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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Responsible Journalism? Responsible Science?

 
The headlines in both Toronto papers were exciting. Anyone glancing at the papers would think that a major breakthrough in fighting autism was just on the horizon. The truth is that one small step has been taken toward identifying a possible genetic component to autism.

This is not responsible journalism. More importantly, it is not responsible science. The press releases should be much more cautious about the actual result and its significance. It the scientists themselves hype the result then we can't fault the journalists.

1 comment :

Steve LaBonne said...

"It the scientists themselves hype the result then we can't fault the journalists." I think we have to include the university (and sometimes, granting agency) PR people as part of the problem too.