Comments on: Psst. Here’s the Quote I’d Like

By: Collide-a-scape » Blog Archive » Collide-a-scape >> My Rebuttal to Romm

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:10:25 +0000

[...] reason for Romm’s 2700-word attack seems to stem from this critical post I wrote on him several weeks ago. So I’ll mostly address his grievances related to that. [...]

By: Eli Rabett

Eli Rabett — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:15:12 +0000

Given Caldeira’s interview with Yale360, I do believe you are now called no leg Kloor.

By: Gator

Gator — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:47:40 +0000

So, KK, do you agree that L&D wrote in their book the exact opposite of what Dr. Caldiera actually believes and publicly espouses? Do you agree that Romm’s presentation of Dr. Caldiera’s views more accurately represents Dr. C’s beliefs and work?

So in light of this, you make a big stink about Joe Romm’s journalistic ethics… who cares about the actual facts of the case, eh?

By: Keith Kloor

Keith Kloor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:53:04 +0000

Actually, that’s what Romm thinks, because you link to Romm’s post. Here’s the Pooley piece.

Can you point to anywhere in there where he says its okay to feed a scientist a quote so you can trash somebody in a blog post?

Remember, my post isn’t about the content of his criticism of Freakonomics. I have a very specific criticism of the way Romm treats journalism as a blood sport. That’s not engaged by Pooley in his story. Nice try, though.

By: Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:38:17 +0000

Eric Pooley seems to think Romm did OK. L+D, not so much. Of course Eric probably lacks Keith's extensive j-school experience.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:46:31 +0000

Just thought I would make the obvious point which nobody seems to notice: Romm is not a journalist. What he did was low, but entirely consistent with someone who’s job is to trash anybody who advocates for a position that is opposed to that of his ideologically oriented employer – a political think tank (not a news reporting agency).

By: Do Quotes Grow on Plants? « Cruel Mistress

Do Quotes Grow on Plants? « Cruel Mistress — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:21:16 +0000

[...] academics in the past, and he’s just recently done so again by allegedly planting quotes. Roger Pielke Jr. has the scoop, and Keith Kloor follows suit, and Brad DeLong is all crazy up in the house. Fascinating reading, [...]

By: Collide-a-scape » Blog Archive » Collide-a-scape >> Trash Journalism

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:04:13 +0000

[...] my cornflakes this morning I was mulling this comment by Deltoid’s Tim Lambert, which he left in response to my criticism yesterday of Joe Romm, [...]

By: Keith Kloor

Keith Kloor — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:57:41 +0000

Tim,

Your comment reveals a faulty understanding of journalistic reporting. Newspaper and magazine reporters don’t have a pre-determined story in mind while they’re interviewing sources. This is not how we operate. (I won’t speak for book authors.)

For example, if I write a story on geoengineering for a science publication, it would be perfectly fine for me to tell all the scientists I’m interviewing that this is the topic of the story I’m working on. That’s customary.

But Joe Romm went way beyond what any respectable journalist would do when telling Ken Caldiera that he wanted to “trash” Dubner and Levitt and then asking for a specific quote that supported this aim. In case you’re not familiar with the context of what I’m talking about, here are the email excerpts from Dubner’s blog:

“The chain begins with Joseph Romm telling Caldeira that he had read SuperFreakonomics and ‘I want to trash them for this insanity and ignorance.’ Romm adds that ‘my blog is read by everyone in this area, including the media’ and tells Caldeira that ‘I’d like a quote like ‘The authors of SuperFreakonomics have utterly misrepresented my work,’ plus whatever else you want to say.’”

This may have been, as you put it, “refreshingly honest” for an advocacy blogger to say, but it would be highly unethical for a professonal journalist to say and then actually do.

Romm doesn’t seem to get this and apparently, neither do you.

By: Tim Lambert

Tim Lambert — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:50:49 +0000

I think Romm was refreshingly honest. Most journalists won’t tell you what kind of a story they trying to write and you don’t find out till you see your views mangled in their story. If Dubner had been up front that he was trying to make a case for geoengineering being superior to mitigation, it is possible that Caldeira could have emphasised his belief that it is musch worse and Dubner wouldn’t have written that Caldeira endorses it when he doesn’t.