Tuesday, March 22, 2011
The Science Con
Friends, please pass this one along. I'd like this video to be seen. The Vimeo version, above, looks better than the heavily recompressed YouTube version, below. Play the YouTube version if the one on top does not start for you.
Jay Lehr, Science Director for the Heartland Institute, is all over cable news these days, reassuring the public that the Fukushima nuclear disaster is nothing to worry about. He's also famous for leading the movement to deny man-made climate change. But who is he? What are his credentials? And what is the Heartland Institute?
This investigative report reveals things about Lehr which cable news won't tell you, including his conviction for defrauding the government. This is a story about media manipulation and perception management. How many Jay Lehrs are on television? How many of your own opinions were shaped by well-paid "experts" of dubious expertise?
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10 comments:
Good work, Joe, but the audio level is uneven. Some parts I have to turn up the volume to hear clearly.
I'll be embedding it in posts to other forums. Thanks.
Great work Joe!
I posted it up on my site.
Very good post Joe, getting very tech-savvy, impressive. I'm glad you're posting again, you were missed those few months. Keep up the good work.
JS Duder
The opening sequence when the boom mike swings into view I thought it looked beat up. Later yesterday I thought of Fatboy's golden microphone and it hit me, sometimes the truth isn't pretty. I don't know if you meant to give that impression or not.
Re: The Mic. You may want to go to YouTube and type in the words "Citizen Kane" and "trailer."
I've used the image before. Showing my mug would be sadistic.
Very powerful video that makes one's blood boil.
Of course, the media in its own defense will say something like "Of course he's not ideal, but we need people who can talk in sound bites." They would say that the whole prospect of putting an untested scientist on a show is nerve-racking because many scientists talk the way they write.
Why don't American scientific societies speak out, while extending a hand to the media. These societies, universities, or the NSF should offer training so that a pool of camera-savvy scientists is available to the media; qualified experts who know how to talk on television.
Real working scientists need to meet the media halfway. Scientists have a responsibility to attempt to communicate with the public, too often they hide away in their ivory towers while the world falls apart.
In other words, it's partly the fault of the real scientific community that news media get away with it. Why the silence? Why is it left to Cannon to debunk these guys?
The media is guilty, but blame for the fact it so often gets away with this sort of thing extends farther than that.
Alas, I'm not as clever as Mr. Mike so didn't notice the things he noticed - just thought the damn thing was brilliant.
Gormenghast
Hey,
This is a message for the webmaster/admin here at cannonfire.blogspot.com.
May I use some of the information from this post right above if I provide a link back to your site?
Thanks,
Jules
Next time this Lehr guy is on a cable news program, the anchor should offer him a heaping plate of steamed vegetables and a liter of milk to wash it down, all from farms downwind of the Fukushima plant.
Well done Joe...
Federal Whistleblower since 1998
Marty Didier
Northbrook, IL
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