United Kingdom: Science Media Centre (including Fiona Fox)

[Andy]

Edzard Ernst in praise of the SMC, with a highly ironic article title.

https://edzardernst.com/2022/03/beyond-the-hype-20-years-of-the-science-media-centre/

 

[rvallee]

At first I thought it meant the hype of the SMC having a role countering bad science when it's a major promoter and source of politically-aligned disinformation.

 

[MSEsperanza]

Edzard Ernst in praise of the SMC,

In ‘BEYOND THE HYPE‘, Fiona has now summarized the first 20 eventful years of the SMC. [...] Fiona’s book will be out on 7 April; it is a historical document that teaches us important lessons and deserves to be read widely.

There's a lot for me still to learn from the many good comments on the blog article.

There is e.g. a document about a 'CFS meeting' from 2013 (*) dealing with 'harassment' solely meaning FOI requests, complaints and debates and parliamentary questions.

It's probably posted somewhere on this thread already but in any case, here's the link:

https://citizen-network.org/assets/fullsize/595/minutes-science-media-centre-cfs.jpg

Do we have a transcript of this already?

I think that could be useful.

(*) So not the meeting(s?) Crawley and BBC journalist Feilden wrote about in the 10th anniversary booklet (post here)

Edited -- forgot to mention debates and parliamentary questions (thanks @rvallee )

 

[rvallee]

Literally all the things listed under harassment are legitimate things:

1. FOI requests
2. Complaints to the GMC
3. Debates and parliamentary questions
4. Somehow, there is so little basis for this, they listed FOI requests twice on a 4 item list

This is what they consider harassment, all protected rights and legitimate. More importantly: accurate. They don't even bother hiding how absurd this is because no one cares, since apparently we should not have the right to say anything.

Clare Gerada is famous for stating that, in her opinion, patients should not have the right to make complaints. This is the thinking behind this: patients are dumb and should comply with what we tell them to do because we are perfect and know everything.

 

[MSEsperanza]

Ernst seems not to be the only one who wrote a review of Fiona's book, also not the only one who praised it:

https://eandtbooks.com/books/beyond-the-hype/

‘The way the media covers science stories and breakthroughs has never been more important or relevant . . . This book should be recommended reading’ -- Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of The Life Scientific

‘The pandemic has repeatedly shown the vital necessity for accurate reporting of science . . . Fox provides some riveting stories about the ups and downs of this continuing struggle.’ -- David Spiegelhalter, author of The Art of Statistics

‘Engaging, illuminating, important’ -- Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

‘A vivid account of how journalists and scientists interact’ -- David Willetts, former Minister for Universities and Science

 

[JemPD]

There's a lot for me still to learn from the many good comments on the blog article.

There is e.g. a document about a 'CFS meeting' from 2013 (*) dealing with 'harassment' solely meaning FOI requests, complaints and debates and parliamentary questions.

It's probably posted somewhere on this thread already but in any case, here's the link:

https://citizen-network.org/assets/fullsize/595/minutes-science-media-centre-cfs.jpg

Do we have a transcript of this already?

I think that could be useful.

(*) So not the meeting(s?) Crawley and BBC journalist Feilden wrote about in the 10th anniversary booklet (post here)

Edited -- forgot to mention debates and parliamentary questions (thanks @rvallee )

Im a bit confused.

So this is a book by fiona fox, has anyone read it does she talk about ME/CFS,?

Are the quotes about Crawley's harrassment complaints from the book itself or are they an example of how dreadful the SMC is (in contrast to Ernzt saying it's marvellous)?

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

Are the quotes about Crawley's harrassment complaints from the book itself or are they an example of how dreadful the SMC is (in contrast to Ernzt saying it's marvellous)?

Just the latter I think.

It is not surprising that there are lots of nice reviews. These are professional mutual backscratchers.
More or less the circle of the Self-righteousness Marketing Company.

 

[MSEsperanza]

So this is a book by fiona fox

yes

has anyone read it does she talk about ME/CFS,?

It will be out on April 7

So only reviewers will have read yet. I wonder if someone could get a review copy. @dave30th

Are the quotes about Crawley's harrassment complaints from the book itself or are they an example of how dreadful the SMC is (in contrast to Ernzt saying it's marvellous)?

The latter.

Haven't seen the book yet so don't know how the author deals with the ME/CFS "controversy" .

But I worry a bit...

 

[MSEsperanza]

Michael Fitzpatrick: Let’s give the Science Media Centre the credit it deserves / Covid forced science to be media savvy

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/doctors-diary/give-science-media-centre-credit-deserves/

The Daily Telegraph, 28 Mar 2022

Full disclosure – Fiona Fox, director of the Science Media Centre and author of Beyond the Hype: the inside story of science’s biggest media controversies, has been a friend since we were involved in left-wing campaigns in the 1980s (I am flattered that some readers have recently recalled these activities). We were also both engaged in challenging the claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, one of the controversies that led to the foundation of the Science Media Centre (SMC) some 20 years ago.

