Bad Journalism
MIDTERM EXAM
Question from Last Year’s Final
In 1995, the terrorist
group Aum Shinrikyo
released deadly sarin
nerve-gas in the subways
of Tokyo. 13 people died,
50 were injured, and
thousands of others
suffered health problems.
Question from Last Year’s Final
While many people suffered real symptoms
caused by sarin, hospitals were flooded with
patients suffering from the highly publicized
potential symptoms, like nausea and dizziness,
who had not, it turned out, been exposed to the
sarin.
Question from Last Year’s Final
Based on the information that we learned in
class, what is the most likely explanation of why
people who had not been exposed to the deadly
nerve gas still felt the symptoms of it?
Possible Answer
People’s beliefs affect how they feel. Even if you
have not been exposed to nerve gas, if you
believe you have been exposed, then you are
more likely to feel negative symptoms.
Optional Things to Say
• This is like the example of MSG that we talked
about in class. People experience negative
symptoms when they believe they are allergic
to MSG, even though MSG is harmless.
• This is called the “nocebo effect.”
• This is similar to the placebo effect, where
people experience positive effects after being
given inactive treatments they believe will
make them better.
Midterm Exam
•
•
•
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10 questions total
10 marks each
Closed note exam
No electronic devices allowed
HW2
Stress and Headaches
“In the study, researchers
followed more than 5,000
participants in Germany
for two years and found
that the greater the stress
in a person's life, the more
intense and frequent their
headaches were.”
Stress and Headaches
“Participants were
contacted four times
yearly and were asked
how many headaches
they'd had in the previous
three months. They also
rated their stress level on
a scale of zero to 100,
following a wellestablished protocol for
stress measurement.”
Cohort Studies
A causes B?
The researchers’ explanation was:
“The study results imply that, while headache
medicine can help mitigate the pain, reducing
stress can prevent headaches from even
happening, the researchers said.”
This is only true if stress causes headaches.
B causes A?
It’s possible that headaches cause stress, and
that that is the source of the correlation
between stress and headaches.
For example, headaches distract you, and make
it difficult to concentrate and work. Falling
behind in your work can make you stressed out,
and worried about your job.
Notice the Difference!
If headaches cause stress,
the lowering your stress
level will not solve your
headache problem. Then
this would be BAD advice:
BAD Advice
“Chronic headache
sufferers might consider
reaching for the yoga mat
before they go for the
aspirin. The variety of
stress-relieving activities
likely outnumbers the
types of painkillers on the
pharmacy shelves.”
GOOD Advice
If headaches cause stress,
then taking pain
medication might be a
good way to make your
stress go away!
Common Cause Explanation
There are also possible common cause
explanations: for example: difficult jobs.
Headaches
↑
Difficult job with long hours
↓
Stress
Common Cause
The brain uses more
energy than any other
human organ: 20% of our
total calories burned are
burned by the brain!
Common Cause
If we use our brain too
much, for example, if we
have difficult jobs with
long hours, the extra
effort might cause our
heads to hurt.
Common Cause
Additionally, a difficult job
with long hours may have
emotional effects: it may
cause us to be stressed
out.
Notice the Difference!
If difficult jobs with long hours are responsible
for both stress and headaches, then none of the
previous advice will be any good:
Reducing stress will not reduce headaches and
reducing headaches will not reduce stress.
BAD Advice
GOOD Advice
Of course, if we can’t quit our jobs, we might
have to treat the symptoms and not the causes!
GOOD Advice


Bad Journalism
Newspapers love news stories that blame new
technology. Old people love newspapers, but
they hate new things they don’t understand.
https://xkcd.com/1227/
Problem #2
“Students who spend a lot
of time on Facebook are
more likely to develop an
eating disorder, new
research has revealed.”
Problem #2
“Female students who
spend a lot of time on the
social networking site
tend to be more body
conscious and to suffer
from more anxiety.”
Problem #2
“They also tend to give
greater significance to the
number of comments and
‘likes’ on their pictures
and status updates.
They are more likely to
‘untag’ themselves in
pictures.”
Study Design
“A study published in the International Journal
of Eating Disorders saw researchers study 960
female college students. These women were
evaluated on the time they spent on Facebook,
how important they considered ‘likes’ to be and
whether or not they ‘untagged’ photos of
themselves.”
Case Control Study
A causes B?
