photo: mr. ëd, flickr
Andrew Revkin muses today in Dot Earth on the problem of complexity in newspaper coverage. He's talking about frogs, by way of example, and the post is worth a thorough read (especially following through on to this link to a discussion from On the Media), but his larger topic is the way complex, shifting topics get explained in the press.
What’s a journalist (or citizen) to do? The more definitive a statement, the more effort should go into testing its basis. Somehow, we need to figure out a better way to deal with complexity and uncertainty. That goes for scientists, journal publishers, and definitely journalists and readers.The problem of the golden frog, it turns out, is the problem of complex political and social realities like those of Colombia. "The more complex or conditional a story is," Revkin writes, "often the less space it is granted."
