Thursday, August 03, 2006

He Said, She Said



This "balanced" approach to reporting on politics has another example from the NPR:

On the July 31 edition of National Public Radio's Morning Edition, reporter Jacqueline Froelich aired -- without challenge -- Arkansas Republican state Sen. Jim Holt's assertion that "there are thousands of studies, actually ... over 10,000" that show "the homosexual family or the environment is problematic for the child." Froelich aired Holt's remark during a report on the Arkansas Supreme Court's recent ruling that the state's regulation banning gays from becoming foster parents is unconstitutional. Froelich did not address Holt's dubious figure of 10,000 studies, which would be possible only if a new study reaching that conclusion had been released every day for the past 27 years. Froelich also failed to mention that numerous scientific studies, including research from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Psychological Association (APA), support the Arkansas Supreme Court's ruling.

Ok. Using the same model for reporting, what would the NPR do if it interviewed me about fungi and if I encouraged everybody to go out there to collect wild fungi as they are de-li-cious. Would they just report this with no comment?

I doubt it. Because my statement would be damaging to public health (there are poisonous fungi out in the woods). But isn't it at all important to address the possible falsity of other information?