‘In examining the immediate consequences of
Facebook use, we found that 20 minutes of
Facebook use contributed to maintenance of higher
weight and shape concerns and anxiety compared
to a control internet condition. This causal link is
important because anxiety and body image
concerns both increase risk for developing eating
disorders,’ Dr Keel stated.
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on
Facebook
B causes A?
How about a different
possibility.
Imagine you don’t like
how you look. What could
that cause you to do?
Untag yourself in pictures
and get upset if no one
likes your posts.
Common Cause
Age? Wealth? Intelligence? There are lots of
common cause possibilities here.
• Young people more self-conscious and
internet savvy.
• Poor people care more about money than
looks and can’t afford the internet as much.
• Smart people care about politics more than
looks and read books instead of reading fb.
Problem #3
‘The survey polled around
10,000 respondents, and
found that around 90
percent of them were
“satisfied” or “very
satisfied” with their sex
lives.’
Problem #3
‘But here’s where the data
gets interesting. The study
also examined sexual
satisfaction against
financial status.
Across the board, people
who had more money,
reported more sexual
satisfaction.’
A causes B?
‘Ruiz linked the lack of sexual satisfaction to
increased incidences of sexual abuse. “It’s
particularly women of a lower socioeconomic
status who suffer more experiences of sexual
abuse. It’s important to bear in mind that these
women also might have more problems when it
comes to contacting the various organizations
that can provide help for them,” she said.’
A causes B?
The theory outlined in the article is probably
true. Poor women are more likely to be sexually
abused, and to be forced to stay in bad
relationships for financial reasons.
Poverty  Abuse  Bad sex life
Many Causes of Correlations
But it is also possible that there are other causal
factors that increase the correlation in addition
to the true ones identified in the article. ALL of
these can be true:
• A causes B
• B causes A
• A common cause causes both A and B
• A and B are sometimes accidentally correlated
A causes B and B causes A
A causes B and B causes A
A causes B and B causes A
A causes B and B causes A
Additional Common Cause
Wealth  Less Abuse  More sex satisfaction
Health
BAD JOURNALISM
The Fourth Estate
The press is often called “the fourth estate”– a
political power different from the three
branches of government (executive, legislative,
and judiciary) that keeps them in check. A
healthy press is an adversarial press.
The Necessary Press
In addition, media– once newspapers, but now
mostly televised news and internet news– is the
principle source of information people have
about world events, scientific developments,
health, and politics.
Even if you get your news from friends on
facebook– someone has to get it from the news
media.
Afflicting the Comfortable
The press is supposed to “comfort the afflicted
and afflict the comfortable.”
Unfortunately, the news can be horribly
misleading, full of discredited falsehoods and
propaganda. It can comfort the comfortable and
afflict the afflicted.
NEWS ORGANIZATION
Newspaper Organization
A newspaper contains:
• News reports
• Editorials
• Advertisements
Reporters
Reporters generate news stories. Some of them
cover “beats” (local politics, sports team, etc.)
and some of them receive different assignments
at different times.
Reporters
There are good reporters. But there aren’t many
of them.
Since the age of the internet, the numbers of
reporters has not changed, but the amount they
have to write has increased by three times.
Public Relations
Public relations (often just called PR) consists of
all the activities that individuals, companies, and
organizations take to control and influence the
spread of information about them. PR activities
include:
• Marketing
• Issuing press releases
• Giving interviews
• Writing/ videotaping news stories!
Churnalism
“19% of newspaper stories and 17% of
broadcast stories were verifiably derived mainly
or wholly from PR material, while less than half
the stories we looked at appeared to be entirely
independent of traceable PR.” – Lewis et. Al (on
the course website)
Churnalism
47% of the British stories are from “the wire”
(news services like AP), and not written by the
reporters at the papers.
Many of the wire stories also have their origin in
PR material.
Churnalism
Here’s a story from the Irish Independent
(Ireland’s biggest newspaper):
Wave goodbye to global warming, GM and
pesticides
Radio wave-treated water could change agriculture as
we know it.
Groundbreaking Technology
“A GROUNDBREAKING new Irish technology
which could be the greatest breakthrough in
agriculture since the plough is set to change the
face of modern farming forever.”
Magic Water!
“The technology – radio wave energised water –
massively increases the output of vegetables
and fruits by up to 30 per cent.
