If it's news, it may not be good science

Tom Siegfried examines how journalism's ingrained definitions of what makes a big news story can lead reporters to write about studies that are anything but sound science: "Many of the criteria that confer newsworthiness on a scientific report tend to skew coverage toward results that are unlikely to stand up to future scrutiny. Journalists like to write stories about findings that are 'contrary to previous belief,' for instance. But such findings are often bogus."

October 30, 2014

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