I have been reading this quietly waiting for a moment to talk. I
really admire Ben Goldacre. He is pedantic but i mean that as a
compliment. I love science, I think it is important as a teacher i
spend a lot of time trying to explain to my students that the papers
can make mistakes. Scientist didn't prove this or that. I sent them to
bad science to learn the problems with media. Ben shouted at me for
using the word podcasting when i am not using an rss feed to send the
audio to his handheld device of choice to listen to. I respect him a
lot for what he does. Science journalism should be better. What is
scientists get lazy. Read a memo from their supervisor and just trust
it to be true. As an undergraduate I used to get so annoyed when i
would read something in the papers relating to psychology that was
just pure nonsense. Scientists are misrepresented, people sometimes
want a quick answer and that is not the job of science. Ben Goldacre
does a good job, we need the journalists to be like him. The press
release writers to be weary of him and the other bloggers of science
out there. Keep up the good work.
Colin Murphy
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On 22 Mar 2009, at 20:28, David M Wolfe wrote:
> Having never posted on this site before I add my comment with some
> trepidation. But, as a (retired) practicing scientist who has lived
> in the UK for the past decade I think Ben Goldacre is a hero of the
> first order. He is the reason I fork out my £1.60 every Saturday (I
> pay rather than read on the web just for his sake). He exposes
> fools, charlatans, and the lazy. What has surprised me the most
> about the discussion is the statement that science journalists are
> too busy to do their job properly. What rubbish! Let them make way
> for someone who can do the job then. Whatever happened to my old
> grandmother's adage, if something is worth doing it's worth doing
> well!
>
> Anyway, Bravo Dr Goldacre. Keep up the good work.
> David
>
>
>
> David Wolfe
> Professor of Physics Emeritus
> University of New Mexico
>
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