Not only are the plants much bigger but they are
largely disease-resistant, meaning huge savings
in expensive fertilisers and harmful pesticides.”
$$$ Vi Aqua $$$
“The compact biscuit-tinsized technology, which is
called Vi-Aqua – meaning
‘life water’ – converts 24
volts of electricity into a
radio signal, which
charges up the water via
an antennae.”
The Stupidest Thing Ever
“Vi-Aqua makes water
wetter”
– Professor Austin
Darragh,
Limerick University
Video News Release
It gets worse on television. In print media, PR
companies write articles, but at least real
reporters (sometimes) change them to be more
honest.
On TV, PR companies film advertisements
pretending to be news, and that’s all you see!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09
NTUwp1s6U
• All references to Walmart in the 3rd person:
“The world’s largest food retailer says…”
“Walmart says…”
• Never: “We say…” “According to us…”
• All interviews with Walmart staff and
promoters, no discussion of any other
companies.
• “Reporting from Walmart, I’m Phil Keene” –
no indication he works for Walmart!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB
ze5atYyCo
• The government does it too!
• None of the interviewees is named, their
organizations aren’t mentioned.
• Only one side of the law is presented, no one
says anything bad.
• “In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan, reporting.”
Clickbait
But not all reporting is written by companies to
sell you products, or government trying to gain
your support.
Some of it is simply written by reporters to sell
you newspapers (or to get you to click on the
story, so you get served their ads).
Aliens!
Here’s something from the Telegraph, the third
most visited newspaper site in Britain:
Alien life found living in Earth's
atmosphere, claims scientist
Aliens do exist and have been found living in the clouds
above the Peak District, according to new claims by
scientists.
Aliens! With a Nose and Anus!
Unsurprisingly…
The “scientific” research supporting this finding
was published in The Journal of Cosmology.
The JoC is a predatory open access journal that
publishes bad research in exchange for author
fees. It is known for publishing fringe viewpoints
and bad science.
Sensationalism from The Guardian
“[A]n official at the State
Administration of Radio,
Film and Television" said
they cut Kate Winslet’s
nude scenes from 3D
Titanic because they
“feared that viewers may
reach out their hands for a
touch and thus interrupt
other people's viewing.”
Nvidia Crop Circle
Sadly…
Most science journalists don’t know anything
about science (they have journalism degrees),
and cannot tell an odds ratio from a risk ratio or
a real scientific journal from a joke.
You are better critical thinkers than the people
who write the news!
Scaremongering
Another common tactic to
get page views is called
scaremongering or fear
mongering: telling people
that X is going to kill them,
so watch the news to find
out what X is and how to
stop it.
Vaccine Scare
The false claim that vaccines cause autism got
started in the scientific research: a fraudulent
paper by a researcher who was later stripped of
his ability to practice medicine.
But the news media played a large role in the
scare story, and the papers that pushed the
story never made an equally big deal about how
they were wrong.
UK Has 20% of US population
NPR reports: “More than 1,200 people have
come down with measles [in UK] so far this year
[in May], following nearly 2,000 cases in 2012.”
Compare: “Each year there are about 60 cases of
in the United States, according to the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention… These new
cases are caused by international travelers who
bring the virus with them to the U.S.”
“Third Party Advocate”
When there’s a debate, there are two interested
parties to the debate. In the debate over
whether cigarette advertising is targeting
children, there are the concerned parents who
think their children are being targeted, and the
cigarette companies who think their advertising
is age-appropriate.
“Third Party Advocate”
A “third party advocate” is someone who is in
theory uninterested. They aren’t harmed if the
debate turns out one way and they aren’t
harmed if it turns out another way. Their views
and arguments are “objective.”
Of course, powerful interests like the tobacco
lobby try to install fake “third party advocates”
to promote their views.
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell is an
author of four books that
reached the New York
Times bestselling books
list. He has had a column
at The New Yorker since
1996.
Malcolm Gladwell
He is also a paid advocate
for Philip Morris, the
world’s largest cigarette
company. In his book The
Tipping Point, Gladwell
blamed children for
getting themselves
addicted to tobacco and
absolved tobacco industry
advertising campaigns of
guilt.
Malcolm Gladwell
Confidential Philip Morris
documents bragged,
“Marlboro’s phenomenal
growth rate in the past
has been attributable in
large part to our high
market penetration
among young smokers . . .
15 to 19 years old.”
Self-Censorship
Another way reporters get the news wrong is
that they don’t report it. Sometimes news
angers those in authority, and journalists bow to
their wishes.
