Senate Committee study about effects of seal populations on fisheries recommends expanded seal harvest despite admission there is little evidence to support it
The notion of managing populations always freaks me out. Humans, too? Just look: here's another slide along the slippery slope of normalizing the control of so-called "misinformation." Sigh.
Excellent piece thoroughly documenting the scientific uncertainties that the Senate committee ignored. As usual, the news media faithfully follow the official narrative, framing it in simplistic terms. This is a common fault because journalists depend so heavily on official sources. And, as shown here, once the frame is set, it's almost impossible to overturn it. The late media scholar Richard Ericson showed how reporters use what he termed "a vocabulary of precedents" as they follow familiar narratives that have been used repeatedly in the past. These ready-made frameworks for organizing information allow reporters to present it in easily-digestible forms. In this case, seals are cast as the villains in a standard news narrative about deviance and control. Unfortunately, as also shown here, that narrative is false.
The notion of managing populations always freaks me out. Humans, too? Just look: here's another slide along the slippery slope of normalizing the control of so-called "misinformation." Sigh.
Excellent piece thoroughly documenting the scientific uncertainties that the Senate committee ignored. As usual, the news media faithfully follow the official narrative, framing it in simplistic terms. This is a common fault because journalists depend so heavily on official sources. And, as shown here, once the frame is set, it's almost impossible to overturn it. The late media scholar Richard Ericson showed how reporters use what he termed "a vocabulary of precedents" as they follow familiar narratives that have been used repeatedly in the past. These ready-made frameworks for organizing information allow reporters to present it in easily-digestible forms. In this case, seals are cast as the villains in a standard news narrative about deviance and control. Unfortunately, as also shown here, that narrative is false.