> "It's well known that..." = I just made it up.
>
> Apart from that, the sentiment is more true than it was but still
> displays a lack of understanding of how the media operate.
>
> Fewer writers attend small meetings, but for some of us they are the
> best place to go for real news.
>
> While the "Fleet Street" pack sits before terminals awaiting the next
> press release from Science, the "investigative" of us go to small
> meetings. Indeed, you can skip that stage completely by going to talk to
> researchers in their labs. Believe it or not, they will talk to you
> about work in progress.
>
> That is because we are gradually removing the old attitude, albeit not
> completely given messages that appear here, that scientists are exulted
> beings who hand down their findings from on high for the rest of us to
> wonder at.
>
> Someone said that they want to show people how science works. I have a
> feeling that they were talking about their idealised model rather than
> real life. In real life they come up with mad ideas, bounce them around
> their mates, publish some speculative papers and see how they fly. If
> the research doesn't stick they move on to something else. (Anyone
> remember Fred Hoyle's theories of cosmology?)
>
> Of course, knowledgeable observers realise that only the brain dead
> researcher does not come up with mad ideas. That is what science is all
> about, "pushing the envelope" in business speak. The rest is filling in
> gaps, or stamp collecting as I dub it. The fact that more than 90 per
> cent of the stuff we see falls into this category does not mean that
> writers should ignore the rest.
>
We seem to agree on everything except whether you could do better. If the
media operate in a shoddy way, which is not news to anyone, then pressure
needs to be brought or new markets found. You defend the way you operate
by saying thats how you operate.
Clyde
-------------------------------------------
Clyde Francks B.A. D.Phil.
The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
University of Oxford
Roosevelt Drive
Oxford OX3 7BN
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1865 287509
Email: [log in to unmask]
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