Blind Balance...

Themis Goddess of Justice - bronze sculpture, Goddess of Justice, Law and Equity - RoyalDecorations.fr

Justice

That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we black are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.

Langston Hughes

I was saddened that names I respect as credible authorities - Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN and PBS News Hour could so botch reporting on cancer cures and climate change. I recall seeing the "possible cure for cancer" on CNN, which put me in a rather melancholy mood: my father died of lung cancer in 1999; my mother had been a smoker and at one time and a breast cancer survivor. She passed in 2009.

There is a false balance, or as I refer to "blind balance" in the news we digest from so many different sources: television, talk radio, the Internet; You Tube. Anyone with a laptop can post a video questioning the history of the moon landing, and get a following whether they were physically on the planet to witness the event or not. Without judge, panel or jury, "everything on the Internet must be true" including cancer cures, climate change deniers, teaching the controversy on evolution and the earth only being around six millennia old. Meanwhile, back at the ranch of global competition, countries that score higher than us in STEM obviously don't consider such delusional machinations.

This is me typing: You can choose to believe it our not, as this particular post is only my humble opinion. However, when I see someones research I find interesting, I post excerpts of the article or abstract in italics differentiating the originator from my commentary (if any). I only post if I have the originator's permission, avoid it if some written instruction prohibits it. Usually at the end of the post, I provide a link to further review if the blog reader's interested. I give credit and links to photos and their origins.

"Fair and Balanced" is in the lexicon, yet we can blithely ignore statistics (or facts) we don't like; science that may put in question our worldviews creating our own realities in the process.

The Internet has made that consumption instantaneous, thus the Fourth Estate is reduced to tabloid journalism, embedded reporters and ratings wars. Facebook and Twitter feeds are scrolled during presented news; in many cases that is the news! The immediate gratification of seeing one's "handle" on the flat screen is probably a rush for some, however Letters to the Editor have to stay within a certain word count, have a subject, make your point to an editorial board. When the National Enquire can break John Edward's affair with Reille Hunter before any legitimate news outlet, we know we've gone past the Rubicon.

I hang my head sadly that the word "shoddy" should become associated with any media coverage on science.

Columbia Journalism Review: Shoddy TV science coverage