investigative journalism
grrlscientist | May 22, 2010tags: Scientology, SeaOrg, cults, religion, mind control, offbeat, weird, L Ron Hubbard, Scarlett Hanna, Australian Broadcasting Company, streaming video
Scarlett Hanna, the daughter of the president of the Church of Scientology in Australia, speaks out against the organization in this eye-opening interview with the Australian Broadcasting Company.
grrlscientist | May 2, 2010tags: Wikileaks on the Culture Show, freedom of publishing, freedom of press, investigative journalism, communication, information technology, internet, television, Culture Show, Jacques Peretti, John Young, Julian Assange, streaming video
Jacques Peretti looks into Wikileaks, the anonymous whistle-blowing internet site. Features an interview with John Young of Cryptome and Julian Assange of Wikileaks. Just for good measure, John has published details of the email correspondence with the BBC.
grrlscientist | March 17, 2010tags: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, news report, investigative journalism, animal rights, animal welfare, animal shelters, streaming video
Why should we trust an organization that protests against cruelty to animals on TV while behind the scenes, they are killing the very animals they claim to save?
For example, PETA's "Animal Record" report for 2009, filed with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, shows that the animal rights group killed 97 percent of the dogs and cats in its care last year. During all of 2009, PETA found adoptive homes for…
grrlscientist | March 3, 2010tags: humane society of the united states, HSUS, H$U$, news report, investigative journalism, animal rights, animal welfare, animal shelters, Wayne Pacellestreaming video
Let me remind you that, if you care about animals, you do NOT want to support the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS, more typically known as H$U$). This organization sucked up millions of dollars donated by people from around the world, claiming they would help save animals affected by Hurricane Katrina, but almost none of those funds went to save any animals at all. Who was the most helpful in saving animals?…
grrlscientist | March 2, 2010tags: humane society of the united states, HSUS, H$U$, news report, investigative journalism, animal rights, animal welfare, animal shelters, streaming video
Where do all those millions of dollars of charitable donations to the Humane Society of the United States go? If you think H$U$ uses those monies to help improve the lives of animals, think again!
Seven Things You Didn't Know About the Humane Society of the United States:
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is a "humane society" in name only, since it doesn't operate a single pet shelter or pet adoption facility anywhere…
grrlscientist | March 1, 2010tags: humane society of the united states, HSUS, H$U$, news report, investigative journalism, animal rights, animal welfare, animal shelters, streaming video
This investigative news report documents what we've always known: the Humane Society of the United States is nothing more than a fat, bloated charade of "animal lovers" who want everyone to lose our pets along any relationship with animals that we might have, whether they are companions, partners, teachers or the source of information or food. Contrary to their claims, HSUS does not support local animal shelters, does not help provide…
ddobbs | December 22, 2009My post of a few days ago on rebooting science journalism stirred more (and more interesting) discussion than I anticipated. After writing a very long response, I decided to just write a short response in the comments section. But once I'd done that, I thought, Well, maybe this should just be its own post. So here it is.
Vaughan Bell rightly complains about the journalistic convention of the obligatory quote. I'm with you on this, Vaughan. Good quotes can enrich a story, leaven its texture to provide some variety for the reader, articulate contrasting views, or give insight into a person's…
ddobbs | July 8, 2009
Ed Yong, echoed by Mike the Mad biologist PhysioProf asks what the heck investigative science journalism would look like. I hope to write more extensively on this soon. In the meantime, a few observations:
To ponder this question -- and to do investigative reporting -- I think it helps to have a sense of the history of science, which embeds in a writer or observer a sense of critical distance and an eye for large forces at work beneath the surface. Machinations in government surprise no one who has studied the history of government and politics. Likewise with science.
Science -- the search…
ddobbs | January 19, 2009Seth Godin offers another take on what we might miss if/when newspapers die: investigative journalism.
What's left is local news, investigative journalism and intelligent coverage of national news. Perhaps 2% of the cost of a typical paper. I worry about the quality of a democracy when the the state government or the local government can do what it wants without intelligent coverage. I worry about the abuse of power when the only thing a corrupt official needs to worry about is the TV news. I worry about the quality of legislation when there isn't a passionate, unbiased reporter there to…