Bacon sandwiches
One of the stupider news stories of this week concerned Leeds university Department of Food Science research to produce a "formula" for the perfect bacon sandwich. The story was given prominent coverage on BBC radio, as well as appearing on BBC News Online, in 4 national papers (The Times, The Mirror, Daily Mail and Daily Star) 4 local papers (including the high-circulation Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post) and numerous international outlets, including the New York Times and International Herald Tribune.
What the international papers had the decency to mention was where the money came from. The reseach was "commissioned by the Danish Bacon and Food Council, the British subsidiary of a Danish pig producers' organization" the New York Times reports (Alan Cowell, NYT, April 11 2007). The Stockport Express reports that an event for journalists was organized at Othello's Cafe Bar in Stockport, where the research was "put to the test."
So what we have is the manufacture of a 'news' story which cost the Danish Bacon and Food Council much less than the equivalent advertising space in the 20 or so publications where the story appeared. Big deal - the practice is common enough, most often appearing in the form of surveys commissioned by companies. And you might even say that a bit of additional research funding won't do Leeds' Department of Food Science much harm. But here's the problem: the government wants to stimulate this kind of "investment" in higher education and research from the "private sector" so that it can slash state funding and redirect the money to fill budget deficits resulting from PFI projects gone wrong, mismanagement of the public services, or the spiralling costs of the Olympic games. Academics justifiably complain about having a lack of resources. The danger is that if this trend continues, there will be research funding, but academics will be forced to conduct meaningless studies on trivial subjects, instead of doing something worthwhile. This is already a serious enough problem for science, which in certain sectors (like chemistry) is almost entirely reliant on private funding for research, but it is increasingly affecting other subjects too. The faith of the general public in the value of academic research is shaky enough already - if stories of this kind are the most frequent examples they hear of, this is hardly a surprise.
Seeing a story like this, academics are prone to dismiss it as the product of a news media structured in such a way as to produce trivialities to advance the interests of their parent companies and advertisers. But they should pay attention if they do not wish to join the club.
What the international papers had the decency to mention was where the money came from. The reseach was "commissioned by the Danish Bacon and Food Council, the British subsidiary of a Danish pig producers' organization" the New York Times reports (Alan Cowell, NYT, April 11 2007). The Stockport Express reports that an event for journalists was organized at Othello's Cafe Bar in Stockport, where the research was "put to the test."
So what we have is the manufacture of a 'news' story which cost the Danish Bacon and Food Council much less than the equivalent advertising space in the 20 or so publications where the story appeared. Big deal - the practice is common enough, most often appearing in the form of surveys commissioned by companies. And you might even say that a bit of additional research funding won't do Leeds' Department of Food Science much harm. But here's the problem: the government wants to stimulate this kind of "investment" in higher education and research from the "private sector" so that it can slash state funding and redirect the money to fill budget deficits resulting from PFI projects gone wrong, mismanagement of the public services, or the spiralling costs of the Olympic games. Academics justifiably complain about having a lack of resources. The danger is that if this trend continues, there will be research funding, but academics will be forced to conduct meaningless studies on trivial subjects, instead of doing something worthwhile. This is already a serious enough problem for science, which in certain sectors (like chemistry) is almost entirely reliant on private funding for research, but it is increasingly affecting other subjects too. The faith of the general public in the value of academic research is shaky enough already - if stories of this kind are the most frequent examples they hear of, this is hardly a surprise.
Seeing a story like this, academics are prone to dismiss it as the product of a news media structured in such a way as to produce trivialities to advance the interests of their parent companies and advertisers. But they should pay attention if they do not wish to join the club.
posted by UK plc at 4:56 PM
1 Comments:
BACON, yeah!!! You made me a nice bacon sandwich once. Bless your heart.
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