Genie Scott on the BBC : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Genie Scott on the BBC

Posted on: March 29, 2007 9:10 AM, by Ed Brayton

For those who might be interested, the BBC has an audio interview with Genie Scott of the National Center for Science Education on their webpage. There's also a disturbing picture of her with Ken Ham. Then again, any picture with Ken Ham in is disturbing.

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Comments

I wonder if they shook hands. Shouldn't that have resulted in some kind of matter/anti-matter annihilation?

Posted by: keiths | March 29, 2007 9:38 AM

All these documentaries made in Britain about what is going on in the United States.

Why aren't these shows being produced in the United States? Are TV execs afraid to air the controversy over the "controversy?" (Yes.)

Posted by: Kristine | March 29, 2007 10:07 AM

Well, it is a radio show, and radio is pretty much dead as a documentary medium in the US. (NPR does some sterling work, but can't come close to the quality and quantity of programming the BBC does in this area.)

Fortunately, through the wonders of the Intertubes, a large chunk of the Beeb's talk radio output is available for free online:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/

Most shows are online for a week after they are aired, but many of the science and documentary shows keep their archives online for much longer.

Posted by: tacitus | March 29, 2007 10:28 AM

All these documentaries made in Britain about what is going on in the United States.

I guess you don't watch NOVA on PBS. I can't say enough good things about this series. Their shows are consistently well done and no 'fake science'.

C-SPAN has scientists and science writers on from time-to-time - sometimes in its typical talking-head format and sometimes on BookTV. IIRC, a few months ago they had Michael Shermer debating Jonathan Wells about ID in some venue. I wouldn't exactly call it riveting television, but they do have them on.

Posted by: Poly | March 29, 2007 5:54 PM

I wonder if they shook hands. Shouldn't that have resulted in some kind of matter/anti-matter annihilation?

Or, to put a different spin on it, charm meets strange.

Posted by: grasshopper | March 29, 2007 6:07 PM

BBC TV's science coverage - Attenborough aside - is pretty terrible, actually. The flagship science programme, Horizon, has had its budget and scheduling cut back dramatically since its heyday in the 80s and is now little more than a joke. This week's programme summary: "Professor Lesley Regan is on a mission to fill her bathroom cabinet with cosmetics that actually work". Even the programmes that focus on weighty scientific issues or controversies spend about 10 minutes on the actual science and 50 minutes on narrative filler. You do get the occasional decent documentary that isn't about wildlife, but they're one offs.

Posted by: Ginger Yellow | March 29, 2007 7:19 PM

Horizon did a good episode on the Dover trial, IIRC. But you're right that the BBC is slowly but surely dumbing down. They used to assume that the viewer was not stupid, but just ignorant of the subject under discussion, and would try and explain it in words containing three or more syllables. But now it's assumed that the viewer *is* stupid, and has the attention span of a goldfish.

Oh, and this coming Sunday, there's a programme on BBC2 about Jim Phelps, called "The Most Hated Family In America".

Posted by: Nebogipfel | March 30, 2007 3:42 AM

Fred Phelps, you mean...

Posted by: Jim Lippard | March 31, 2007 6:40 PM

Whoops, yes, I did mean Fred. I can only plead being a Brit in my defence. But hopefully Fred's Mission is also Impossible... ;-)

Posted by: Nebogipfel | April 4, 2007 7:14 AM