Let’s see: what is the proper and fair response to this? Is it…
“So now do we understand why the U.S, is lagging in science proficiency?”
Is it…
“Why in the world do we pay any attention to the judgment of these people?”
Is it..
“Hey…maybe NBC really DID edit that 911 call so it made George Zimmerman sound racist by mistake!”
Is it…
“I don’t get it…what ‘s wrong with that graphic?”
Or is it…
“There are so many unqualified, ignorant and careless people holding significant jobs in this country that it’s amazing things aren’t worse than they are.”
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Pointer: Instapundit.
Ethics Alarms 
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My sentiments exactly.
I assume after this bit of breaking news, they went right into their regularly scheduled astrology update. Un-fu….oops. Un-fu……..Nope. Can’t do it without profanity.
Unfortunately I know some folks who watch that channel and defend it religiously; to them if it was said on the news it must be true…….
They shoulda known it was incorrect because he didn’t turn into a space baby.
Is that it? I though he was supposed to end up in 1955, with his mother getting a crush on him.
He only had to go 88 miles an hour to do that.
That only works if you have a flux capacitor.
And it would also explain the alien they found in Rosewell.
This image is right up there with the “pubic schools” billboard. It’s actually less excusable, thought not as funny.
Ow… My brain hurts. Where’s that carbon free sugar…
and the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Andrea Mitchell for discovering an example of an object traveling faster than the speed of light….
That’ not fair. Journalists don’t have to take a science class until after they get a Master’s degree. Unfortunately, unless they were STEM majors, it is unlikely that someone would have taken a science class that would explain what is wrong with that picture even if they are a college graduate.
My vote is for:
“There are so many unqualified, ignorant and careless people holding significant jobs in this country that it’s amazing things aren’t worse than they are.”
My suspicion is that things aren’t worse off because there are still some competent people left behind the scenes who haven’t retired yet. We will be in real trouble in 10 years.
“That’ not fair. Journalists don’t have to take a science class until after they get a Master’s degree. Unfortunately, unless they were STEM majors, it is unlikely that someone would have taken a science class that would explain what is wrong with that picture even if they are a college graduate.”
Excuse me? I learned that stuff in MIDDLE SCHOOL. Not knowing this is like not knowing about Newtonian gravity (not going to open certain cans of worms…) or evolution.
Wait…. Half the country doesn’t know about evolution, and I bet if you had a poll asking what Newton was famous for, you’d get a super-majority responding “godawful fig cookies”. In the words of one C-3PO: “We’re doomed.”
Well, there you have it: proof positive that MSNBC is a Black Hole of journalism. No useful reporting ever escapes from it.
It is only from inside the event horizon that would one achieve sufficient relativistic time dilation to perceive a 1G free-fall to exceed C in less than 25 miles.
–Dwayne
Well, I know what I want for Christmas. Maybe Santa will bring it. That guy’s plunge was caught on camera. I want a camera that captures stuff that goes faster than light.
This is good for a laugh. Nothing more.
To ascribe the error to Andrea Mitchell as you do in your e-mail alert, Jack, (and as Eric proclaims) is unfair. She had nothing to do with the graphic. Nothing. If there’s tape of her saying something about the speed of light, that’s different.
To assert, as Michael does, that you need some sort of college-level STEM courses to understand what I knew in 6th grade is silly.
To suggest that this means anything more than that some graphics tech screwed up is to read an awful lot into a single mistake.
To attribute this to some sort of NBC-specific malaise (Jack and especially Dwayne) is confirmation bias at best and delusion at worst. There’s a new example of roughly similar stupidity from Fox or CNN or fill-in-the-blank about three times a week. I’m not sure whether the fact that this particular mistake can’t be ascribed to ideological bias is a good thing or a bad thing. I’d say intentional mendacity is worse than incompetence in general terms, but at least the savvy viewer (of whatever news source) will know to be suspicious of claims with political ramifications, and will filter accordingly.
All of the above does lead to the conclusion that there are a lot of “unqualified, ignorant and careless people.” Or, rather, it almost does: allow me to substitute “or” for “and.” We are all guilty of carelessness from time to time: sometimes that manifests as uncorrected typographical errors (you and I, Jack, are both guilty of that one!), sometimes as other forms of gaffes.
This was a mistake, made by someone who may well be an idiot, but may just as easily have been thoroughly competent, but who had the same sort of brain cramp that I often have… and that, I strongly suspect, everyone reading this post often has.
Not long ago, I was in a production meeting for the play I’m directing. One of my colleagues designs both lights and sound–sometimes both, sometimes one or the other. On this particular show, she’s doing lights and a student is doing sound. But when I had a question about sound, I turned to her. I am nonetheless willing to assert that I really do know the difference between light and sound. So do the folks at NBC.
Reminds me of when I got a flyer offering “bare foot”roses for sale. Of course they meant bare root. It is funny.
1. Yes. It’s a cheap shot.
2. Broadcast news moves too fast to be trustworthy, and needs to slow down or suffer the consequences. How often would something like this occur before it meant something?
3. If the Times put that on its front page, would you agree that diminishment of prestige should follow?
4. The boss is responsible for misrepresentations made in his or her name. The boss is responsible for hiring competent people. If the graphic says, “Andrea Mitchell Reports”, then she gets credit and blame for reporting it. Is that a tough standard? Yup. What do national news anchors like Mitchell make? Will a casual observer tell someone that “Andrea Mitchell said this guy went the speed of light”? Sure. She holds no responsibility for that?
5. I think broadcast news standards have declined beyond acceptable levels. Doe not an editor review what goes on the screen? Why doesn’t Andrea insist on it?
So yes, cheap shot, but still not as insignificant as you maintain.
Rick, so explain to me where this is taught then? It is not taught in elementary school science, check the curriculum. Very few schools in my state even teach physics in high school anymore (only biology is required for graduation, not chemistry or physics). Most college graduates are of the ‘liberal arts’ variety, which really means humanities (science and math being 3/7 of the liberal arts) and they don’t take the math and science classes where this is discussed. I went to two flagship state schools and have taught at three universities. I can tell you that at none of those schools are non-STEM majors (including the elementary school teachers) required to take any science where this would be discussed, much less explained. People may know this and have learned it from TV, but they didn’t learn anything of the sort in school.
At least the students have stopped insisting that there isn’t gravity on the moon…(that was a big thing in the late 90’s early 00’s).
I disagree that “There’s a new example of roughly similar stupidity from Fox or CNN or fill-in-the-blank about three times a week.”
I have never seen any stupidity roughly similar to this on any program created by professional adults and intended to be informative, ever. This gets its own category.
Believe the news — even just graphics — and you know why we’re all morons. Isn’t there a slightly large difference between breaking the sound barrier and exceeding the speed of light? And shouldn’t anyone , and I mean anyone, in the “news” business have the knowledge of an elementary school student to know the difference?
I can only assume that his warp engines desynchronized, resulting in a hyperspatial resonance flutter and a subsequent interdimensional transition. Either that or Andrea’s batty.