Environmental scares, science and media

摘要

The article 'Environmental Scares' in The Economist, 20 December last year is a typical story created by a journalist on the basis of a personal selection of 'facts'. These sometimes come from scientific journals but perhaps more often from other non-scientific sources without checks on their reliability. They are selected to make the story engaging and convincing. Conflicts of Views are used to put drama into the story, being built with a specific Purpose in mind. Such articles are not trustworthy and people are misin- Formed.