Re: Asking BBC Radio 4 for a retraction

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Wed, Apr 4th, 2012 at 10:41 PM, Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com> wrote:

> Most of you will have heard by now of the terrible piece that BBC
> Radio 4, a trusted news source, ran yesterday on Brian J. Ford's
> crackpot "theory" that all dinosaur were semi-aquatic to support their
> weight.  A good, sober summary is provided here:
>         
> http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/04/aquatic-dinosaurs-not-so-fast/
> 
> Because Radio 4 is a trusted source, it's important that it not spout
> nonsense like this.  There is a danger that its credibility will be
> damaged.  If a journal were to publish such rubbish, it would be
> forced to follow up with a formal retraction, and I want to ask Radio
> 4 to do the same thing.  Here is the letter I plan to send:

Surely making such a fuss about something that is bound to be forgotten within 
days is counter-
productive? It risks keeping the 'theory' circulating in the media for a little 
bit longer, and drawing 
more attention to it than it otherwise would have got.

Theories such as these crop up all the time, make a splash in the media, and 
just as quickly lapse 
into obscurity. I'd be letting it die a natural death rather than risk 
endlessly reviving it by giving it 
any attention.

-- 
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Dann Pigdon
Spatial Data Analyst               Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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