I have always thought that there should be “science critics”,
but it is hard to see how such an animal might slot into a newspaper.
The nearest writers who might come to it are people like Simon Jenkins,
who seems to hate science and everything that happens under its name, but whose
ignorance does not prevent them from writing about it, or George Monbiot, who,
albeit with more knowledge, is similarly hobbled by his partisan line.
There are other columnists who dabble in science, in much the
same way that Ben Goldacre is a columnist rather than a journalist, but they
rarely venture into science.
_______________________________
Michael Kenward OBE
Have words will travel
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wendy Barnaby
Sent: 07 September 2010 11:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PSCI-COM] Sci com's Billington
At
the last meeting of the editorial committee of "People &
Science", we tried to think of someone who has the same relationship to
science communication as Malcolm Billington (Guardian theatre critic) has to
the theatre. Any ideas? I'd discount Ben Goldacre as being too much
a one-drum critic. We were trying to think of someone who knows the
scene, doesn't actually do it, but engages with it and criticises and
praises as s/he thinks fit.
Someone
at the table suggested that, until a field can name that sort of person, it
hasn't really come of age.
Wendy
Barnaby
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