(paywalled)

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

Jesus, my back is itching, isn't yours?

 

[Trish]

From the paywalled Daily Telegraph review by Michael Fitzpatrick
of Fiona Fox's book:

Over 20 years the SMC’S tiny staff has covered an extraordinary range of controversies, including animal research, chronic fatigue syndrome, the genetics of cloning, climate change and nuclear power. In response to pressures to curtail debate and manage “the message”, Fiona Fox remains committed to openness and to trusting the public.

 

[John Mac]

Jesus, my back is itching, isn't yours?

Sounds like you're suffering from IBS.....Itchy Back Syndrome.

 

[JemPD]

But I worry a bit...

i worry a lot

 

[rvallee]

Over 20 years the SMC’S tiny staff has covered an extraordinary range of controversies, including animal research, chronic fatigue syndrome

The SMC didn't cover the controversy of CFS, it was a significant player in the media strategy to deny its existence, the actual controversy. It did not report the story, it was a key player in it. Which is supposed to be the exact opposite of its mission. Like a journalist fabricating a controversy, then "reporting" about it and milking the limelight.

It's full of hype, alright.

 

[FMMM1]

"Jesus, my back is itching, isn't yours?"

Still making me laugh - thanks.

 

[Suffolkres]

The SMC didn't cover the controversy of CFS, it was a significant player in the media strategy to deny its existence, the actual controversy. It did not report the story, it was a key player in it. Which is supposed to be the exact opposite of its mission. Like a journalist fabricating a controversy, then "reporting" about it and milking the limelight.

It's full of hype, alright.

Whereas this link contains some gems of truth and is very useful reference!
https://www.margaretwilliams.me/
Science Media Centre - see Media

Media, Press, Science Media Centre, SMC | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |

 

[Robert 1973]

Disappointing to see this in today’s Observer:

“Scientists must be free to communicate without politicians’ spin” by Fiona Fox:
https://www.theguardian.com/science...-free-to-communicate-without-politicians-spin

It is particularly incongruous in the same edition of the same paper as these 2 very good articles:

1. “The grim toll at Shrewsbury is a symptom of a public sector that doesn’t listen to its users”
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-of-public-sector-that-doesnt-listen-to-users

2. “I have long Covid and despair that the UK government ignores its blight”
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...id-despair-that-government-ignores-its-blight

The underinvestment follows decades of underfunding for research into post-viral illnesses. Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as “chronic fatigue syndrome”, affects 250,000 people in the UK. It has a similar array of symptoms to long Covid, including brain fog and fatigue. A study found that 46% of long Covid patients meet the diagnostic criteria for ME. Had we found effective treatments for ME, it is likely that we’d also now have treatments for long Covid. But ME too has been starved of research funding. Worse still, in the UK most of that funding has gone towards studies that understand post-viral illnesses as primarily psychological – rather than physical – and therefore requiring psychological treatments.

 

[Esther12]

Saw this from Fox on survey results showing that lots of high profile covid researchers reported suffering some harassment:

The surveys show that “scientists who do a lot of media work on the big topical stories hitting the news will almost inevitably suffer some level of harassment”, says Fiona Fox, the chief executive of the Science Media Centre in London, an organization that collates scientific comment and organizes press briefings for journalists.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00936-4

 

[MSEsperanza]

Apropos hype -- digging into some older threads just stumbled across the media coverage of the 2018 study on interferon and prolonged fatigue...

https://www.virology.ws/2018/12/19/trial-by-error-the-new-interferon-cfs-study/

I haven’t had time to cover the new and wildly over-hyped study about prolonged fatigue–and purportedly about “chronic fatigue syndrome”–that was published this week in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. Thanks no doubt to the involvement of the Science Media Centre, this mildly interesting piece of research has received widespread media attention.

Since the study team included confirmed members of the biopsychosocial ideological brigades, I remain wary of the motives of those involved.

Here’s a handy overview of the study from MEAction:

https://www.meaction.net/2018/12/18/post-hepatitis-fatigue/

And here’s an insightful post from Nick Brown, a psychology graduate student at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Brown was profiled earlier this year in Science magazine as one of the “data thugs” taking down poor-quality research through reanalyzing results.

Nick Brown:

I was made aware of this article by a journalist friend, who had received an invitation to attend a press briefing for the article at the Science Media Centre in London on Friday 14 December. By a complete coincidence I was in London that morning and decided to go along.

 

[Sly Saint]

April 20, 2022
expert reaction to study looking at antidepressants and health-related quality of life

Prof Michael Sharpe, Professor of Psychological Medicine, University of Oxford, said:

“The study does serve to remind researchers of the importance of measuring the long-term outcomes of treatments [for depression]

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/...pressants-and-health-related-quality-of-life/