Re: FW: News Media and How to Deceive

[Doug Wells <wells@physics.isu.edu>]

The major problems, as I see it, are two-fold.  First, few reporters have
significant scientific training.  One result of this is that "risks" of 1E-3
and 1E-9 are similar in the eyes of reporters.  It would help if publishers of
all types of media required that their reporters have some demonstrable
expertise in the area that they are writing about.

The second factor, probably more important than the first, is that the media is
in the business of making money (like everyone else).  This means, among other
things, that they can "sensationalize" stories (for the purpose of sales) only
to the extent that the public finds these stories believable.  Thus stories
about gardening, say, tend to be accurate because the public has first-hand
knowledge of this topic, while stories about science and technology are
routinely "full of baloney".  I think that the only way for technical folks to
circumvent this is to focus on science education.  In particular, the education
of children in grades K-12 is often done with lousy textbooks (locally chosen)
and teachers with little or no scientific education.  This may be a bitter pill
for scientists and engineers to swallow (because of the time involved), but I
don't think that we can ever count on the press to "fix" the problem.

Michael Mokrzycki wrote:

> I humbly submit that boycotting reporters would not be the most effective
> way to educate them and get your point of view across in the general media.
>
> Not to dismiss anyone's horror stories, but I know many reporters and
> editors who would not under any circumstance sacrifice truth and fairness
> to make a story more "newsy," and who are horrified by anyone who would.
>
> Heck, sometimes reporters even subscribe to lists like RADSAFE to try to
> learn something.
>
> My personal opinions only.
>
> Mike Mokrzycki
> Associated Press
> New York
>
> bobscottchp@juno.com (Robert A Scott) on 08/19/98 03:10:30 PM
>
> Please respond to radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
>
>
>
>  To:      Multiple recipients of list
>           <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
>
>  cc:      (bcc: Michael Mokrzycki/TheAP)
>
>
>
>  Subject: Re: Re[2]: FW: News Media and How to Deceive
>
>
>      WE ALL SHOULD SAY TO THE MEDIA, "NO INTERVIEWS."   NO MATTER WHAT
> THE HISTORY OF ONE REPORTER OR ONE EDITOR, WITH A POSITIVE REPORT, IF WE
> ALL BOYCOTTED THE MEDIA, AND MADE THAT KNOWN AS A POSITION, UNTIL THE
> MEDIA MEMBERS VOWED TO POLICE THEMSELVES ON ISSUES OF INTEGRITY (would
> that ever happen?  I doubt it), WE MIGHT MAKE A DENT IN THIS WALL OF
> OBFUSCATION.  BUT I SUSPECT IT WOULD BE WELL INTO THE LATTER HALF OF THE
> NEXT CENTURY BEFORE WE SAW RESULTS.  UNTIL THAT HAPPENS, WE WHO CONTINUE
> TO HOPE IN AN HONEST REPORT WILL HAVE A LOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNG WAIT.
> OTHER GROUPS PUBLISH THEIR OWN INFORMATION RATHER THAN RELYING ON THE
> NEWS MEDIA.  OR PERHAPS PAID INFORMATON IN THE NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES
> WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE.
>
> from Bob Scott
> Roger Williams Medical Center
> bobscottchp@juno.com
>
> On Tue, 18 Aug 1998 Ron L. Kathren writes:
>
> ............................  of the unethical and illegal release of
> names.  I guess what floors me in all this is that she was awarded a
> Pulitzer.
>
> But there is an important message in what Ruth says, and it has been
> butressed by my own experience: some but by no means all members of the
> media cannot be trusted to be objective and honest.  Regrettably, there
> is
> little that can be done to repair the damage that these irresponsible and
> unprofessional media persons have done.
>
> Ron Kathren
>
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