When science journalism meets animal faces
There are those who would claim the mainstream media is dumbing down, especially where science is concerned.
But Dr Mumbo is pleased to see the nation’s most popular website News.com.au engaging its audience with hard hitting science yarns, such as this story about a lamb born with the face of an angry old man.
It follows hot on the heels of yesterday’s effort, no not a hard hitting expose on climate change, but a picture of a cat which has a marking on its nose which vaguely resembles a map of Australia.
Chicken-and-egg stuff here. Pretty clear that people would rather click on one of these stories than a story about climate change, so while you might blame the news agency for publishing these stories you can equally blame the consumer for preferring them over the hard news alternatives.
Firstly, no one said it was science journalism. Secondly, who are you? The fun police? Does everything have to be ‘worthy’?!
I love the headline “This cat has a map of Australia on its nose”. Brilliant writing.