What is wrong?
The ever reliable Ben Goldacre's Bad Science article in last weeks Guardian was a corker. Rather than the usual pillorying of the quack of the week, this one is a serious examination and explanation of the systemic problem that lies at the heart of science journalism in the everyday media.
The main point being that there are no scientists doing it. Everyday science journalism is driven by an agenda that encourages a poor understanding and allows science to be presented in parody. The journalists would rather blame the scientists for poor presentation, than admit to the fact their system might be the problem. A system in which unpublished research, filtered through a PR department full of humanities graduates, into a soundbite press release, which is misinterpreted into an agenda fulfilling scare story, which is sub-edited by somone who does not understand it into something "the layman" will be able to understand and which is then commented on by a pundit who would never dream of reading the research were it ever actually to be published in a proper journal, in a way which underlines their view that scientists are all wacky boffins who are out to kill god.
Is there any wonder the stuff is usually utter tosh?