I was browsing MSNBC tonight trying to stay up to date on goings on from around the world (well, at least the stuff that my Twitter feed hasn’t taught me already), when I saw this headline in the Science section:
In case you can't see it, the headline reads "Newly discovered legless amphibians are horrifying"
Ahh, nothing like some mainstream media-endorsed fear mongering to make people care about an at-risk animal! The amphibian being referenced is actually a really neat new family of Caecilian, legless amphibians which live underground and, in this case, look like earthworms with backbones.
Photo by SD Biju, linked from MSNBC article
The cruel irony is the author (who I’m going to assume didn’t write the headline) finishes off the story by saying:
The habitat of these bizarre animals is under threat, as farming takes over forest land in northeast India, according to the University of Delhi. Although caecilians are harmless, local lore has it that they are incredibly venomous snakes, another factor that threatens these mysterious, secretive creatures.
How exactly are we supposed to get the public to become interested in an at-risk new species when we set them up with negative opinions from the get go? Instead of sharing a fascinating new species that doesn’t conform to most people’s idea of what an amphibian is, and encouraging them to ask questions like “Wow, why does that animal look that way?” or “How is that a relative of frogs?”, MSNBC has instead promoted the ‘ick-factor’ and reinforced that if something looks different it should be feared. Maybe this type of headline will get a lot of people to click on the link, but how many will actually read the story and learn about their cool biology rather than just looking at the photo and agreeing with the headline? When the natural world coughs up an amazing story it’s maddening to see it trashed and slandered like this!
Of course, at least MSNBC knows that scientific family names like Chikilidae are always capitalized, unlike the CBC…
Update: It seems MSNBC syndicated this story and headline from LiveScience. Perhaps the headline was proposed by the author after all…
Well said Morgs! Way to stand up for the wee legless animals.
Thanks Phil, I do what I can!
The only horrible thing here is the headline! I think more than ever there is a need of good scientific literacy in our journalists, or to have researchers publish their own findings in the mass media.
Totally agree with both those solutions! There is an awful lot of great science writing online, we just need to get those that can communicate well into positions with the mainstream media rather than pool journalists! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment!
I think editors have final say on headlines, but the author doesn’t show much ability in writing or science. Well, perhaps, an interesting tendency to make odd statements:
“Newly discovered legless amphibians live out their lives in underground burrows, tending their slimy pink young, which emerge from their eggs as miniature adults.”
Maybe I’m strange, but my first thought was ‘do slimy pink human babies emerge as ‘miniature adults?’ And the second was ‘has the author never heard of plethodontid salamanders?’ Well, probably not. Why should a science journalist be held to a higher standard than other journos?
Then there is the “To discover the new family, researchers led by the University of Delhi’s S.D. Biju spent hundreds of hours spread over five years digging in soil at 238 locations in northeast India.” Dr Biju must be incredibly prescient as well as persistent.
One also wonders why these ‘horrifying’ animals, never before known and found over a wide area that has been populated for a long, long time, are now suddenly endangered? I guess because the University of Delhi says so.
Like always Dave, you’ve made my day with your sharp commentary! Good stuff!
I’m glad you covered this, Morgan. It’s really amazing to see the way articles are written, and most often the authors aren’t even aware that they are feeding something inside the head of the readers – bad or good – they just don’t care, because their job is to cover that article come what may!
On the other hand, I’m sure there are a dozen more families to be discovered on this sub-continent!
News conglomerates pander to the lowest common denominator. Expecting good reporting out of them is like expecting pigs to fly. I can either get upset about something that will never change, or see to make alternatives.