Reveals that the buying and selling of information to advance
private agendas is one thing warping everyone sense of the truth,
according to Cynthia Crossen of 'The Wall Street Journal.' Information's
creation not to enlarge our body of knowledge but to sell a product or to
promote a cause; Crossen's new book, 'The Tainted Truth: The Corruption
of Fact in the Information Age'; How the majority of statistical
information is swallowed by the public; Medical studies also
affected.
By
PT Staff, published on November 01, 1994
Truth
Would you believe that chocolate actually reduces your chance of
getting cavities? Or that milk is the number one health hazard facing
young children?
Well, the first study was commissioned by the M&M/Mars Company
and the second by an antidairy vegetarian group. And that, says an
outraged newspaper reporter, is warping everyone's sense of truth. Buying
and selling information to advance private agendas is only one way truth
gets twisted, according to Cynthia Crossen of The Wall Street Journal.
More and more of the information we use to buy, elect, advise, acquit,
and heal has been created not to enlarge our body of knowledge but to
sell a product or advance a cause.
In a new book, Tainted Truth: The Corruption of Fact in the
Information Age (Simon & Schuster), Crossen charges that in the
information business, truth has come to belong to those who commission
it. Unfortunately, regardless of its source or validity, the majority of
statistical information is swallowed by the public.
Even medical studies are not exempt. Like product surveys and
public opinion polls, many are conducted under conditions skewed by
biased researchers--and still remain well within acceptable standards.
Even the simplest public opinion poll can be contrived to obtain a
desired result by the wording of questions, their order, and whether a
question is multiple choice or open-ended.
But there are ways to get to the truth. Crossen suggests: Demand to
see the technical index--a list of methods, data, and study
population--required of every credible survey. She urges Americans to
become active, not passive, thinkers. Freedom of speech hardly ensures
its truth, even in numbers.
PHOTO: A Hersey Kiss
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public opinion polls,
sense of truth,
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