Candle in the Dark and Snuffed Candle Awards
SkeptInq@aol.com
Mon, 9 Nov 1998 13:00:12 EST
THE CANDLE IN THE DARK AND SNUFFED CANDLE AWARDS
This Friday, November 13, at a press conference in Los Angeles, Skeptical
Inquirer magazine and the Council for Media Integrity will present its annual
Candle in the Dark award to the television series PBS Scientific American
Frontiers and the Snuffed Candle award to radio host Art Bell.
The PRESS RELEASE for the event follows below.
CSICOP NOV. 14 CONFERENCE ON HOLLYWOOD AND THE SUPERNATURAL
On Saturday, November 14, CSICOP will host "That's Entertainment: Hollywood,
the Media and the Supernatural." Held at the Los Angeles Renaissance Hotel,
the conference explores themes of science and the paranormal in the media.
Speakers include author/entertainer Steve Allen, Friends and Murphy Brown
television director Peter Bonerz, UC-Berkeley scientist Jere Lipps, special
effects creator Trey Stokes, Purdue University Communications Professor Glenn
Sparks and Georgia State University Communications Professor William Evans.
REGISTRATION IS STILL AVAILABLE. Call 1800-634-1610. Details follow the
press release.
___________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED for release until Friday, November 13
CONTACT MATT NISBET (716) 636-1425 ext. 219
WWW.CSICOP.ORG
FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH BRINGS...
THE CANDLE IN THE DARK
AND
SNUFFED CANDLE AWARDS
THE COUNCIL FOR MEDIA INTEGRITY
APPLAUDS PBS' SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS FOR SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATION OF
PSEUDOSCIENCE AND THE PARANORMAL
CRITICIZES RADIO HOST ART BELL FOR PARANORMAL AND CONSPIRACY MYSTERY
MONGERING
SPONSORED BY SKEPTICAL INQUIRER MAGAZINE
The Los Angeles Renaissance Hotel
9620 Airport Blvd.
Friday, November 13
10am
LOS ANGELES, NOV. 13 -- In a press conference held today, a prestigious
network of scientists that includes five Nobel laureates honored the producers
of the PBS television series Scientific American Frontiers for balanced
science programming while denouncing radio host Art Bell for perpetuating
conspiracy myths and engaging in paranormal mystery mongering.
In presenting the coveted Candle In the Dark Award to Scientific American
Frontiers producer David Huntley, the Council for Media Integrity cited the
program for "its outstanding contributions to the public's understanding of
science and scientific principles." The series, hosted by Alan Alda, devoted
the episode "Beyond Science" to examining claims of pseudoscience and the
paranormal from a scientific perspective. Topics covered included dowsing,
palm reading, free energy claims, therapeutic touch, graphology and the alien
autopsy hoax. Last year's winner of the Candle In the Dark award was Bill Nye
for his science television program Bill Nye, The Science Guy.
"With American scientific illiteracy hovering at about 98% or 196+ million
adults, any exposure to large numbers of people, and that means television,
about how science works is important," says Jere Lipps, Professor of
Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. "Alan Alda's and Scientific American
Frontier's 'Beyond Science' is a big step in the right direction. The
debunking of pseudoscience and a proper understanding of how science works
will save Americans and our country billions of dollars a year."
Radio host Art Bell was named as recipient of the less-than-prestigious
Snuffed Candle Award. The Council for Media Integrity cited Bell "for
encouraging credulity, presenting pseudoscience as genuine, and contributing
to the public's lack of understanding of the methods of scientific inquiry."
Bell became notorious in 1997 following the Heaven's Gate suicides. On his
radio show and his website, Bell promoted the notion of a spacecraft following
in the tail of the comet Hale-Bopp, possibly contributing to the cult members'
suicide in a delusional attempt to "graduate to the next level" aboard the
Comet Hale-Bopp spacecraft. Last year's winner of the Snuffed Candle Award was
Dan Akroyd for his pseudo-documentary television series The Psi-Factor.
"Bell's show cultivates conspiracy theories, a distrust of scientists, a
misunderstanding of science, and belief in suspect, and often even
demonstrably wrong ideas, concerning everything from astronomy to zoology,"
says Georgia State University Communications Professor William Evans. "The
radio station managers who carry Art Bell want to pretend that it is merely
entertainment programming rather than news or information programming. Bell is
thereby given license to offer biased programming with the purposeful
exclusion of any voice that might lend criticism to his distorted worldview."
The Council for Media Integrity, sponsored by Skeptical Inquirer magazine,
was founded in 1996 at the World Skeptics Congress in Buffalo, New York. The
Council is a network of prestigious scientists, academics and members of the
media concerned with the balanced portrayal of science. The award titles were
inspired by the late Carl Sagan's book, The Demon Haunted World: Science as a
Candle in the Dark.
