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Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D, is Associate Professor in the School of Communication at American University where his research focuses on the intersections among science, media, and society. E-MAIL: nisbetmc@gmail.com
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Category: Stem Cell / Cloning Research
Posted on: August 5, 2007 8:43 AM, by Matthew C. Nisbet
The NY Times has the dish on perhaps the final tragedy in the fall of Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo Suk. Apparently Hwang's lab was the first to derive stem cells from parthenogenesis, or virgin birth, meaning they were derived from an unfertilized egg. "It could have been a seminal finding if they hadn't had their blinders on," one expert told the NY Times. Knight Science Tracker has the full run down on how other news agencies covered this latest twist in the cloning drama.
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Comments
What's really amazing is that some Hwang supporters in Korea are already spinning the NYT article into one that supports their agenda. They are twisting the scientists' quotes in the NYT article so that it sounds like they are praising Hwang for a great scientific breakthrough. This is mostly based on a completely biased Korean news article with horrible translation (examples: "If they hadn't had their blinders on" was translated into "if they didn't have people who were blocking their eyes." Also, Dr. Gearhart's quote "I’m delighted there was an explanation that didn’t involve fraud" was translated into "I'm delighted by the fact that there was no fraud in their discovery.") and the reporter's own prejudice tacked onto the end. The last sentence of the article reads like this: "However, this flexible attitude shown by the U.S. media and scientists forces us to reconsider the current environment of Korean media and the scientific community, which mercilessly ignored a great research accomplishment due to the obsession with a minor fact called 'data manipulation.'"
Posted by: SKFK | August 6, 2007 4:25 PM