Guest guest Posted August 2, 2002 Report Share Posted August 2, 2002 Will Stossel Endorse Phony " Lynxgate " Story? August 2, 2002 According to his e-mail newsletter and a commentary on the ABC website, reporter John Stossel will likely report a bogus account of an important environmental story on ABC's 20/20 program tonight. In his e-mail preview, Stossel claims that wildlife biologists tried to falsify data in order to show that Canadian lynx, a threatened species, were in southern Washington. " This is a frightening prospect for people who like using the land, " Stossel's e-mail reports, since " finding a threatened species can set in motion a series of events that can wreck your life if you're a rancher or farmer or just someone who wants to drive in the woods. " Stossel is enthusiastic about what he thinks happened next: " That didn't happen this time, because it turned out the government's biologist were caught cheating! The lynx hair sent to the lab came from a lynx that lives in a cage, miles away from where the biologists claimed they found the hair. " This story, heavily promoted last year by the conservative Washington Times, has long been debunked. Biologists had sent the lab samples of known Canadian lynx and bobcat hair, hoping to check whether the testing process could accurately identify them. As reported in FAIR's magazine Extra! (5-6/02), " The biologists were skeptical that the lab would produce accurate results; they were suspicious of test results, ironically enough, because another lab had found more lynx than the biologists thought was likely. " Such blind testing is common in research studies, but was not authorized in this particular project, so the researchers were disciplined by being removed from the study. The captive-lynx samples could not have been used to falsify the presence of lynx anywhere, because the actual source of the fur was plainly noted in the researchers' lab books, which are the official record of the study. Stossel is aware of their explanation, but dismisses it, quoting a guest who compares them to bank robbers who claim they were going to return the money the next day. But contrary to the notion that the scientists were " caught " sending in control samples, the Seattle Times reported last December (12/30/01) that " several told their supervisors about it, and one notified the lab itself. " Accusations that the scientists were attempting to perpetrate a fraud have been repeatedly investigated, by groups and agencies ranging from the Washington State Senate to the General Accounting Office. No one has turned up any evidence that there was any attempt to deceive involved. Stossel says of the lynx story, " It makes me wonder what other parts of their science we don't know the truth about. " In fact, the truth about the control samples has been known for months, yet Stossel still is putting forward the discredited allegations of " cheating. " ABC has been put on notice that we expect a higher standard of journalism from the network. CONTACT: ABC News netaudr 20/20 2020 John Stossel stossel For more background, see " The Washington Times' Hair-Raising Tall Tale, " http://www.fair.org/extra/0205/lynxgate.html To find out more about Stossel's report, see: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/DailyNews/GMAB_lynx_020802.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.