MONKEY STUDY PROVES UPDATES IN NEWS NEEDED

The following is supplied by the BC Chapter of the Campaign for Press
and Broadcast Freedom.

What's worse: bad science, bad journalism or both?

It turns out that last year's infamous "monkey study", which was
supposed to show that ecstasy (MDMA) caused symptoms like Parkinson's
disease in lab monkeys, was invalid because scientists accidentally
gave the monkeys speed, not ecstasy.

Maybe this is more a matter of bad science than bad journalism, but it
can teach us a thing or two about the concept of a "news story."

The initial monkey-study story was front-page news, and the most
damning evidence against the view of ecstasy as a good-time pill with
no long-term effects. However, the retraction may be somewhat tricky
to find in mainstream news sources since it's likely to be printed
under the tide tables, either because it isn't considered as big a
story or because other events upstaged it.

Sure, people doing searches on ecstasy, whether on the internet or in
libraries, will most likely find the retraction story -that is, with a
thorough search of alternative media outlets. Who else would jump on
the opportunity to point out the flaws of "established" science or
pick up news that gets missed by mainstream?

A news story is a snapshot of a given subject at a given time, which
may be incomplete or out of date. What's needed is a constantly
updated summary on a given topic. Take for example, something like
Wikipedia.org, an open-source encyclopedia where anyone can post
updates and corrections. Imagine the responsiveness and flexibility of
Wikipedia combined with the rigor and meticulousness of the Associated
Press or the CIA World Fact Book.

Perhaps a revolutionary news network would not be enough to keep
people from referring to invalidated research when arguing the issues.
The mainstream media plays such an enormous role in shaping our
"facts" and our "realities", it's not easy for a retraction, whether
buried in the back pages of the daily newspaper or posted on
salon.com, to influence public discourse.

Perhaps yesterday's news - much like the story of how ecstasy fries
monkey brains - has already become myth.

Peter Tupper is a freelance journalist and member of the Campaign For Press
and Broadcast Freedom. Join the BC Chapter Oct. 18th at the Vancouver Public
Library for Media Democracy Day.