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It's quite unfortunate that an official university news release seems to purposefully mislead its audience. Or do they really just assume that no one cares abo
by dwaltrip 10y ago
It's quite unfortunate that an official university news release seems to purposefully mislead its audience.
Or do they really just assume that no one cares about the difference? I find that hard to believe.
I suppose incompetence is also a potential explanation.
- djsumdog 10y agoPhD comics really explains this pretty well: http://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1174 http://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1174 I thought they did a video on the science/news cycle as well, but I can't seem to find it.
- forgotmysn 10y agoim sorry, but to me that comic doesn't explain it one bit. the university press in the comic doesn't (appear) to deliberately click-bait the headline, it seems to be a process in your example. Washington State University appears to to have bypassed that process and gone straight for the misleading, click-bait title. This is disappointing because who better than the University Press themselves to try to provide as much clarity as possible. It's not like they don't have access to good sources...
- TeMPOraL 10y agoThe incentives of university's PR department aren't to provide accurate reporting on what's happening in said university to other scientists; it's to generate "buzz" around the university so that ultimately it gets more money. In this way, it's no better than regular news sources, and thus the quality is more-less the same.
- dwaltrip 10y agoBut they also do have more of a reputation on the line. Universities are expected to be dignified institutions, moreso than your average news org I would think.
- godelski 10y agoNo model is 100% accurate. Especially when that model is a joke.