Videos have now been posted of four keynote speakers at Science Writing in the Age of Denial, an NASW-sponsored event April 23-24 in Madison. Wisc. The videos feature Arthur Lupia: "Communicating Science in Politicized Environments;" Sean B. Carroll: "The Denial of Evolution, and the Evolution of Denial: We Have All Been Here Before;" Gary Schwitzer: "Cheerleading, Shibboleths and Uncertainty;" and Naomi Oreskes: "Neoliberalism and the Denial of Global Warming."
Science writing news
Tomorrow is Independence Day in the U.S. but it's Higgs Day in the physics world. At 9 a.m. Geneva time (3 a.m. EDT), CERN will unveil its latest results; AP reports CERN will say the Higgs "almost certainly does exist," but hasn't yet been "discovered." For background, watch this BBC program. Also see these posts on Quantum Diaries. Plus, Adam Mann on why a Higgs confirmation could ruin physics.
It's largely a matter of asking the right questions, according to this excerpt from the new Data Journalism Handbook. An example: Are there lurking variables in a study linking tea consumption to better health? "In most countries, tea is a beverage for the health-conscious upper classes. If researchers don’t control for lifestyle factors in tea studies, they tell us nothing more than 'rich people are healthier — and they probably drink tea.'"
"As a young journalist I thought that stories were simply what happened. As a screenwriter I realized that we create stories by imposing narrative on the events that happen around us." That's Nora Ephron in "Telling True Stories," quoted on Nieman Storyboard three days after her death. For a longer read on Ephron, see Tom Junod's Esquire essay on what her evolution from journalist to screenwriter and director meant to fellow magazine writers.
As readers of this column likely experience on a regular basis, the way other people perceive our work can be quite context dependent. We are particularly sensitive to contextual variables like scientific literacy level and socioeconomic background in our audience. From the Spring 2012 ScienceWriters.
CNN and Fox News declare Obamacare unconstitutional. But the US Supreme Court says the Affordable Care Act is constitutional after all, flabbergasting many. Prognostication's sorry record. The taxing politics of Obamacare; will people pay the penalty rather than buy medical insurance? Now it's up to the states, and some of them will decline to expand Medicaid. The law's impact on medical research is likely to generate ideas for science and medical writers. And in other news, more Higgs boson
Jeremy Blachman expands on the recent "self-plagiarism" controversy in a BarnesandNobleReview.com post, which may or may not include material similar to other posts, elsewhere, from some earlier time in the universe. Blachman apologizes for any duplication of material, and the lack of duplication in cases where there is none, as well as whatever happened to the copier, the intern, and an editor's lunch that was in the refrigerator. Also something about an Irish Setter.
It's been a bad week for CBS News. Now, former NASW President Deborah Blum takes issue with a post about cattle poisoned by genetically-modified Bermuda grass: "The problem was that the story was only partly right," Blum writes on the Knight Science Journalism Tracker. "The grass, called Tifton 85, was producing cyanide (more about that later). But it was not genetically-modified grass." CBS later posted a correction attributing the gaffe to a local Texas TV affiliate.
Linda Furlini takes aim at a credulous CBS report on a new Alzheimer’s disease test. In a guest post on Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview.org site, Furlini accuses CBS of overselling the test, thereby abetting the drug industry: "Alzheimer’s disease is complex, but it is in the pharmaceutical industry’s interest to oversimplify it. Clearly, the test reported on by CBS demonstrates medical progress. But, it should have seriously questioned the value of the test."