Jeni Barnett: MMR and Me (updated)
Saturday, 7 February 2009, 11:25
Jeni Barnett's defense of the MMR programme that is the focus of a legal dispute between LBC and Dr Ben Goldacre. To her credit, she allows those who disagree with her to comment.
Update 9/2: It seems my pleasant surprise at Barnett’s willingness to engage with her critics was premature. As Holford Watch points out, out the critical comments have now been removed from her site.
Barnett also added second, more snarky post condemning Ben Goldacre as a “Bad Scientist”. The (quite reasonable) comments on that post have also been removed.
If you publish non-fiction in any public medium — be it a blog or something with a considerably larger audience like a radio programme — you must expect people to question the factual veracity of your reporting and the logical consistency of your analysis. If this happens, you should be willing to take it on the chin, defend your position, or even honourably withdraw claims that don’t stand up to the critique.
This is the standard that scientists hold themselves to, and it would be nice if those with the power to disseminate ideas to mass audiences would hold themselves to the same standard.
