Marijuana causes schizophrenia

I raised this on the journalism board w.r.t. GMOs last year, but science reporting is, generally, really, really bad. This is an example of that. I don't think it's deliberate. I think, rather, that it reflects the conceit that a good journalist can quickly become something of an expert at anything, and that's not true. You fold into that the reality that: A) you have to capture eyeballs; and B) you're writing for a broad audience, and things get even worse.

I took a look at the actual report and the section on cannabis/heart attacks. The authors of the study pointed to two research works in which the estimated risk increase was positive, but only the smaller, less controlled work would have resulted in the rejection of a null hypothesis of there being no effect. The only reason the study's authors described that body of work as "limited" evidence was because of the theory underpinning it -- our understanding of the physiology suggests that relationship might be there. That's not "weak evidence that suggests" so much as "something we wouldn't report but for the fact that it's in line with our current understanding."

 

C) people with in-depth scientific knowledge command good salaries, the kind media outlets can't or won't pay.

 

I wonder if YF understands that you are criticizing the article he linked to support one of his favorite narratives. Note, he ducked my questions, but liked your post.

Thank you for the response. I didn't have the time or interest in reading the study. I just thought the headline and article had serious flaws.

 

LOL. I don't understand!!

 

It's kind of a bullwhip effect, with the bad getting worse the higher up you go ... you start with a study, then a report on the study, then a headline for the report on the study ... unless the headline's very bland, generally it's gonna be awful (scientifically).

 

Football causes Alzheimer's.

Concussions Linked to Alzheimer's Risk in Study

 

No, you really don't, but that is par for the course when the topic is journalism.

 

Right there's what I'm talking about ...

 

Normally not a fan of John Oliver's style of comedy, but this segment on science journalism is pretty good.

 

Marijuana also causes increased consumption of Cheetos.

 

I agree, that was pretty good. The whole p-hacking thing hits pretty close to home, too. My department's gone bananas over "big data", but when you raise the specter of p-hacking you either get this quizzical look or some academic version of "But it's got electrolytes."

 

No it doesn't!
Yes it does!

No it doesn't!
Yes it does!

No it doesn't!
Yes it does!

No it doesn't!
Yes it does!