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Title: It Ain't Necessarily So: How Media Make and Unmake the Scientific Picture of Reality by David Murray, Joel Schwartz, S. Robert Lichter ISBN: 0742510956 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Date: April, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.56
Rating: 3
Summary: Informative and instructional
Comment: There have been several books out lately about bias in the news, but they tend to focus on political bias. This book instead looks at the same concept--how news media have unwritten scripts that determine what is and what is not news, and how it is covered--but instead focuses on the reporting of research, both scientific and sociological. That's what makes this book worth reading even if you've read some others on media bias.
It was interesting to read about various reports on research, how seemingly conflicting reports came into being, how reports that are on the same topic would seem to get equal coverage but don't, how research with barely detectable results ends up being reported as earth-shattering discovery, and other such topics. The examples were informative, and the authors gave some tips on how to decipher what you read in the news...how to read between the lines, so to speak.
Some reviewers have dissed this book because the examples used are those which conservatives would find most satisfying to learn how media distorted research. Fortunately, most such reviewers have also acknowledged that the book is still worthy of reading due to the way it points out general methods for discerning accuracy in reporting. Still, I feel the "conservative bias" charge is unwarranted. Other books have documented well the powerful politically liberal scripts of mainstream news media; is it any surprise that there are so many examples of such bias in scientific reporting too? If news media carefully filter societal issues to only make their side look good, why would this not be done in reporting on research too? What I'm trying to say is, I am certain there are much more plentiful examples of this kind of thing for the conservative side. I would gladly welcome a book, though, that would reveal such shortcomings that would similarly satisfy liberals, for I simply want to know how things get distorted, whichever direction they get distorted.
My ranking of this book is a 3, which is "good" (see About Me for a complete description of my rating policy), meaning this is a book worth reading. Its weakness is that the authors' writing style is a bit dry and sometimes they repeat their point too much, making me mutter, "Okay, I get it already!" But these are minor drawbacks; the book is something consumers of news should definitely read.
Rating: 4
Summary: For victims of misleading media stories
Comment: Don't believe what you read in the popular press or hear on the media - that's the lesson affirmed by the authors. They review a gaggle of cases where the reportage of some issue or event was obviously filtered, through intent or incompetance, to fit the story the author wanted to state.
Rabid liberals who don't realize how far left the media has seemed to come will view this book as a subtle right-wing treatise. However, these are people who, like their reactionary counterparts, internally filter out anything that doesn't fit into their own paradigm, and they are better ignored. Nothing will help people who are too tilted in either direction, but this is not a reason to dismiss important work.
In all, this should be required reading for every newspaper and television reporter and editor and journalism student, not to mention every adult who wants to think independantly.
Rating: 5
Summary: Facinating information
Comment: Murray and co. do an excellent job of explaining how the results of scientic inquiry are reported in the mass media. The authors avoid the easy out of blaming things on politically motivated journalists, and take a more interesting path. Sometimes what we read in the press is the result of poor reporting; sometimes it's poor science; and, on occasion it may be the reflection of a writer's personal agenda. The book tells the kinds of errors that occur (confusing correlation with causation, poor sampling, etc.)
What makes the book compelling is the anecdotes used to make the points. The stories of contradictory reporting of scientific make for peculiarly amusing reading.
By understanding the types of reporting problems and their causes, people can be more intelligently skeptical about what they read or hear.
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Title: Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson by Kenneth R. Timmerman ISBN: 0895261650 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: 04 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response by Bernard Lewis ISBN: 0195144201 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization by Patrick J. Buchanan ISBN: 0312285485 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 12 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Burden of Bad Ideas by Heather Mac Donald ISBN: 1566633370 Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists by Joel Best ISBN: 0520219783 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 07 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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