Foreign Policy : Science writer in China gets beaten, nearly killed. All for reporting on quacks, charlatans, and other science frauds?
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ome of us thought an English science writer who was sued for libel by chiropractors in the UK was getting pretty rough treatment for what seemed from the outside as routine reporting and opinionizing in print – and he won in the end. Things play rougher in China, according to Foreign Policy magazine (Thank you Jim Handman at Canada’s CBC Quirks & Quarks for pointing it out to us).
A July 6 dispatch from writer Sam Geall reports the strong indications that a science editor and writer, Fang Xuanchang, was viciously attacked by what appeared to be murder-minded hired thugs late one night. The surmised reason was to stop him from his tendency to label as quackery herbal cures, earthquake predictions based on things like ringing of the ears, and widespread fakery of data and padding of resumes among scientists who publish in the nation’s journals.
It has links to sources and backup throughout. One I followed is a treat, a blog in English that rounds up coverage in China and around the world. The post immediately pertinent is #03, a fair scroll down from the top. It’s an account of a TV debate that included the now-bloodied Fang and some members of what the blog writer calls the “false science camp.” It’s eye-opening. In fact the whole blog is worth scanning through for a taste of news coverage, blog style, in China.
Geall puts a kicker on his FP story that provides solace to the profession, esp. in its gadfly role: “Harnessing scientific prowess required promoting good academic practice, scientific education, critical thinking – and science journalism.”
The news apparently has been widely reported in China. One account, a blog roundup at China Digital Times, is here.
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More media and quackery news: At least in the US, so far as I’ve heard, the writer of this Boing Boing blogpost, Maggie Koerth-Baker, remains unbeaten for this : Science reporting officially dead at CNN. It has to do with, um, a pyschic octopus. (thx to Lee Hotz for this story tip).
- Charlie Petit
