Media reports on scientific findings are often misunderstood, misrepresented or overblown. One such example is a study by Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychologist at King's College London. CNN and others claimed "workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana."
Of course, that is not even what the study found. The first clue should have be the fact that an IQ is constant, you can't 'gain' or 'lose' points like studying for the SAT. While the motor skills required for many facets of the test slow in advanced years, base IQ stays the same.
Had CNN taken the initiative to actually talk to the person who conducted the study, they would have known all of this. But CNN is apparently too busy stroking the delicate anima of Anderson Cooper to fact check their content.
This is a considerable and obviously unreported problem in journalism. So the next time you see a report on global warming, diets, aspertame, pesticides, or any other study from any news provider, take it with a grain of salt for it may not be worth the electrons used to light the screen.
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