Li Wangyang
In June of 2012, Li Wangyang was discovered
hanging from his hospital room, after two
decades of imprisonment for the Tiannenmen
Square protests.
Protests
Many factors indicated
that Li had been
murdered. 180,000 Hong
Kongers protested the
death.
Protests
Wang Xiangwei, a
mainlander and a Chinese
People’s Political
Consultative Congress
member, is the editor in
chief of the South China
Morning Post. He reduced
reports about the
suspicious death of Li
Wangyang to a short
blurb.
Protests
30 SCMP reporters signed a
letter protesting the
decision.
“87% of reporters,
photographers, editors, and
management surveyed said
that media freedoms had
deteriorated in the past
several years” (HongWrong)
Grace Chan Censored
• Won Miss Hong Kong
Pageant 2013
• Expressed support for
Universal Suffrage.
• Interview eliminated by
TVB.
Government Propaganda
Governments leak information all the time
“confidentially” so they can start rumors, or
accuse enemies without having to stand by their
assertions. And journalists publish these
anonymous rumors and accusations with no
evidence or investigation that they’re true.
Paid Protesters
http://www.scmp.com/news/hongkong/article/1051556/group-marches-againstfalun-gong-national-day
Paid Protesters
• Pro-Falun Gong march on National Day
• Anti-Falun Gong protest
• People in the protest bussed from China, have
no idea what protest is about.
• Organized by Hong Kong Youth Care
Association, a front for the Communist Party.
“Act Now!”
A trip for seafood in Lei
Yue Mun that costs only
HKD 30. The reason it is so
cheap is that participants
have to join the assembly,
“Supporting 2010 Hong
Kong electoral reform.”
The reform is proposed by
ex-chief executive Donald
Tsang under the slogan,
“Act Now!”
Student Testimonial
“I joined the similar trip at that time. I was
invited by my friend whose father is the top
manager of a bank. She invited me and my
friends to join a trip serving seafood in Lau Fau
Shan. She said it is totally free and we need to
go to a place when we finished our lunch. When
we finished our lunch and went on the bus, we
are given a polo shirt printed “Supporting Act
Now!”. We finally found that we become paid
protesters at that time.”
CHECKING THE FACTS
Editorials
In addition to news reporting, newspapers also
run editorials (television has the same thing,
where “talking heads” come on TV and spout
their views).
Editorials don’t need to be by experts (neither
does reporting), don’t need to have any facts or
evidence, and are often nothing but lies and
propaganda.
Fact Checking
Substantive, objective statements of fact are
(ideally) fact-checked. This means that if a
reporter writes a factual statement, someone
else at the paper makes sure it’s true. (For
example, if it’s a quote, they call the person
quoted.)
Subjective statements like “Harry Potter books
are boring” don’t need fact checking.
George Will
“According to the
University of Illinois’ Arctic
Climate Research Center,
global sea ice levels now
equal those of 1979.”
In The Washington Post,
one of America’s most
important newspapers, in
2009.
Scientists Respond
“We do not know where George Will is getting
his information, but our data shows that on
February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79
million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global
sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km. Therefore,
global sea ice levels are 1.34 million sq. km less
in February 2009 than in February 1979. This
decrease in sea ice area is roughly equal to the
area of Texas, California, and Oklahoma
combined.” – Illinois climate scientists.
Fact Checking
“the Post has a multi-layer editing process and
checks facts to the fullest extent possible. In this
instance, George Will’s column was checked by
people he personally employs, as well as two
editors at the Washington Post Writers Group,
which syndicates Will; our op-ed page editor;
and two copy editors.” – Ombudsman for the
Washington Post
Infotainment
Some news outlets have gotten so tired of
responding to claims that they present false
things as true, that they’ve declared their
“news” is really “infotainment” – entertainment
centered around the news, not necessarily
meant to portray facts.
They Still Call It News
From billoreilly.com:
“Now in its tenth year on the air, ‘The O'Reilly
Factor’ on the Fox News Channel remains the
dominant number one news program in the
USA.”
From FOXNews.com:
“In 2000, The Factor...passed Larry King Live to
become the number one cable news program in
the United States.”
“Advertorials”
Advertorials
An “advertorial” is an advertisement that
pretends to be an editorial. These are somewhat
common, but easy to spot.
Native Advertising
The new version of advertorials – often on social
media websites like facebook and digg – is called
“native advertising.” It’s advertising designed to
look like content that appears naturally
(“natively”) on these social websites.