In the science world, if there is an overwhelming complaint about the media, it is that journalists tend to be too "balanced"--in other words, they give roughly 50-50 time to opposing viewpoints even when one side lacks credibility, as in the creationism-evolution battle.
In 2004 in Columbia Journalism Review, I did a major article critiquing this problem in science coverage--an article that I guess a lot of people read and liked, since it is still mentioned to me regularly. Recently, in fact, John Fleck emailed to ask why it wasn't available online--and I decided to do something about that.
So here it is, "Blinded by Science," a kind of classic critique of "phony balance" in science coverage:BLINDED BY SCIENCE: How 'Balanced' Coverage Lets the Scientific Fringe Hijack RealityColumbia Journalism Review, Nov/Dec2004, Vol. 43, Issue 4 On May 22, 2003, the Los Angeles Times printed a front-page story by Scott Gold, ...
