Science Loses Out In Corporate Media Drawdown

Two announcements were made this week that are pretty disappointing.

CNN is closing its science and technology unit.  Miles O’Brien and six producers are being cut.  CNN says science reporting will be folded into its general structure.  I’m not impressed.

Then, NBC announced that it was cutting the Weather Channel’s “Forecast Earth” weekend program.  NBC (General Electric, really), with private equity firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital, bought the Weather Channel earlier this year.

On the one hand, I find it disheartening that a mega-corporation like GE, which is tied to funding anti-climate change white papers from right-wing propaganda tanks, has decided to cut the only environmental newsmagazine show.  Forecast Earth was allowing laypersons access to critical information.  At this time, more than any other, Americans need that information.

On the other hand, more information sources are available to Americans than any time before.  If the corporate gatekeepers decide to remove sources from us, we’ll go get it by some other means.

I won’t say much about the millions of dollars wasted on every show NBC makes that is of poor quality.  It’s their money to waste, not mine.

More from A Siegel.

Ideologues Get It Wrong Again

I found the following on the tubes. It’s about Ben Stein’s piece that mocks science:

Ben Stein Assails the Intelligentsia

Ben Stein’s new documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” is a riveting expos of the intolerant academic community that systematically declares war on anyone or any institution that dares to question liberal Darwinian orthodoxy. “Correct speak” and “correct think” are de rigueur among scholars, who are expected to tow the line that “evolution” and “natural selection” are the be all and end all when it comes to deciphering the origins of mankind.

Obviously, the writer supported the movie. Take a close look at the kind of language used to drum up support for Stein’s “documentary”.

“Assails the Intelligentsia”. My goodness. I wasn’t aware there was a group of intelligent people that needed assailing. This single headline is a good example of a giant problem I have with people like the author: they have effectively convinced a significant portion of the American public that being intelligent is somehow bad. What possible purpose could be expressed for a requirement that smart people need to feel bad about themselves and their work? Is it jealousy from folks who were lazy when they were supposed to be learning? I’m not sure. By the way, I recognize and agree that our current education system doesn’t propel every student to their maximum capabilities. But in the age of conservatives screaming for more personal responsibility, I find it discouraging that too many tend to practice just the opposite. How many externalities can they point their fingers at while professing their perceived victim-hood?