Newsweek Embarrasses Itself

"Wow, did Newsweek really print an article extolling the highly questionable ‘psychic’ healing  claims by Brazilian spirit medium John of God? And to make matters worse almost to the point of total insanity, did Newsweek really list the article in the Tech and Science Category? WTF! Has the world gone mad?"

Newsweek Shills for Accused charlatan “healer” ‘John of God’ 

John Oliver And Scientific Studies

The popular media needs a truckload of John Olivers.  What a bright light in the dark sea of media garbage.  This is must-viewing for all.

John Oliver discusses how and why media outlets so often report untrue or incomplete information as science.

Canadian Politics And Science

"This nine year travesty is an excellent reminder of how easy it is for oppressive policies to take hold. The desire to clamp down on information came from the top, and the vast army of bureaucrats fell into line. Formerly friendly and helpful media contacts were now pressed into service as part of an oppressive regime."

Pulling Back Canadian Censorship of Science

Religious People Are Less Smart But Atheists Are Psychopaths?

This is a good example of click-bait, shock journalism.  The study it is reporting seems valid, however, the headline is totally designed for sensationalism, not truth.  In addition, the author is not knowledgeable regarding atheists and atheism:   "Science should inform our ethical reasoning, but it cannot determine what is ethical or tell us how we should construct meaning and purpose in our lives."  And theism CAN????  Ah, no.

Science and religion are fighting it out in your brain, not just in a metaphorical sense, but in a real, physical altercation. 

The Age Of Click-Bait

"The internet and social media have rapidly revolutionized the way we communicate, find, and consume news. Large publishers able to maintain a significant infrastructure are no longer the gatekeepers of information. This has both positive and negative ramifications."

You have to be skeptical of everything you read online.

Even The Most Respected Science Journals Have Problems

 "A widely derided editorial, a controversial series of articles, and delayed corrections have prompted critics to question the direction of the New England Journal of Medicine."

A Venerated Medical Journal Finds Itself Under Attack

Statistics Are Easily Manipulated

"The bottom line is that humans are very bad at understanding probability. Everyone finds it difficult, even I do. We just have to get better at it. We need to learn to spot when we are being manipulated. Changing axes on a chart is one way, but there are many other subtle ways to do it."

A Cambridge professor on how to stop being so easily manipulated by misleading statistics

Bad Scientific Press Release Causes Cascade Of Bad Journalism

"This is one of the most complete journalistic fails reporting a science news item I have seen in a while. However, in this case it is the press release from HRL Laboratories that is largely to blame (not to suggest that the journalists are off the hook).

A press release is not a study

Good Science Journalism

"I have to admit something: Even if I’ve alienated friends and offended my mother, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d argue for evidence-based thinking over magical thinking every day, even when it’s unpopular."

Why reporting on health and science is a good way to lose friends and alienate people

Science Articles: Short, Easy To Understand, And To The Point Is Best

(The lower-right is religious apologetics and other pseudoscience.)

Beware Of Scientific Journals With Links To Industry

Beside the effect of corporate money on the election process, there is a problem with corporate interference with scientific publications.

Brokers of junk science?

Journalists: Do Your Job Well, Honestly And With Knowledge Of Science

"Government action is guided in part by public opinion. Public opinion is guided in part by perceptions of what experts think. But public opinion may — and often does — deviate from expert opinion, not simply, it seems, because the public refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of experts, but also because the public may not be able to tell where the majority of expert opinion lies."

Why People Are Confused About What Experts Really Think

Another Example Of Journalists Seeking Sensationalism Over Science?

"What happened in Flint starting in 2013 needlessly risked the health of thousands of people who deserve better, exposing anyone who drank tap water to poisonous lead that never should have been there. Of this, there is no question.

"But it also true that the health threat in Flint is being exaggerated. While plenty of questions remain about who is most at fault and who is most at risk, one thing is for sure: Flint residents of only a decade ago would have counted themselves lucky to suffer the lead “poisoning” rates plaguing the city today."

Flint lead crisis getting a tad overdone.

Journalists And Social Science

What journalists get wrong.

Journalists And Researchers Are Human

Houston, there is a problem with reporting the results of scientific research in respected scientific journals.

http://www.vox.com/2015/12/24/10636608/hype-science-increase-bmj

The Top 10 Science Websites Of 2015

http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2015/11/the_top_10_science_websites_of_2015.html

An Example Of Good Scientific Journalism

http://skeptoid.com/blog/2015/11/08/good-science-reporting/

The Ethics of Science Reporting

Everyone has the right to free speech, but no one has the right to be heard. Cover pseudoscience proponents only if they have a significant following.  Then, fully expose their pseudoscience and shame those in the media that promote them.

http://www.vox.com/2015/4/13/8385295/science-reporting-ethics

Science Journalism: Fire, Ready, Aim

"What is most disappointing, as usual, is that the mainstream media generally failed to properly report this story. This is a speculative paper, and honestly is not even worth reporting to the public as a news item. The bottom line, expressed in the headline, is highly misleading, and is not a finding of this paper. This type of speculative research should be relegated to the technical literature, or at best popular science magazines where the nerdy details can be explained thoroughly and the paper put in its proper context."

A problem with science journalism is the temptation to "fire, ready, aim" in the reporting of new findings.

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/titius-bode-law-and-exoplanets/

Journalists Should Be Knowledgeable In Scientific Methods

Journalists need to really understand  scientific methods before reporting major breakthroughs that seem to contradict known science.

https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/how-to-fool-the-world-with-bad-science-7a9318dd1ae6