I warn my students about stories that are accurate but not true. Bret Stephens' anti-mask screed today is a good example of that — and what makes it accurate is a brief aside that he buries in order to cover his sorry ass. #journalism #covid My Media Nation post: https://dankennedy.net/2023/02/22/bret-stephens-wants-you-to-misunderstand-an-easily-misunderstood-report-on-masking/
@dankennedy_nu The reporting on this meta-analysis is absurdly sloppy. For instance, Tayag's article in the Atlantic says that it incorporated data from 78 masking studies. It only used 17 masking studies of masking (the bulk focused on hand-washing). This information is in the abstract of the Cochrane article -- which Tayag apparently did not read.
#journalism #covid #masking
@DecaturNature @dankennedy_nu Just an observation based on anecdotal evidence, but I don't think the Atlantic is trustworthy on matters of science. I saw a tweet by someone claiming a PhD which seemed outrageous. Turned out it was published in the Atlantic by the tweeter.
@Bertrecords @dankennedy_nu I've seen some good science reporters at the Atlantic. I've never noticed Tayag before. But I am losing a lot of trust in the magazine -- especially once I found them publishing a sympathetic article about advocacy being performed by a paranoid conspiracy theorist without mentioning that fact -- and even linking out to those conspiracy theorist websites as though they were legitimate information sources.
