NeuroLogica Blog: Dowsing for Journalists October 10, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , trackbackDo journalists have a responsibility to educate people about science? Clearly they do, says Steven Novella, writing about a New York Times feature about dowsing:
“[E]very now and then I run across a piece of journalism at a major outlet that is so horrific I have to comment.
Yesterday in the New York Times, Jesse McKinley published a terrible piece about dowsing that was virtually devoid of any useful information. […]
McKinley missed the real story here. He could have taught his readers about the need for controlled observations, the potential for self-deception, and the nature of the ideomotor effect. […]
…any such story, even if the topic itself is not consequential, is an opportunity to either educate the public about science and critical thinking or to confuse them. It doesn’t really matter what the topic is if the reader walks away less critical and more confused about science in general.”
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