Annoying statements on spoken and typed news sites.

Given the rigour with which I, and I’m sure many others, have been scouring the news channels and reputable internet news sites I suppose it should not be surprising that certain constantly recurring statements should begin to grate on the nerves.

I am referring to two statements in particular that are repeated again and again. These being “Research shows” and “Researchers have indicated”. 

Who’s research has indicted the claimed results? Who are these researchers? Are they actually qualified enough to perform the claimed research? What experience have they of performing such research if their previous project was on the price of potatoes over a period of 30 years in a small market town in Berkshire? Can you detail the extent of the research i.e. was it a trawl of learned publications or experts on the subject or was it “a quick punt about on the internet?

You see my point? None of the above questions ever seem to be addressed which to my mind (yes OK, maybe I’m a mistrusting soul, but I can’t help that) means the claimed research may well be suspect.

Just because someone claims research has been done or that researchers have evidence for something or other, in and of itself does not guarantee anything meaningful has been produced and therefore should we give it any credence?

So am I being reasonable in raising these doubts or is it paranoia? 

You decide, because I am no longer sure.

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Responses

  1. Agreed. “Research” has become a buzzword that is meant to instill trust. Its like “9 out of 10 dentists recommend” but you don’t even know what question was asked these dentists. And for the record, I wouldn’t consider you paranoid at all. If anything, the constant scams that people have concocted all the way back to snake-oil salesmen and even before, have beaten into our brains as humans to be skeptical. For me as a modern-day consumer, I find myself going to the “reviews” section of Amazon or some other websites to see what other people are saying. Unfortunately that isn’t even as reliable as it used to be because companies are creating fake “people” to write glowing reviews of products.

  2. In my humble opinion to question is not only reasonable but essential to the skill of being able to think critically, something seemingly in short supply in these times. The word that annoys and grates on my last nerve is ‘unprecedented!!!’

  3. I’ve always pictured little old men in dusty labs writing reports for the news people to read to us…….sometimes fake news is more informative than the real news…..but how do we really know it’s fake?