So we need journalists to avoid sensationalizing new findings and to report both that there is a consensus (when there is one) and the reasons for it. It is particularly important for journalists and politicians to carefully vet the sources of their information. It will invariably be the case that nonexperts need experts to aggregate evidence for them. This is what propagandists seek to exploit, by standing in for disinterested experts and aggregating evidence in a way favorable to their own interests. Often the groups doing this aggregation consciously attempt to mislead journalists about
...more
