Press officers are PRs; some of them are scientists by background, but
the majority are not. The good ones - and in my experience there are
many - behave like journalists within their institutions. Their job is
to extract solid information from researchers and present this in a
form suitable for non-specialist audiences. The bad ones are cynical
creatures who go for immediate impact and bugger the consequences.
In this case what the Telegraph's Richard Alleyne has done is
churnalism, not journalism. Churnalism is often the result of
laziness, but frustration arising from uncooperative interviewees, and
editors demanding copy with menaces, can also lead to otherwise
diligent journalists rewriting press releases.
That Alleyne rearranged a Birmingham University press release does not
in any way absolve him when it comes to the content of his Telegraph
piece. As for the headline, this was almost certainly written by an
overworked and scientifically illiterate subeditor, not Richard Alleyne.
Francis
On 8 Jan 09, at 09:59, Bob Ward wrote:
> RealClimate
> (http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/01/environmental-rep
> orters-ought-to-be-more-responsible-too/)
> and Ben Goldacre's Badscience blog
> (http://www.badscience.net/2009/01/the-telegraph-misrepresent-a-scientis
> ts-work-on-climate-and-then-refuse-to-correct-it-when-he-writes-to-
> them/
> )
> have both been discussing the shortcomings of a recent article
> published by 'The Daily Telegraph':
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/4061092/Green
> house-gases-could-have-caused-an-ice-age-claim-scientists.html
>
> Both blogs are fairly scathing about the quality of the journalism.
> Unfortunately, neither of the blogs acknowledged that the article is
> actually a pretty faithful reproduction of the press release issued by
> the University of Birmingham:
> http://www.newscentre.bham.ac.uk/press/2009/01/Ice_Age_Press_Release_02_
> 01_09.shtml
>
> RealClimate has also attacked this article in 'The Independent':
> http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/changing-climate-devasta
> tes-uk-species-1212416.html
>
> Unfortunately, that too is a pretty accurate reflection of another
> press
> release, this time issued by the National Trust:
> http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-news/w-latest_news/w-new
> s-topsy-year-wildlife.htm
>
> In these cases, I think it is fair to say that the biggest failing of
> the journalists involved is that they did not recognize how poor the
> standards of media relations are in some of the UK's most reputable
> institutions.
>
> Bob Ward
>
> Policy and Communications Director
> Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
> London School of Economics and Political Science
> Houghton Street
> London WC2A 2AE
>
> http://www.lse.ac.uk/grantham
>
> Tel. +44 (0) 20 7106 1236
> Mob. +44 (0) 7811 320346
>
>
> Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic
> communications disclaimer: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/secretariat/legal/disclaimer.htm
>
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--
Dr Francis Sedgemore
journalist and science writer
http://sedgemore.com
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