As a member of the advisory board of the SMC, I should point out that this article has also been heavily criticised elsewhere for containing a number of flaws, not the least of which is that the author did not speak to any journalists who actually use the SMC ie the science correspondents of the UK national media.
I completely reject the allegation that the SMC is pushing a 'corporate science' agenda. The staff of the SMC report to its trustees and its advisory board, which includes a number of senior journalists, so the idea that we are all complicit in a 'corporate PR' strategy is rather ridiculous. The overwhelming majority of scientists who use the SMC are university researchers, not companies.
Equally ridiculous are the feeble examples cited as supposed proof in this article. For instance, it includes criticism of the SMC because it could not find any scientist who would offer a quote in support of an anti-GM paper. The paper had obvious flaws and was eventually retracted by the journal that published it.
There is a value in debating the contribution of SMCs to the communication of science, but this article provides a poor basis for such a discussion.
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
UK
WC2A 2AE
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7107 5413
Mob. +44 (0) 7811 320346
Web: http://www.lse.ac.uk/grantham
Twitter: @ret_ward
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Mico Tatalovic
Sent: 20 May 2014 22:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PSCI-COM] UK's Science Media Centre lambasted for pushing corporate science
This article has inspired an interesting debate on the values and worth of the Science Media Centre to science journalism: is it also relevant to the wider the scicom community?
Academics call for more critical journalism and public interest
in science media centres.
http://www.scidev.net/global/journalism/feature/uk-s-science-media-centre-lambasted-for-pushing-corporate-science.html
Mićo Tatalović, BA (Oxon), MPhil (Cantab), MSc & DIC (Imperial)
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