Think-tank Demos’ Building Character study – presented to the press with a snappy ‘tough love’ tag – has achieved widespread coverage today and over the weekend. And media outlets have embraced its tag, with titles including the Guardian, Telegraph, Mirror and Daily Mail using ‘tough love’ in their headlines.
Typically opposed to ‘merely reporting the facts’, the Mail’s headline reads ‘Parental warmth AND discipline produces best adults, admits Left-wing think-tank’. The use of ‘admits’ implies Demos’ PR success is in some way a grudging concession to right-wing disciplinarians. Those sitar-strumming, spliff-smoking lefties have finally seen the light! Then again, if the subs spent less time pushing an agenda and more time ensuring accuracy, we’d have missed out on this incredible typo:
But anyway, by far the most baffling coverage can be credited to the BBC. Of its three pieces that cover the story, one starts:
Unborn babies whose mothers suffer stress or illness or use drugs or alcohol can be more susceptible to both good and bad parenting, a study claims.
Depending on the care they get, says the study, these children can do better or worse than their peers in developing skills such as application and empathy.
Eh? For a moment, I thought I was reading News Arse.
Related:
For more examples of the BBC having one, both or neither foot simultaneously in either or neither or both camps, see: BBC News fills up on inconsistency in the name of 'science'
The whole report is drivel anyway, since the study fails to account for genetics ie well-balanced parents produce well-balanced kids, and the parenting style is an effect not a cause.
Posted by: Matt | Nov 09, 2009 at 16:02