wow it is amazing how quicklt these thinkgs happen, I am a big fan of ben
goldacres, it is great to see what goes on behind the scene though. I set
up a website pulse-project.org for times like this, to allow the scientists
to have a forum to explain, without being edited or misrepresented.
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Francis Sedgemore [log in to unmask]
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 23:36:44 +0000
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Bad journalism or bad media relations?
Oh sweet lord have mercy! I've just read through the comments
following Ben Goldacre's blog post. It's like the Grauniad's Comment
is Free, only a little more focused. Some of these people have a
tendency to build up a head of steam over something or other, and then
reality goes flying out the window.
I do think it unwise to focus exclusively on the deficiencies of the
Birmingham press release, but on the Bad Science blog the PRs are
portrayed as entirely blameless, and Goldacre's followers are baying
for blood. Alleyne is in their eyes guilty of heinous crimes against
the information.
Ben has now accused me of "bullshit"...
http://sedgemore.com/2009/01/another-science-churnalism-row
I'm utterly amazed at how much some are reading into Alleyne's 172
words. This brief PSI-COM comment is 139 words in length, including
the final sentence and excluding the link.
Francis
On 8 Jan 09, at 15:57, Bob Ward wrote:
> I’m not sure that the “media guys were probably just doing their
> job”. I don’t think the throwaway line about sulphate aerosols on
> the Prof’s website really justifies its prominence in the release –
> if it was a robust conclusion then why wasn’t it in the ‘Science’
> paper? This has some similarities with other controversies, such as
> MMR – take a fairly innocuous paper published in a peer-reviewed
> journal, then sex the story up for the media by making some
> controversial claim in a press release/conference. Then blame
> journalists for reporting it.
>
> 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
>
--
Dr Francis Sedgemore
journalist and science writer
http://sedgemore.com
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