Gary Schwitzer is Publisher and Founder of HealthNewsReview.org. He tweets as @garyschwitzer
Marya Zilberberg posted, “Fast science: No time for uncertainty.” Excerpt:
“…my anxiety about how we do clinical science overall is not new; this blog is overrun with it. However, the new branch of that anxiety relates to something I have termed “fast science.” Like fast food it fills us up, but the calories are at best empty and at worst detrimental. What I mean is that science is a process more than it is a result, and this process cannot and should not be microwaved….
So, let’s celebrate uncertainty. Let’s take time to question, answer and question again. Slow down, take a deep breath, cook a slow meal and think.”
That’s similar to how I ended my talk at the University of Wisconsin’s event, “Science Writing in the Age of Denial” this week. I said that:
“Journalists could help people grasp uncertainty and help them apply critical thinking to health care decision-making issues…rather than promote false certainty, shibboleths and non-evidence-based, cheerleading advocacy.”
Gary Schwitzer at Science Writing in the Age of Denial, April 23, 2012 from University of Wisconsin-Madison on Vimeo.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
In researching this @bopinon column on medical misinformation, I reached @garyschwitzer who said the information pollution problem goes back to the 1980s, when PR people started tempting reporters with easy, uplifting, prepackaged hype.
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