Fact-Checking in Environmental Reporting
I have to laugh when I read some of these guest blog posts. Apparently some are good and helpful; in other cases, that really can’t be the case. I just cut ties with one blogger whose list of “facts” about the environment includes: “Americans throw away 25 trillion Styrofoam cups per day.” As I pointed out to her in my email parting ways: that’s over 80,000 per person per day or approximately one per second. Does that seem like a reasonable number?
Of course, “60 Minutes” didn’t demonstrate too great a command of fact-checking either.
LOL!
🙂
Oh now you’re just being picky… Come on Craig! What’s >5 orders of magnitude between friends?
🙂
The EPA states the number to be ~25 billion Styrofoam cups per year, which is still shockingly high and hard to believe… A little proofreading on the part of your guest blogger could have still resulted in a compelling article that wouldn’t be subject to ridicule.
I feel that way about most environmental issues – simply report the truth, and the truth should be compelling… But once you start exaggerating then the takeaway is the joke the environmentalists made out of themselves rather than the underlying truth that there are things that critically need to be addressed.
You’re absolutely right. I normally don’t read these posts; I just happened to notice it.
Btw, I’m no longer accepting new guest bloggers unless I know them personally.