Synopses & Reviews
Airplane crashes. The AIDS epidemic. Presidential election polls and voting results. Global warming. The latest cancer scare. All these news stories require scientific savvy first, to report, and then -- for news consumers -- to understand. It Ain't Necessarily So cuts through the miasma surrounding media reporting of scientific studies, surveys, and statistics. Whether the problem is bad science, media politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge, this book gives news consumers the tools to penetrate the hype and dig out the facts. Don't stop flying, run to the doctor, or change your diet before reading It Ain't Necessarily So.
Review
"Fake statistics flood the news media these days. This book is the essential antidote." John Leo, U.S. News & World Reports
Review
"Readers from all walks of life will acquire a more critical eye from this thought-provoking examination of how science gets served up for our early-morning reading and postprandial evening news." Publisher's Weekly
Review
"Today agenda-driven social pressures can cloud the media's presentation of the complex enterprise of science. With splendid insight, Murray et al. clear the biases in a powerful and timely primer that leaps the chasm of ignorance to show the facts of science." Sallie Baliunas, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Review
"David Murray, Joel Schwartz, and Robert Lichter look beneath the surface of today's journalism and find narrative 'templates' that reflect journalists' ideologies and world views -- which are often very different from that of readers, listeners, and viewers. In It Ain't Necessarily So, they show how this results in sloppy reporting, misleading impressions, and the propagation of downright lies. This book helps consumers of journalism make sense of the news -- even when the journalists have made nonsense of the statistics." Michael Barone, Senior Writer, U.S. News & World Report; co-author, The Almanac of American Politics
Review
"Risk and uncertainty plague our daily lives, especially when they drive media headlines. But savvy consumers of news have a new ally with the appearance of this timely and entertaining read that manages to take the process apart and show us the guts of how news is really made." John D. Graham, Director, Harvard Center for Risk Analysis
Review
"One of the greatest dangers to good public policy is bad reporting on science. It abounds. In this important new book, the authors explore why the media has such a tough time getting the story straight on scientific research. Better yet, they expertly demystify the process, showing consumers why they often get an adulterated media product with little relationship to reality." James K. Glassman, American Enterprise Institute
About the Author
DAVID MURRAY is the director of research at the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS).
JOEL SCHWARTZ is an adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and is the author of several books.
S. ROBERT LICHTER is co-director of the nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) and co-author of over ten books, including Peepshow .
All three authors live in the Washington, D.C., metro area.