[X] My Assistant

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

The excuse I've heard most often from mainstream media (MSM) science reporters explaining why science is generally reported poorly (if at all) in the MSM is some variation of the topic title. In other words, "blame the editor, not me." I've always taken that to mean something like, "I wrote something really good but my stupid editor shredded it."

However, K.C. Cole, a former science writer for the Los Angeles Times, has the opposite take on it, one that I've never really thought about, namely that editors are too smart. I'm not sure I'm ready to buy that premise but her article ("Weird Science - Why editors must dare to be dumb") in the May/June 2006 issue of Columbia Journalism Review is pretty interesting and makes some good points.

This post has been edited by AlexBlackwell: Jul 18 2006, 11:56 PM