"What effects do paranormal depictions in the media have on the public? The
evidence so far suggests that the media do indeed affect what people believe"
says Purdue University Communications Professor Glenn Sparks. "Just as the
networks and film producers have a social responsibility in the areas of
violence and sexual content, the research to date suggests that there are
important points for media practitioners to ponder about the messages they
construct that deal with the paranormal."
On hand to make presentations and comments at the press conference will be
Sparks, Huntley, Evans, Jere Lipps, Professor of Integrative Biology at UC-
Berkeley; Barry Karr, Executive Director of the Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP); and Matt Nisbet,
Coordinator for the Council for Media Integrity.
The presentation of the Candle in the Dark and Snuffed Candle awards on
Friday precedes a Saturday conference to be held at the Los Angeles
Renaissance Hotel. Titled That's Entertainment: Hollywood, the Media and the
Supernatural, the conference includes presentations by Sparks, Evans, UC-
Berkeley scientist Jere Lipps, author/entertainer Steve Allen, special effects
creator Trey Stokes, television director Peter Bonerz, and Sci-Fi Channel host
Justin Gunn.
Contact Matt Nisbet (716) 636-1425 ext. 219
EMBARGOED TILL NOV. 13.
--30--
The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
(CSICOP) is an international association of scientists, academics and
researchers dedicated to the scientific examination of claims of the
paranormal and pseudoscience. CSICOP's current roster of fellows includes five
Nobel laureates as well as Stephen Jay Gould, Marilyn Vos Savant, Jill Tarter
and Richard Dawkins. CSICOP publishes Skeptical Inquirer, The Magazine for
Science and Reason.
Check out www.csicop.org, rated one of the Top 10 science sites on the web.
______________________________________________________________________
NOV. 14 CSICOP L.A. CONFERENCE ON THE PARANORMAL AND THE MEDIA
THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!
Hollywood, the Media and the Supernatural
Saturday, November 14
Los Angeles, CA
LA Renaissance Hotel
9620 Airport Blvd.
310-337-2800
***To register, call 1-800-634-1610 or e-mail SINISBET@aol.com. Include
Credit Card Number, type and expiration date, as well as numbers attending.***
Daily the world public is offered a steady diet of uncritical media
presentations of the paranormal ranging from The X-Files to psychics on Larry
King Live and Oprah Winfrey. Lucrative media promotion of the paranormal
abounds with examples including blockbuster films like Independence Day and
Men In Black, Art Bell's top rated radio mystery mongering , syndicated
pseudo-documentaries like Dan Akroyd's Psi Factor, and network specials
including NBC's The Mysterious Origins of Man and Fox's Alien Autopsy.
Why is media promotion of the paranormal and pseudoscience so profitable?
What can be done about the negative portrayal of science and the uncritical
presentation of the paranormal? Do media presentations of the paranormal
influence what people believe?
Join CSICOP and the Council for Media Integrity for an informative and
entertaining discussion of these topics involving top media researchers,
scientists and members of the entertainment industry.
Launched in 1996 at the World Skeptics Congress, the Council for Media
Integrity is an international network of prominent scientists, academics and
members of the media dedicated to the balanced portrayal of science in the
media. The Council for Media Integrity is sponsored by CSICOP and Skeptical
Inquirer, the Magazine for Science and Reason.
<A HREF="http://www.csicop.org/cmi/">http://www.csicop.org/cmi/</A>
SCHEDULE
9-920 Introduction: The Council for Media Integrity
920-10 Critical Perspective from Hollywood
Author/Entertainer Steve Allen
10-1100 The Need to Sensationalize
Justin Gunn, host of Sci-Fi Channel's The Web
11-1200 Scientific Illiteracy in America and the Mass Media
Jere Lipps, Professor of Integrative Biology, Unversity of California,
Berkeley
12-100 Lunch
(Includes grilled breast of chicken with proscuitto ham and mozzarella,
marsala wine sauce)
1-200 Alien Autopsies from Across the Globe
Trey Stokes, special effects creator, whose credits include Starship Troopers
2-300 Science and Reason in Film and Television
William Evans, Professor of Communications, Georgia State University
3-400 Reflections from a Skeptic in Hollywood
Peter Bonerz, television director, whose credits include Friends, Murphy
Brown, and Home Improvement.
4-500 Media Portrayals of the Paranormal: Do They Effect What People
Believe?
Glenn Sparks, Professor of Communications, Purdue University
5-545 Roundtable Discussion and Q&A with Sparks, Evans, Stokes, Lipps,
Bonerz, Gunn and others
REGISTRATION IS $50 PER PERSON, PLUS $20 IF ATTENDING LUNCH.
***To register, call 1-800-634-1610 or e-mail SINISBET@aol.com to register.
Include Credit Card Number and expiration date, as well as numbers
attending.***