[meteorite-list] Anyone remember this?

From: cdtucson at cox.net <cdtucson_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 12:09:18 -0700
Message-ID: <20090508150918.7Y1B5.204216.imail_at_fed1rmwml36>

Space junk.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272212,00.html
Carl Esparza
IMCA 5829

---- MeteorHntr at aol.com wrote:
> All,
>
> In my last post, I failed to tie the first point together with the second.
>
>
> Sometimes experts actually do get it right, but the members media of the
> media are the ones that twist it and make it wrong with misquotes.
>
> There is a story today in the Wichita paper (at least online) with a
> mistake in it, saying Geoff helped me dig up the big 1,430 pound Brenham 3 1/2
> years ago. While Geoff did show up a couple of days later, and was
> instrumental in helping us get the word out to the media about the Main Mass find,
> he wasn't there when it was dug up, Phil Mani was.
>
> Who knows how that mistake happened? Neither Geoff or I said that to the
> reporter. She didn't pull that from an earlier story she wrote. Go figure?
>
> But now that it is in print, others will probably run with the "fact" in
> future stories.
>
> The poor Fire Chief at Monahans still has the stigma of taking the
> meteorite away from the boys that found it because an AP reporter stated it as
> fact. We all know it was the Police Chief of Monahans that confiscated the
> rock without the due process of law.
>
> "Little mistake" some will say. "Not a big deal" others would say.
> "Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story" still others would argue.
>
> It might be a big deal to the Fire Chief, or to Phil Mani, or to any of
> the other BILLIONS of people who would like to be able to believe that facts
> stated in the media are true as stated.
>
> If editors would edit, or if reporters would run a story buy the quoted
> person to fact check before it goes to print, mistakes could be avoided.
>
> But, deadlines have to be met. The next story has to be started. Ads
> have to be sold.
>
> It is life in the news media world.
>
> One day soon we won't have newspapers anymore. It will all be online.
> And mistakes will be able to be corrected in short order.
>
> Until then, we suffer, and do the best we can with what we've got.
>
> Steve Arnold
>
>
>
>
> In a message dated 5/8/2009 12:02:27 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
> MeteorHntr at aol.com writes:
> In a message dated 5/8/2009 11:25:52 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
> meteoritemike at gmail.com writes:
> I just don't understand how any "expert" could be fooled by that
> object in the first place.
>
> MikeG,
>
> It happens ALL the time. And reporter "experts" are sometimes the worst.
> I don't know how reporters can mess up simple facts. If it was
> political,
> it stands to reason why a reporter would error ALL the time in favor of
> their candidate or topic, but something as benign as meteorites, and they
> still mess things up.
>
> We should have a media "Hall of Shame" website devoted to chronicling all
> the meteorite mistakes as they happen!
>
> Here is the scenario:
>
> Geologist at the nearest Junior College gets a call from a reporter with
> the "facts": "Man has hole in his roof, with a metal rock on the floor
> under the hole. Fairly certain it is a meteorite, what do you think?"
> Expert,
> walking between classes he is teaching: "Does a magnet stick to this so
> called 'meteorite'?" Reporter: "Yes, strongly."
>
> Expert, choking on his coffee: "Sounds like it is the real deal, can I
> see
> it?"
>
> With TV cameras rolling, 2 hours later the expert arrives at the scene,
> with fresh images of meteorites in his head that he found on Google just
> before he headed out of the office, he is handed the object and he says...
>
> We all know what he says. Just read the quotes.
>
> That is how it happens.
>
> The universe is now rotating around him instead of the sun for a few days
> and his head is spinning on his great fortune. He starts swerving over
> into other areas of expertise like Financial Advising, telling the finder
> not
> to be suckered into selling his meteorite too cheap to the first greedy
> dealer that comes along to rip him off.
>
> Or he goes the other way and tells the finder, that if he donates the
> rock
> to his institution, that all the positive PR this will generate for his
> school will help him get on that tenured track he is coveting. Oh wait,
> he
> THINKS that, he actually tells the finder that only science will find the
> mysteries of the universe locked in his rock if he gives it to the
> school,
> and that if a dealer gets it instead, it will only be cut into pieces.
>
> He starts thinking about the grant money he can get when he writes the
> paper on it. Maybe he will get to speak at the Rotary Luncheon? Even
> now his
> students that laugh at him will HAVE to respect him.
>
> I could go on, about how "science" will have to look at the donated
> object
> through glass, as the committee at the school responsible for it won't
> allow it to ever be cut...but I won't.
>
> Shove a TV camera in front of about anyone, and it amazing what comes out
> of their mouth sometimes.
>
> Steve Arnold
>
>
>
> **************Remember Mom this Mother's Day! Find a florist near you now.
>
> (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=florist&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000006)
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Received on Fri 08 May 2009 03:09:18 PM PDT