Media experts
Here’s the story: 10 disputed truths about GMOs, diet soda, food deserts and more – The Washington Post
Since the column’s purpose is to assess evidence and come to reasoned conclusions, that scares the bejeezus out of me, and finding ways to avoid my own rabbit holes has been my top priority. There’s no way I can succeed 100 percent, being human and all, but I figure a decent metric of success is whether I ever change my mind.
It’s not easy! I’ve changed my mind about subsidizing fruit and veg (no to yes), whether the Food and Drug Administration should regulate dietary supplements (yes to no), whether low-fat diets work for weight loss (I wrote a whole book about why they do, and it’s wrong), and a few other things.
She wrote a book she later concluded had the wrong conclusions. While it is good that she recognizes and accepts she made mistakes, it is important to consider why those mistakes may have occurred in the first place.
It might have been helpful if the author had formal training in the subject she writes about – food and nutrition. But she doesn’t – she has a BA in English from Cornell. Yet she is a “food, health and science” writer.
This is a key issue. Journalists are fundamentally story tellers and creative writers. Some where we developed this idea that “news” is authoritative and “the truth” – yet, in journalism textbooks’ own descriptions, the journalism is about telling a good story. 77% of journalists have a degree in arts or the humanities; very few have subject-specific training (the main exceptions are business/financial news, and meteorology). Yet many of those without STEM backgrounds have titles such as “Senior Climate Reporter and “Senior Science Reporter”. How does this make sense?
These story tellers lack the expertise to skeptically question experts or snake oil salesmen. This led to, for example, the media accepting myths promoted by Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos and ultimately becoming co-promoters of her deceit. Same with Sam Bankman-Fried who was also promoted by the media – both since convicted of fraud.
I have explored this topic in more depth here: Who Reports the News?