Tuesday, April 1, 2008 : 11:00 a.m.
Science by the Media: Crossing the Line?
Reports of steroid use by athletes, and of popular athletes accused of using steroids, are all too common in the news media. It is, of course, the mainstream media’s job to report the news, and less-than-laudable behavior by celebrity athletes who have been lauded as heros does (for better or worse) qualify as news. But, is it reasonable for the news media to create the news they report? In one case, off-the-shelf samples of a product allegedly contaminated with steroids were sent by two news organizations to two different laboratories for analysis. The results from one of the laboratories came back positive. These results not only made the news, they perpetuated a lawsuit between an accused athlete and the product manufacturer, despite results from four other different laboratories, all using more reliable analytical methods, that came back negative. Closer investigation of the positive results showed that they were neither reliable nor defensible. This, of course, never made the news.
Science will always be in the news: contaminated ground and surface water, climate change, habitat loss, species extinction, and many other issues must be reported, and rightfully so. But adding to the body of scientific knowledge, and the application of science to real-world investigations, requires valid and defensible data. These efforts must be left to scientists.
Carol Erikson, B.S., M.S.P.H., Trillium Inc. Ms. Erikson completed undergraduate studies in environmental science at Rutgers University and holds a Master's degree in environmental chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has over 25 years of experience in the environmental field, ranging from analyzing environmental samples at the bench to directing on-site analytical laboratories to providing expert consulting services in litigation cases. She is employed by Trillium, Inc., and has worked happily from her home in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the past 15 years.