Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@AOL.COM>]

CSICOP IN THE NEWS
Highlights from 4th Quarter 2003 

December 30, 2003
Fox News Channel
"The Fox Report"
7-8 pm EST US

CSICOP senior Research Fellow Joe Nickell was interviewed for a segment on
the "Solano [County,  California] Crop Circles," to address recent claims
that the circles were the product of  something other than human hoaxers.

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December 25, 2003
Fox News Channel
"The Fox Report"
7-8 p.m. EST US

Ed Bucker, Southern Director of the Council for Secular Humanism, appeared
Fox News Christmas Day  for a segment on the appropriateness of Christmas
nativity scenes, etc., on government property.

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December 15 & 18, 2003
CNN
"Anderson Cooper 360"
7-8 p.m. EST

This week on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360"
(http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/ index.html), there was
a weeklong series of segments on miracles. Monday featured the case of
Audrey Santo. Tuesday was devoted to the Roman Catholic Church's "Miracle
Verification Unit." On  Wednesday, CNN Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta
discussed alleged medical miracles. Thursday  was devoted to visions and
simulacra of the Virgin Mary, and the final segment discussed why  people
believe in miracles. 

Nickell appeared on the Monday night segment to discuss Audrey Santo. His
pre-taped appearance  was short, but on Tuesday, CNN asked him to come back
for a live appearance for the Thursday  segment on visions of Mary. Excerpt
available at http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0312/18/acd.00. html).

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November 11, 2003
Newshouse News Service
"Alternative Medicine Agency Puts Health Claims to Test"
by Robert Cohen

Cohen reports on the National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (NCCAM) in  Bethesda, Maryland. He quotes Scientific Review of
Alternative Medicine editor and CSICOP Fellow,  Wallace Sampson, MD, on the
frivolity of much of the NCCAM's research:

"'Eighty (percent) to 90 percent of these studies don't have to be done.
They are investments in  absurd propositions and methods already disproved.'
Sampson said.

"He called alternative medicine 'an institutionalized social cult movement
that perpetuates  itself using governmental agencies for funding and
promoting products and therapies that are  worthless. Most scientists
recognize it is baloney.'"

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November 7, 2003
Time.com (Time Magazine Web site)
"The Skeptical Eye: Larry King and the Paranormal"
by Leon Jaroff

Jaroff, a CSICOP fellow, chronicles Larry King's promotion of psychic
mediums and other  paranormal clap-trap, citing Chris Mooney's article for
Skeptical Inquirer. 

"...host Larry King has undermined the impact of those interviews by also
repeatedly inviting a  motley collection of UFO enthusiasts, paranormalists,
seers and mediums to his show," Jarroff  writes. "Writing in the current
issue of Skeptical Inquirer, columnist Chris Mooney pulls no  punches. 'CNN
may be a respected news network,' he says, "but in its irresponsible
presentation  of paranormal topics and themes, 'Larry King Live' compromises
that reputation.'" 

(See
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,538305,00.html)
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November 4, 2003
Los Angeles Times 
"Battling Delirium in the ICU"
by Jane E. Allen
(SYNDICATED)

Wallace Sampson MD, editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine,
comments on the  frequent symptoms of delirium in intensive care unit
patients. 

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October 31, 2003
Discovery News
"Internet Tricks No Treat"
Larry O'Hanlon

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20031027/hoax.html
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/tech/InnovationRepublish_981350.htm

"Trick or treat?," O'Hanlon writes. "Brace yourself for a trick, said
leading skeptics from the  United States, Canada and Europe who gathered in
Albuquerque, N.M., earlier this week to debunk  the latest and greatest
cons, frauds, pranks, hoaxes, hauntings, UFOs, monsters, fake TV psychics
and other paranormal phenomena." 

O'Hanlon reports on the lessons he took home from the Albuquerque "Hoaxes
Myths and Manias"  conference, namely that the Internet and modern media
make it possible for hoax claims to spread  faster than ever.

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October 30, 2003
Associated Press
"Investigator probes the paranormal"
by Chaka Ferguson

Ferguson reports on the career of CSICOP Senior Research Fellow Joe Nickell
as paranormal sleuth. 

Ferguson writes:

"On Halloween, when legend says disembodied spirits return in search of
living bodies to possess,  Joe Nickell goes on the prowl, too -- for ghosts,
ghouls, and other things that creep in the  night.

"The former private eye, who used to solve arsons and theft rings for a
security firm, is now a  senior research fellow at the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the  Paranormal, or CSICOP.

"His job: unravel the unexplained, debunk the deceptive, unmask the hoax."

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October 26, 2003
Associated Press
"People Want to Talk to the Animals"
by Joann LoViglio

Joe Nickell comments on the renewed phenomenon of pet psychics who claim to
convey the thoughts  of living pets to their owners and pet mediums who
"channel" the spirits of deceased pets:

"'Like all aspects of the paranormal, this is tapping into the most basic of
human hopes and  fears and longings,' Nickell said. 'We hope that we live
after we die, we hope we're not alone in  the universe."

'... This is kind of like a grown-up version of the child with imaginary
playmates,' [Nickell]  said. 'They're fantasy-prone people who are conveying
a message to people who are hoping to get a  message and aren't thinking
critically.'"

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October 24, 2003
KOAT-TV Albuquerque (ABC Affilate)
11:00 pm news broadcast

Coverage of "Hoaxes Myths and Manias" Conference.

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October 24, 2003
KRQE-TV (CBS Affiliate)
11:00 pm news broadcast

Coverage of "Hoaxes Myths and Manias" Conference.

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October 23, 2003
National Geographic News (nationalgeographic.com)
"Forensic Expert Says Bigfoot Is Real"
by Stefan Lovgren

CSICOP Fellow Michael Dennett comments explains to National Geographic why
the majority of  scientists are skeptical of Bigfoot claims: 

"'The bottom line is, they don't have a body,' said Michael Dennett, who
writes for Skeptical  Inquirer magazine and who has followed the Bigfoot
debate for 20 years. 

"Dennett says he's not surprised by the flood of Bigfoot sightings. 

"'It's the same kind of eyewitness reports we see for the Loch Ness Sea
Monster, UFOs, ghosts,  you name it," he said. "The monster thing is a
universal product of the human mind. We hear such  stories from around the
world.'" 

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October 23, 2003
Albuquerque Tribune 
"Believe it or not, meeting set for aliens, Bigfoot"
Frank Zoretich

Zoretich announces the "Hoaxes Myths & Manias" conference in Albuquerque,
NM.

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October 22, 2003
Albuquerque Journal
"Skeptics Host Meeting: Conference Looks at Pseudoscience"
John Fleck

Fleck announces the "Hoaxes Myths & Manias" conference in Albuquerque, NM.

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