Let's blame the scientists who cared so much about avoiding any possible embarrassment that were unwilling to do their job - which was to take the original pape

Let's blame the scientists who cared so much about avoiding any possible embarrassment that were unwilling to do their job - which was to take the original paper for its own merits. Science funding gets bent away from promising areas for all kinds of crummy, narcissistic reasons. Blame the narcissism, not just sloppy journalism which is eternal and perhaps unavoidable.