[meteorite-list] Darryl's edited NYT letter
From: Darryl Pitt <darryl_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:01:58 -0400 Message-ID: <E0914119-D022-4662-BB5B-AAA4203FE6C3_at_dof3.com> Hi, So appreciated. Exactly right....and truth be told, I was embarrassed..Janine had to calm me down a bit this morning. ;-) All they had to do was leave in the term "hot" deserts and it would have been fine. Anyway, thank you, Rob! On Apr 12, 2011, at 3:40 PM, Matson, Robert D. wrote: > Hi All, > > The main problem with the Times' editing of Darryl's submission is that > they altered his factually correct letter into an inaccurate (or at > best, > misleading) one. The following sentences appeared in the Times' edited > version: > > "As a result of the harvesting done by Bedouins, Berbers and others, 32 > specimens from Mars and 43 specimens from the Moon have been discovered > in the deserts since the mid-1990s. The number of such specimens > recovered by scientists beforehand? Not one. Since the mid-1990s? > Just four." > > Now compare this with what Darryl actually submitted: > > " ... as a result of the harvesting done by Bedouins, Berbers and > others, > 32 istinct specimens of Mars and 43 distinct specimens of the Moon, as > well as other exotic samples, have been discovered in the hot deserts > since the mid-1990s---all of which have undergone study. Conversely, not > one such specimen was recovered by scientists IN THESE REGIONS [emphasis > mine] before this time, and since then scientists have recovered only > four such specimens." > > This significant error of omission invites researchers "in-the-know" to > accuse Darryl of being uninformed, and by inference unfairly calling > into question his credentials for opining on the subject. This is the > problem with journalists uneducated in scientific disciplines -- they > don't appreciate the nuances introduced by the seemingly harmless > removal of a word here, or a short phrase there. The sciences are not > like prose: every word is usually there for a reason. > > --Rob > > > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list Received on Tue 12 Apr 2011 04:01:58 PM PDT |
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