[meteorite-list] Meteorite Media

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 23:59:30 +0200
Message-ID: <004701cbf4a5$e7ea1510$b7be3f30$_at_de>

Hi Richard,

the main problem with such articles isn't how many, but who is reading them.

They carry the brand names: NYT and BBC.

Any journalist, if he has to deliver a piece about meteorites and is doing
his web-research will come across these articles first - plus about that
Schmitt&Barristers paper, with the veneer of a scientific article, but
nevertheless giving wrong legal information about the UNESCO convention, as
well as about Switzerland, as well as about New Zealand
(and the rest I didn't check, because if of 12 central topics already 3 are
wrong - and if you take e.g. the there mentioned law of New Zealand - and it
hasn't change since - and where it takes 10 minutes to see, that Schmitt &
Barristers evidently haven't read the law at all - then it's not worth to
check the rest as the paper doesn't fulfill the requirements of a scientific
article).

Of course - and it's not his fault - he will rely in the probity of these
articles, noone would expect, that such renown media would publish such a
unproved bullshit.

Hence we will have in future a series of articles singing from the same hymn
sheet.

One saw it with the BBC-Smith article in combination with another crude
BBC-article telling fantastic fairytales about meteorites laying between
chickens and vegetables on the farmer's markets in the towns of Mauretania.

These articles are transported even down into the blogs and fora in Africa.

They are the reason, why we all have to bear to be called criminals,
looters, drug dealers...

But much worse, in the end articles like these are the reason, for laws
being created.
In the end these articles are responsible for less meteorites being found,
sold, ending in the hand of science.


And you can tell me what you want, I have the impression, that this
devastating effect is welcomed by several of these people interviewed, who
afterwards claim to have been misunderstood.

Note how fast that kind of people is always screaming in the media:
Scandal!! Crime!! Harm!!!!

And how few scientist instead applaud or demonstrate respect for the great
and valuable performance of the private sector.

Thereabout you hear always almost nothing.

Skol
Martin

 



-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Richard
Kowalski
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 6. April 2011 23:10
An: meteorite list
Betreff: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Media

A lot of energy has been spent of this list and elsewhere in the past day or
two about the sham article...

I'd be curious to know how many people actually saw or read the article. Of
course that is unknowable. I would imagine that the total number will be
vastly less that the numbers watching a highly popular TV program about a
pair of meteorite hunters.

Since the program is seen by new people all of the time and not only in
first runs, but by repeats, marathon sessions where an entire season is run
in succession, wouldn't it seem strange to someone uniformed who read that
article and then they see these two guys traveling around the world finding
and pricing these stones? How can they be so overt in their illegal
activities?

Obviously the answer is their activities aren't illegal, which we all know.
Now that this program is gearing up for Season 3 (Congrats again on this
Geoff & Steve) it is my hope that they will have the opportunity to teach
their viewers a bit more about meteorites. Specifically a minute or two
spent on the legality of hunting, selling and collecting meteorites. Of
course anything they tape can end up on the cutting room floor never to be
aired, but I can think of no better outlet to combat this horribly bad
information that has cause such a flare up in the community and on this
list.

There are also a number of excellent experts on their program. One has to
wonder why, if this activity was illegal, why would any of them appear in
the programs? The obvious answer is that they appear in the program because
it isn't illegal. It would be great to see one or more of the expert
meteoriticists on the program explain the great benefits that they, their
colleauges have received along with some mind-blowing specimens available
for research specifically because of legal meteorite hunting. It certainly
wouldn't hurt to mention all of the benefits of the legal meteorite trade.

Obviously this a random, unsolicited input on their program and I expect it
to be fully ignored, but I've said it before, no matter what your opinion of
Geoff, Steve and their program, I doubt anyone can deny that they are
currently the most influential and informative popular outlet for
information about meteorites in the United States and other countries. I do
hope they have and take the opportunity to address this issue on air.

Just my 2 Zibabwean cents worth...

--
Richard Kowalski
Full Moon Photography
IMCA #1081
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Received on Wed 06 Apr 2011 05:59:30 PM PDT