Giving researchers the opportunity to check copy can be a recipe for disaster, too, though.
I've experienced this writing for European Commission magazines (on R&D projects, innovation policy etc.) through an intermediary contract publisher. The contract between the contract publisher and the Commission _requires_ that each piece be approved by the principal interviewee before it goes to press. Usually, there's no problem. But occasionally a Commission officer or a jobsworth of a researcher goes to town and rewrites the whole thing to their own liking. Needless to say, the resulting text is rarely publishable. And boy does that make for a challenge - trying to ease a scientist who thinks she can write down from her high horse.
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Ward
Sent: 08 January 2009 10:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Bad journalism or bad media relations?
I don't agree that this is the result of laziness by the journalist. All
of the science journalists I know, including Richard, are very
hardworking and conscientious, but have an almost impossible task of
covering their brief, without the added hazard of having to recognising
when a university press office has issued a release that misrepresents
the work of its own researchers.
I bet that the real problem here is that the individual(s) who wrote the
press release did not check it with the researchers before issuing it.
And if they did, then the researchers are equally culpable for the
mistakes.
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
-----Original Message-----
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Francis Sedgemore
Sent: 08 January 2009 10:44
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Bad journalism or bad media relations?
Press officers are PRs; some of them are scientists by background, but
the majority are not. The good ones - and in my experience there are
many - behave like journalists within their institutions. Their job is
to extract solid information from researchers and present this in a
form suitable for non-specialist audiences. The bad ones are cynical
creatures who go for immediate impact and bugger the consequences.
In this case what the Telegraph's Richard Alleyne has done is
churnalism, not journalism. Churnalism is often the result of
laziness, but frustration arising from uncooperative interviewees, and
editors demanding copy with menaces, can also lead to otherwise
diligent journalists rewriting press releases.
That Alleyne rearranged a Birmingham University press release does not
in any way absolve him when it comes to the content of his Telegraph
piece. As for the headline, this was almost certainly written by an
overworked and scientifically illiterate subeditor, not Richard Alleyne.
Francis
On 8 Jan 09, at 09:59, Bob Ward wrote:
> RealClimate
>
(http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/01/environmental-rep
> orters-ought-to-be-more-responsible-too/)
> and Ben Goldacre's Badscience blog
>
(http://www.badscience.net/2009/01/the-telegraph-misrepresent-a-scientis
> ts-work-on-climate-and-then-refuse-to-correct-it-when-he-writes-to-
> them/
> )
> have both been discussing the shortcomings of a recent article
> published by 'The Daily Telegraph':
>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/4061092/Green
> house-gases-could-have-caused-an-ice-age-claim-scientists.html
>
> Both blogs are fairly scathing about the quality of the journalism.
> Unfortunately, neither of the blogs acknowledged that the article is
> actually a pretty faithful reproduction of the press release issued by
> the University of Birmingham:
>
http://www.newscentre.bham.ac.uk/press/2009/01/Ice_Age_Press_Release_02_
> 01_09.shtml
>
> RealClimate has also attacked this article in 'The Independent':
>
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/changing-climate-devasta
> tes-uk-species-1212416.html
>
> Unfortunately, that too is a pretty accurate reflection of another
> press
> release, this time issued by the National Trust:
>
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-news/w-latest_news/w-new
> s-topsy-year-wildlife.htm
>
> In these cases, I think it is fair to say that the biggest failing of
> the journalists involved is that they did not recognize how poor the
> standards of media relations are in some of the UK's most reputable
> institutions.
>
> 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
>
>
> Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic
> communications disclaimer:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/secretariat/legal/disclaimer.htm
>
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