Why do we let polys talk science and not scientists
The prominent public issues of the NBN , the Murray darling irrigation , river health and Carbon sequestration are public issues of controversy and concern resolved only by sound science,-- not by more public football by polys. Whose living in dream land here? Why are our public discourses about science and technology so often mediated by people who are not scientists . Infact these spokesmen for science are men and women who historically are not known for representing much truth at all . What blinds our so called investigative media that they run this blatant irrationality on our TV screens each week .QANDA and Insights chose their guests and give polys the platform Why?Why? why? Are the media so poorly educated they don't know how to get answers, and from whom ?
I know the answer, but do you ? And more importantly for the clever country , does the scientific community who are increasingly been abused and alienated ( quoting what scientists say instead of quoting the scientists should rightly be seen as a form of patronising, especially when these polys tell only one side of the story ).
By not being treated with the respect that a dominant panel of experts would give , the media demean the authority of those who make Science their career . Where will Australian Science be if we let this pathetic hypocrisy continue? Why do the media keep asking the wrong people ? Ellul spelt the reason out like some others as early as the 1920's.
I thought Qanda was typically unbalanced here but last week I saw Jenny Brockie make the same mistake on SBS .( over telecommunication issue ) If you want to avoid the waste of time that was SBS last week , get scientists to talk on the science of copper , airwaves and optic fibre. Only when the media let scientists speak freely will the medai be worth listening to about the truth .
I know the answer, but do you ? And more importantly for the clever country , does the scientific community who are increasingly been abused and alienated ( quoting what scientists say instead of quoting the scientists should rightly be seen as a form of patronising, especially when these polys tell only one side of the story ).
By not being treated with the respect that a dominant panel of experts would give , the media demean the authority of those who make Science their career . Where will Australian Science be if we let this pathetic hypocrisy continue? Why do the media keep asking the wrong people ? Ellul spelt the reason out like some others as early as the 1920's.
I thought Qanda was typically unbalanced here but last week I saw Jenny Brockie make the same mistake on SBS .( over telecommunication issue ) If you want to avoid the waste of time that was SBS last week , get scientists to talk on the science of copper , airwaves and optic fibre. Only when the media let scientists speak freely will the medai be worth listening to about the truth .
Let me add to that Floods ( january 2011). Bleeting, drowning sheep everywhere. Maps are there, but clearly the ability to read them is not.
ReplyDeleteI can name at least one ...tree house built on a floodplain in the last few years that will one day be smashed by trees floating down the river.
Science plans for the inevitable and is not like the sheep - waiting for the next completely avoidable disaster to be given god like status.