Canadian Gov't Muzzling Scientists?

[Flash Walken]

http://www.globalnews.ca/technology/...633/story.html

VANCOUVER — Top bureaucrats in Ottawa have muzzled a leading fisheries scientist whose discovery could help explain why salmon stocks have been crashing off Canada's West Coast, according to documents obtained by Postmedia News.


The documents show the Privy Council Office, which supports the Prime Minister's Office, stopped Kristi Miller from talking about one of the most significant discoveries to come out of a federal fisheries lab in years.
Science, one of the world's top research journals, published Miller's findings in January. The journal considered the work so significant it notified "over 7,400" journalists worldwide about Miller's "Suffering Salmon" study.


Science told Miller to "please feel free to speak with journalists." It advised reporters to contact Diane Lake, a media officer with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Vancouver, "to set up interviews with Dr. Miller."


Miller heads a $6-million salmon-genetics project at the federal Pacific Biological Station on Vancouver Island.


The documents show major media outlets were soon lining up to speak with Miller, but the Privy Council Office said no to the interviews.


The Privy Council Office also nixed a Fisheries Department news release about Miller's study, saying the release "was not very good, focused on salmon dying and not on the new science aspect," according to documents obtained by Postmedia News under the Access to Information Act.


Miller is still not allowed to speak publicly about her discovery, and the Privy Council Office and Fisheries Department defend the way she has been silenced.


But observers say it is indefensible and more evidence of the way the government is undermining its scientists.

[photon]

Yeah I think this was in the Science thread or one of the other threads.

Disappointing, but not surprising given Harper's apparent desire to have complete control.

Fortunately the science itself isn't being muzzled, anyone with a subscription can read the paper in the journal, it's just the media's access to the scientist (which really the media writes science so bad anyway not having access probably won't make one bit of difference to their accuracy).

Still, it's a very negative thing.

[Kybosh]

This is a pain in the ass as a scientist. What I mean is, the government or the university or whoever supplied the funding typically wants to conduct interviews and release information on their terms. Often times, they'll send "media coaches" to scientists or researchers to help them say only things that don't affect the organization negatively. This is because, most scientists are *gasp* pretty good and telling their results being good, bad or in between. It's a huge media game.

Also, this isn't done to discount research. As I'm trying to emphasize, it's done to give the organization the upper hand over the media.

[photon]

I can get that, especially in a competitive environment like private companies or even universities, you might want to have some control so the scientist (who's forte is science, not public communication) doesn't reveal information that would give up your competitive advantage or something.

There has to be a line somewhere, but I think this crosses it.

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by photon

I can get that, especially in a competitive environment like private companies or even universities, you might want to have some control so the scientist (who's forte is science, not public communication) doesn't reveal information that would give up your competitive advantage or something.

There has to be a line somewhere, but I think this crosses it.

In this instance, I agree. 99% of the time I wouldn't necessarily classify it as muzzling though. Pain in the ass, yes.

As you said, at least the Science article is out there. For curious people, Science journal is written more towards general yet somewhat advanced public knowledge. For people looking to keep up with current advances, Science is a good journal.

[troutman]

What is Miller's discovery?

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by troutman

What is Miller's discovery?

According to the article, it's some kind of fish leukemia that is transmittable between fish.

[Canuck-Hater]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

According to the article, it's some kind of fish leukemia that is transmittable between fish.

Which in turn can get into the food chain. Not good.

[Traditional_Ale]

Well that's just effing great. I love salmon.

[Ashartus]

The stuff that gets published in journals like science is one thing - while I disagree with the government's position here, at least it is available to those who know where to look for it. However, most of the work done by government scientists ends up in internal reports, so if the scientists are being silenced no one will ever know about it (e.g. if information on the status of a particular species or effects of climate change is inconvenient it can be easily buried under this regime).