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Nitpick, I have a great deal for respect for Derek but he isn't a journalist (and nor does he claim to be). It's just a column. But that's not to say the reac
by wyxuan 5y ago
Nitpick, I have a great deal for respect for Derek but he isn't a journalist (and nor does he claim to be).
It's just a column.
But that's not to say the reactions from journalists weren't critical. Adam from Stat had some choice words about the decision.
- pjc50 5y agoI'm not sure that's a useful distinction, it's not a chartered profession. Someone who writes a weekly column for money is a journalist in the way that someone who writes software for money is a programmer.
- eli 5y agoThere’s a pretty big distinction in the journalism world. It’s more like saying anyone who uses a computer for work is a programmer.
- dannyw 5y agoYeah, but nobody listens to the guy that calls JavaScript coders "not real programmers" because JavaScript is a 'scripting language'. The point is, it doesn't seem like a useful distinction.
- timy2shoes 5y agoMy personal opinion: I respect the opinion of a medicinal chemist working in the field of drug discovery more than I do a journalist. The insider who works in the field understands the issues and problems of getting drugs to market more than an outsider.
- mcguire 5y agoIn other words, it's a column by a guy who spent his career in drug discovery. Not merely a journalist.
- refurb 5y agoDerek always had a well informed take, but asking scientist about a regulatory decision is like asking a engineer about a legal decision. Informed, but not an expert.
- joe_the_user 5y agoYeah, Derek Lowe is a professional drug researcher who "moonlights" as a popular science writer. If the other drug researchers are sticking necks out to say this is bullshit, it's pretty like that ... this is bullshit. The situation he describes that all the other companies had already failed to their useless drugs approved. Now that one useless drug slips through, all the others are going try and do that.
- ekianjo 5y agowhat qualifications is a journalism supposed to have? Humanities? when you write about Science having some actual experience doing science is helpful.