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Re: [Phys-l] journalism



Why? I suppose it's the same reason our local weather forcaster never
actually gives the weather forcast until close to the end of the program.
Instead, he gives teasers all the way through. News is no longer news, it's
entertainment - I suppose that even extends to the print media now.

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
[mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of John Denker
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:03 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] journalism

On 01/23/2011 01:09 PM, chuck britton wrote:

A ten inch rise since 2004 might seem significant to some geologists??

Significant? Yes.

News? No.

The nearest the data comes to being news is that the upward
motion has greatly decelerated and probably turned around ...
and even that isn't really news, since it is consistent with
the longstanding pattern.

And that's the first half of my point: The actual factual facts
are significant, and quite interesting! Why oh why did they feel
the need to hype the story by sticking a bogus hook on it?

=============================

And the other half of my point is illustrated by the following,
from a "discussion" of the article:

<Some areas have risen 5-7 inches in the last two months... Fissures
along river beds from the volcano may be venting gases and are seen
as a possible cause of the massive increase in fish, animal and bird
deaths on the Continental 48 states.>

http://forums.hannity.com/showthread.php?t=2176381

I did *not* select the data. I just now googled for _yellowstone breath_
and this is what came up. This and 300,000 more.
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