Fish tales : Combating #fake_science in popular media - ScienceDirect
▻https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569115000903
Ocean & Coastal Management
Volume 115, October 2015, Pages 88-91
(article accessible)
Abstract
What role should scientist play in correcting bad science, fake science, and pseudoscience presented in popular media? Here, we present a case study based on fake documentaries and discuss effective social media strategies for scientists who want to engage with the public on issues of bad science, pseudoscience, and fake science. We identify two tracks that scientists can use to maximize the broad dissemination of corrective and educational content: that of an audience builder or an expert resource. Finally, we suggests that scientists familiarize themselves with common sources of misinformation within their field, so that they can be better able to respond quickly when factually inaccurate content begins to spread.
Deux citations en exergue :
1. Introduction
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”
∼Almost certainly not Mark Twain.
“Falsehood will fly, as it were, on the wings of the wind, and carry its tales to every corner of the earth; whilst truth lags behind; her steps, though sure, are slow and solemn, and she has neither vigour nor activity enough to pursue and overtake her enemy.”
∼Thomas Francklin, Sermons on Various Subjects, 1787
Et les cas pratiques étudiés (et contrés) : la preuve de l’existence des sirènes et d’un complot gouvernemental pour la masquer suivie de la preuve de la survie d’un mégalodon (requin géant - jusqu’à 20 mètres, le plus grand prédateur marin, disparu au Miocène…)
2. Mermaids and megalodons: the rise and fall of the fake discovery documentary
In May, 2012, Animal Planet, a Discovery Communications property, released Mermaids: The Body Found. The fictitious documentary, which presents the case that mermaids are not only real, but that there is an active government conspiracy to hide their existence, aired with a minimal post-credit disclaimer and was proceeded by heavy promotional material suggesting that the program evidence-based. To project credibility, Mermaids featured actual government organizations, particularly the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), implicating real scientists in a fake conspiracy. NOAA experienced a backlash from this production and issued a statement distancing itself from the show (NOAA, 2012). Several NOAA scientists reported being verbally accosted as a result of their perceived complicity in the “mermaid conspiracy” (personal communications to Shiffman and Thaler).
Mermaids: The Body Found launched a new generation of fake documentaries, produced with the trappings of educational programming, including high production value, stunning visuals, and compelling narration. Since then, Discovery Communications’ networks have aired a follow-up to the initial fake mermaid documentary, which went on to become Animal Planet’s highest grossing show (ABC News, 2013), as well as two that promote the claim that the extinct Carcharocles megalodon (Pimiento and Clements, 2014) is extant and predating on humans. These fake documentaries followed a very particular style, weaving real science, natural history, and current events with fabricated images, CGI video, and interviews with actors playing experts, witnesses, and government officials. In each case, the fake documentaries created conflict by inserting real government agencies into the narrative as antagonists, and implicated working scientists in fictional conspiracies.
