Last week, hundreds of news stories reported an irresistibly alarming study in the journal Injury Prevention which claimed that drinking non-diet soda was associated with increased violence among the 1,800 teens attending Boston s public high schools.
Who showed that story was more statistical illiteracy that journalists ignored in the interests of selling advertising? The American Council on Science and Health.
How did the Miami Herald respond to fact and accuracy when it defied their headline Study shows higher rates of violent acts among teens who drinks lots of pop? They claim we are "industry-funded". Who gets 100 percent of their revenue from industry? The Miami Herald.
But the narrative in corporate journalism is often to create a polarized world, where you agree with their Scary Story du Jour or you are dismissed as a corporate shill.
Fortunately, the evidence-based world has Trevor Butterworth at Forbes, who not only affirmed the flaws in the paper but notes which other outlets got it right.
