Science Reporting

The Intelligent Design Network’s John Calvert has provided us with this first-hand account of Tuesday’s meeting where the public could share their opinions with the Kansas SBOE on proposed revisions to the state’s science standards.

Report on a public debate about evolution

Last night I went to the public meeting at Schlagel High in Kansas City, Kansas. It focused on the Kansas Science Standards and Proposals by the Harris group to increase their objectivity in the area of origins.

I thought there would be a crowd, but not 400. The place was packed. Even if I wanted to speak, the line that had been open for speakers was closed well before my arrival. They cut off the list at 60 but allowed time for only 45 or 50.

Canadian science journalist Denyse O’Leary (author of By Design or By Chance) has a short blog about the Church of Darwin’s continued haranguing of besieged Smithsonian scientist Richard Sternberg. Pondering Sternberg’s blacklisting at the Smithsonian O’Leary wonders: “How many Americans who would never under any circumstances condone behaviour like that pay taxes to support it?” O’Leary also has been doing a periodic series of fine rebuttals of National Geographic’s recent homage to Darwin.

After our blog highlighted errors in a news article about Larry Caldwell’s civil rights suit, so many people contacted the newspaper in question (the Press-Tribune) that the paper responded by contacting Caldwell. “As a testament to the power and value of your evolution blog,” Caldwell recently told us, “the Press-Tribune was getting so many complaints from around the country about the errors in their reporting that they contacted me and asked if I wanted them to correct any errors. The editor then invited me to write this letter.” Larry’s letter can now be read online, here. Kudos to the readers of this blog!

The Feb. 7 issue of Newsweek carries a long article about intelligent design titled “Doubting Darwin.” Although I don’t agree with the article in every particular, Newsweek’s Jerry Adler is to be commended for far outclassing Newsweek’s competitor, Time magazine, in his coverage of the growing debate over evolution. Compared to Time’s histrionic article a few days ago, Newsweek’s story is a serious attempt to report on what is actually happening. Among other things, Newsweek clearly distinguishes intelligent design from biblical creationism, and it avoids the conspiracy-mongering promoted by leading Darwinists. (FYI, the print edition of Newsweek carries a nice full-color photo of Steve Meyer and myself at the Discovery Institute office. If you look closely at the photo, you will be able to see a small bronze bust of Teddy Roosevelt on the bookshelf behind us.)

Despite the fact that Newsweek’s article is a credible effort, I would offer a few critical observations:

Since this blog devotes a lot of space to exposing what happens when journalists don’t report fairly or accurately on the evolution issue, I’d also like to highlight articles written by reporters who have tried hard to be impartial and who have done their homework. Two examples occurred this past weekend, when the Kansas City Star and the Arizona Republic ran feature stories about the evolution debate that allowed both sides to make their points. The Star article is here, and the Arizona Republic piece is here. The reporters and editors of these papers deserve credit for producing thoughtful stories that treat all sides of the debate with fairness and respect.

Saturday the Boston Globe broke the story of this infant century. Creationists, against all odds and the Supreme Court, are taking over the world.

Now, thanks to the nation’s paper we learn about the plight of the besieged and persecuted Darwinist science teacher. Our nation’s esteemed paper of record, The New York Times, gives us the lowdown on teachers forced to smuggle evolution into the classroom.

Early on Cornelia Dean writes:

Though the teaching of evolution makes the news when officials propose, as they did in Georgia, that evolution disclaimers be affixed to science textbooks, or that creationism be taught along with evolution in biology classes . . .

This is an implicit admission that the teaching of evolution doesn’t make the news when states such as Ohio, New Mexico and Minnesota adopt standards that teach all about the theory, including the scientific challenges to it, but only makes the news when the local amateur hour decides to downplay evolution or promote religion in science class. Why is the latter news, but the former is ignored or barely mentioned at best? Or, why doesn’t the teaching of evolution make the news when a parent is denied his civil rights by a Darwinist school board and then tries for some modicum of justice?

But wait! There’s more.

Darrow-Mencken Syndrome: closely associated with delusions of grandeur, this pathology infects many in the media and the advocacy profession by convincing them that they can be as great as Darwinist attorney Clarence Darrow or as brilliant as journalist and religious skeptic H.L. Mencken if they merely cast intelligent design arguments as a recapitulation of the Scopes Monkey Trial. Signs & Symptoms Darrow-Mencken Syndrome most often manifests itself in attorneys and reporters and usually prevents them from actually investigating the evidence and arguments of design theorists. One tell-tale symptom of Darrow-Mencken syndrome is the chronic use of simplistic or inaccurate definitions of intelligent design. Many aren’t consciously trying to misrepresent intelligent design. They have just been disabled by the delirium often Read More ›

While the rest of the country worries about terrorists who try to blow up people here and abroad, the editorialists at the Boston Globe worry about an invasion by… American creationists. Today the Globe is running an overwrought editorial with the hysterical title “Creationists at the gate” — conjuring up images of stampeding hordes of vandals and visigoths about to overrun civilized society. It is becoming harder and harder to lampoon the liberal newsmedia on the evolution issue, because their hysteria apparently knows no bounds. If the liberal media want to be taken more seriously by the majority of Americans, they might start by trying to base their opinions on facts rather than fantasies. For example, the Globe repeatedly warns Read More ›

As noted in a previous post, Time’s recent article about intelligent design reads more like an editorial than a news report. Here is an itemized list of some of the ways Time slanted and misreported its story: