Many
> things, including: 
> 
>      A. Scientific ignorance. Polls indicate most journalists feel
> they do not have sufficient educational background to
>      fully comprehend the issues they report on. 
> 
>      B. Moral backsliding. In 1979, the Carnegie Foundation warned
> that most colleges and universities "had become
>      lax in punishing students for academic dishonesty" and, as a
> consequence, cheating on tests and papers "appears
>      to involve a substantial minority of undergraduates." Some of
> these cheaters are today reporters in mid-career. 
> 
>      C. The absence of accountability. Nothing very bad happens to
> news organizations caught misinforming the
>      public. 
> 
>      D. Reliance on government. Studies show that more than 40 percent
> of environmental news stories originate in
>      the press ofices of federal agencies. Journalists have become
> lazily reliant on these handouts and hence reluctant
>      to anger their sources by suggesting that entities such as the
> National Park Service and the Environmental
>      Protection Agency might have made mistakes. 
> 
>      E. Journalistic values. Since the Washington press corps relies
> so heavily on government sources for news, its
>      power and influence--and monopoly over information--increases in
> direct proportion to the degree that public
>      agencies grow. This affects journalistic attitudes. Hence,
> whether the issue be smoking, health care, presidential
>      security or speed limits, the media tilt in favor of bigger
> government. 
> 
>      Combined, these social trends have transformed the press
> establishment into a juggernaut that is ignorant,
>      unaccountable and without an ethical compass, and which always
> favors government power over individual
>      liberty. 
> 
>      And this makes it the greatest danger to democracy since Hitler's
> propaganda minister Josef Goebbels invented
>      the Big Lie.
> ______________________________________________________ 
> 
>      SEPP Comments: We can't attest to all of Mr. Chase's points, but
> we've certainly seen Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7. 
> 
>      #4: During Operation Desert Storm, Dr. S. Fred Singer debated
> Carl Sagan on the impact of the Kuwaiti oil fires
>      on ABC News "Nightline." Sagan said the smoke would loft into the
> upper atmosphere, disrupt the monsoons
>      and lead to ecological disaster. Singer said such a view was
> ridiculous, that the smoke would go up only a few
>      thousand feet and then rain out. Three days later, black rain
> began falling over Iran, which pretty much put an end
>      to the speculation. 
> 
>      #5: Time magazine--again and again. Time's letters editor
> recently rejected a letter from Congressman John
>      Peterson for pointing out the scientific fallacies in one of
> Time's global warming scare stories. The letters editor
>      said she'd circulated Peterson's letter to Time's science
> editors, then said it was the position of Time magazine
>      that global warming was real, and that they were not about to
> publish any letter that raised doubts about it. When
>      pressed by Peterson's chief of staff, she backpeddled slightly.
> Time would reconsider Peterson's letter--if he
>      footnoted it. 
> 
>      #6: "Greenhouse curmudgeon" is among the nicer things Singer's
> been called. 
> 
>      #7: Actually, it's more the government that peddles half truths.
> The press is to blame for not looking any farther
>      than the government press release. 
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