Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Conveniently misplaced blame
A "journalist" working for Der Spiegel has been fired for "fraud". Out of 60 major stories he submitted, only 14 were totally fraudulent. Obvious failure of quality control. Need to try for 100% fraud, dude.
More seriously, the blame is CONVENIENTLY misplaced. There are lots of fiction writers and fact writers around. This fellow is clearly a good fiction writer, capable of turning out plausible narratives that suit the tastes of his chosen audience.
His talent isn't the problem. The LACK OF TALENT by the editors is the problem.
It's the same in scientific publication. There will always be poorly formed experiments and bad theories. Often the same researcher can do poor experiments and good experiments. Everyone has blind spots and confirmation bias.
In all cases the JOB OF A PUBLISHER is to DISTINGUISH fact from fiction, DISTINGUISH good logic and good science from bad, HELP the good writers to get past their own biases.
By solely blaming the writer or the researcher, the real culprits can continue to produce their INTENTIONALLY BAD products.
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Personal sidenote: When writing courseware, I try for accuracy and clarity. I don't always get there. When the publisher clarifies my facts or reshapes my writing to suit their standards, I'm momentarily unhappy.... but in the long run I'm VERY happy that they are doing their job properly. Each layer of the system has its own duties.
Labels: From rights to duties
¶ 3:16 PM
