Why do media give voice to the Raelian stupidity?

[Richelieu]

Why do media give voice to the Raelian stupidity

Raelian's stupidity, Bush's stupidity, Chretien's stupidity... the press is just being the press.

All quiet on the western front.

[MarkG]

http://go.hotwired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57049,00.html/wn_ascii

Clonaid: Birth of a Media Menace?

Who can resist a story about clones, aliens and sexual intrigue?

Hardly any media outlets in the United States can, judging from the amount of coverage lavished on the recent announcement that a French chemist associated with a cult that believes aliens populated the Earth by cloning themselves had orchestrated the birth of a human clone.

Nevermind that Bridgette Boisselier, the chemist who made the cloning announcement on Dec. 24, 2002, in Hollywood, Florida, offered no scientific data to back up her claims. She didn't even offer a photo of the baby, the mother or their location.

Boisselier is chief executive at Clonaid, a company that was founded by a religious group called the Raelians, who believe that aliens populated the earth 25,000 years ago by cloning themselves. Boisselier is also a Raelian "bishop."

The Raelian group was founded by Claude Vorilhon (aka Rael), a former French journalist and racecar driver who says the aliens chatted with him personally in 1973, asking him to establish an embassy to welcome them back to Earth.

The lack of data provided to back up the organization's claim, as well as the bizarre nature of the announcement itself and the group that made it, prompted the American Association for the Advancement of Science to make a statement Thursday warning people to be skeptical that a baby clone has been born.

"The media coverage has come in phases: First there was a stage I characterize as hysteria -- a lot of loud noise where everyone just covered the announcement," said Alan Leshner, CEO of the AAAS and executive editor of the journal Science. "But over time it's gotten far more sophisticated and, in fact, today every major newspaper has Op/Eds that say, 'Wait a minute, this is not science, this is hype.'"

Leshner worries about the backlash that such an announcement could have on the believability of scientists.

"From a scientific perspective, the behavior of announcing something without having subjected it to normal scientific validation or peer review is irresponsible," he said. "We always condemn that kind of behavior no matter who it comes from, even if the person is right."

For their part, media critics wonder if coverage of the story has further damaged the credibility of their profession, especially if the claim turns out to be a hoax.

"I think the pity about it is ... it can erase all the efforts of a lot of people to upgrade the persona of the (media) with one swipe of trashiness," said Orville Schell, dean of the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Boisselier appeared on various mainstream news programs, including CNN Crossfire and Fox News, as well as websites such as Wired News, talking about a newborn clone named Eve.

Following the broadcast reports, newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle put the story on their front pages.

Some media experts, like Schell, believe it's proof that a little of the Star has rubbed off on the Chronicle.

But Chronicle assistant managing editor John Curley, who made the decision to put the story on the front page, said the frenzied broadcast coverage demanded that the story be put into perspective.

"If someone had been exposed to the more breathless broadcast response, (the paper) is the place to say this is what was going on in a more straightforward way," Curley said. "The story contained a healthy amount of skepticism and had scientific rigor that the stories during the day didn't have."

The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times deigned to run the story on their front pages.

"As if that meant anything for what people's experience of the news that day had been," Curley said. "Then we scratch our heads and wonder why we've lost touch with readers."

But Schell believes putting it on the front page just gave more prominence to a non-story.

"The real story is the story about the story," he said. "How did this get legs? It got legs because enough places thought they could get away with pumping it up into a position of prominence and everybody loves a story about sex, Martians and weirdness."

[Chris 62]

So Paiktis, what did the Raliens say when you interviewed them?

[optimus2861]

Don't forget that Clonaid timed the announcement very well -- right after Christmas in a traditionally slow news period. I don't think that was coincidence at all.

I did get one good laugh out of it a couple days after it happened: I caught a CNN live interview with that kook Rael, and Rael went on his big spiel about accelerated-growth, memory uploading/downloading, and making mankind live eternally "just as our alien creators wanted" (I think was his final phrase). The CNN anchor doing the interview, after he finished this line of crap, had this look pass across her face that just screamed, I'm the anchor of CNN, and I'm interviewing this screwball?!?! She caught herself pretty quickly and signed off on the interview, but I just burst out laughing

[lightblue]

I don't rule out that human cloning could be done, but before I see peer reviewed DNA fingerprints next to each other confirming this, I don't believe even one word.

Why does the media do this? It has all the elements for a good Murdoch style story: sex, bashing scientists, aliens, baseless facts.

[ranskaldan]

Eh, it's the MEDIA we're talking about. Their job is to get ratings, not present the stories in their order of importance/credibility.

[Sava]

ddue if I were a betting man, I'd sya paiktis is a raelin

[Hueij]

Alright! They made a second clone, in the Netherlands! We are famous, we are on CNN! Boy, I love aliens...

[Sava]

I want to clone mtself that would be aweome

[Bereta_Eder]

I am!

[Sava]

hahahahaahhahhahhahahahhahahhahah

[ranskaldan]

I like the soul-transfer idea myself.

IMMORTALITY!

[Lancer]

Watching news in the US is frustrating that way. The stupidest stories get the most coverage. Why is that? The media must attract total morons.

We have FOX news here, I don't know if it is in other countries like CNN is, but it's just a bit better, except in the morning. That's when they have "FOX and friends". Three yuppie idiots toss back and forth tidbits of gibberish and laugh alot. Why why why? I ask myself that a million times a day. Then there's the commercials, they're even stupider.

I find the solution is to play Civ alot.

[Urban Ranger]

Hm...

Supposedly we would be getting the evidence in 9 days, so that would be just a day or two. If they can't come up with the evidence, we can call them liars.