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.
In fairness the story of “Oz” was being pushed by photo agency Diimex, with the likes of the Daily Mail, Yahoo7 and Buzzfeed also deeming it to be “news”.
Buzzfeed went further still calling for the cat to be our new Head of State.
All this follows hot on the heels of the folks at News.com.au getting an exclusive look at a day in the life of Grant Denyer…
Proof, if ever it was needed, that the internet is essentially driven by cats. And mutant Lambs… and Grant Denyer.
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.
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Firstly, no one said it was science journalism. Secondly, who are you? The fun police? Does everything have to be ‘worthy’?!
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I love the headline “This cat has a map of Australia on its nose”. Brilliant writing.
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