This morning, Mark Lieberman in the must-read Language Log writes in exquisite detail about how a whole mess of journos (Scientists warn of Twitter dangers; Is Twitter Evil?; Twitter and Facebook could harm moral values, scientists warn; Twittering, rapid media may confuse morals; Hooked to facebook? Beware; etc.) completely dropped the ball covering this research and bought — hook, line, and sinker — the canard, created by a press release writer, that “social-networking tools such as Twitter could numb our sense of morality and make us indifferent to human suffering” (via CNN).
It’s, of course, as Lieberman puts it and Ben Goldacre first notes, “hooey.” The report didn’t even mention social networking (or Twitter).
We at UN Dispatch — perhaps you saw this coming — believe that Twitter and Facebook are new tools that we can use to keep you better connected to global issues. If that sounds like something interesting to you, join us on Twitter and Facebook. Maureen Dowd (see this pathetic hatchet job), I won’t count on you joining us anytime soon.