More Media Malfeasance

And while we're on the subject of media malfeasance STATS has issued its 2005 Dubious Data Awards. These awards are given to instances in which scientific studies were grossly misrepresented by the media. Subjects include obesity studies, teenage drug use, the chemical composition of toothpaste, and poison popcorn. Check it out here.

Combine this with the systematic misreporting of Katrina, environmentalist hype, and the obvious political slant of reporting at the leading media institutions, and it becomes clear that there is an ongoing crisis in our information industries. As with most entrenched professions, journalism has become thoroughly corrupt, serving its own institutional interests rather than those of the society at large, a fact that only became apparent with the rise of alernative sources of information.

The system of information collection, interpretation, and dissemination that emerged half a century ago is rapidly changing with the proliferation of new sources and channels. That change, however much it might be lamented by figures in the media establishment, is to be welcomed because the American people have for a long time been ill-served by the existing institutions.