Re: Junk Science Junk Telecast

[BRIGGSP@Citadel.edu]

James Bradford Shue writes:
> Ray, I could not agree more!  I found myself talking to the TV saying,
> "But you were the catylist in promoting this 'bad science'".  Most of the
> stories weren't about scientists doing science, they were about
> non-scientists trying to do pseudo-science.  And the media, like ABC, were
> the ones to promote it and hype it up at the time it came out.  Where was
> this "critical eye" when they were hyping it?

John Stossel's companion article in the Wall Street Journal may clarify his
position a bit.  He admits that he spent his early career with the pack of
"junk science junkies" in the broadcast media.  He had a "conversion" several
years ago, and began digging deeper to get to the assumptions behind the
arguments.

His stories over the last several years (for his own specials and for ABC's
"20/20") have been critical of media laziness as well as the political
motivation behind "advocacy science."

I _did_ notice that he used some very 60 minutes-like ambush interviews in the
special last week, which seemed a little too much like the approach he was
trying to criticize.

All in all, Stossel seems to be one of a handfull of national journalists that
even bothers to asks questions of "experts" with an axe to grind.  Perhaps some
day every journalist will bother ...

Regards,	PRB

> --
> James Bradford Shue                             jshue@comp.uark.edu
> University of Arkansas                          Voice phone:(501) 575-6059
> Physics Lab/Demo Curator                        FAX Number: (501) 575-4580
> WWW Page					http://comp.uark.edu/~jshue

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