More Junk Journalism about Cloning
I could spend all of my time here at Secondhand Smoke illustrating how media refuses to report stories about biotechnology accurately. But that would get old and there are many other things to write about. But this story is just too much: The AP has produced a story, byline Sam Hananel, that makes the following false claim in a story about how a proposed Missouri initiative to legalize ESCR (actually therapeutic cloning) has divided Republicans:
"Sen. Jim Talent, who faces a strong challenge in November from Democratic state auditor Claire McCaskill, has declined to take a stand on the measure. But he has co-sponsored a Senate bill to ban embryonic stem cell research and impose a million-dollar fine and 10-year jail sentence on violators." (My emphasis.)
The story is referring to the Brownback/Landrieu Bill that would outlaw ALL HUMAN CLONING, NOT EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH. The House version has passed twice by large, bipartisan margins (which, of course, goes unreported). It is SILENT about using leftover embryos or creating new ones through fertilization for that purpose. The distinction is real. Indeed, there has never been an attempt at the federal level to outlaw embryonic stem cell research. But the media don't care. You can point out their continual misreporting to journalists on this beat until you are blue in the face, and they just refuse to report it right.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 8:21 AM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Why does the major media insist on getting everything always wrong when it comes to these life issues? I try to be charitable about judging people's motives etc etc and I certainly don't go the conspiracies route, either, but sometimes one has to ask whether most journalists have any respect at all for truth.
It is my experience that, in biotech, media can't get past the "pro lifers." That is all they see and since they disdain these people, their assertions just have to be wrong. Thus, a reporter might write about SCNT, "...which some claim is human cloning," without regard to the science. This also makes them vulnerable to spin by the science propagandists, to the point that it seems as if media just cut and paste. In other words, you will never see a report stating about SCNT, "...which some claim is not human cloning." Thanks for writing.
Laziness and prejudice in combination is a powerfully sopoforic, indeed.
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