Editing 1295: New Study

{{comic
| number    = 1295
| date      = November 25, 2013
| title     = New Study
| image     = new_study.png
| titletext = When the results are published, no one will be sure whether to report on them again.
}}

==Explanation==

This is another of Randall's jabs at modern news networks. The joke is twofold: 1. news organizations often repeat press releases on scientific studies without fact checking; 2. the study being reported by the news organization in the comic is presumably itself invented and would not stand up to fact checking.

Some examples of how true this can be:

*A July 2011 hoax study correlated {{w|Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Browser Usage}}, specifically asserting that Microsoft Internet Explorer users had a significantly lower I.Q. than other users.  The study was reported by over 30 news outlets including NPR, ''Forbes'', CBS News, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', ''The Inquirer'', and ''CNN''.  The perpetrator made little effort to conceal the deception by publishing it on a freshly created domain name with a parking lot as the corporate address, and was surprised that so many reputable outlets did no fact checking.
*[http://eldeforma.com/2012/08/27/samsung-paga-multa-de-1-billon-de-dolares-a-apple-en-monedas-de-5-centavos/#axzz2lfjwKjjt Samsung pays $1bn USD fine to Apple with 20 billion 5 cent coins]: a spoof article that was widely re-reported on news networks in November 2013 despite being [http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/samsung.asp demonstrably impossible] (there are barely that many nickels in circulation, for a start).
*Even many low-tier scientific journals don't do proper checking. Over a hundred of them accepted a fake, error-ridden cancer study for publication in a spoof organized by Science magazine, as reported by National Geographic: [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131003-bohannon-science-spoof-open-access-peer-review-cancer/ Fake Cancer Study Spotlights Bogus Science Journals].

The title text implies there is an actual study being performed to determine what percentage of news organizations repeat "new study" press releases without checking whether they're real, and that the fake study being reported on by the (unknowing) reporter in the comic is part of the experiment being performed to find that true percentage.  When this study concludes, the reporters will not know whether to report on its findings, either because they've already reported on a similar (but fake) story, or because they no longer trust stories of that nature.  

Related jokes:

*"87% of statistics are made up on the spot" (which is itself completely fictitious). This joke has most famously been referenced by the [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-05-08/ May 8, 2008 Dilbert comic strip]. It was also (with a more [[2696: Precision vs Accuracy|precise]] figure of 88.2%) the punchline of a television advertisement for Guinness in 1997, where it was attributed to the comedian Vic Reeves. ([http://youtu.be/5in-3BmKtFI])
*"64 percent of all the world's statistics are made up right there on the spot, 82.4 percent of people believe 'em whether they're accurate statistics or not" - Statistician's Blues, by Todd Snider ([http://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/snider-todd/statistician-blues-10809.html lyrics]; [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK6zjtUj00 video]).
*83% is the made-up statistics number that {{w|How I Met Your Mother}} character {{w|Barney Stinson}} uses to charm ladies.

Side note: People making the substitutions in [[1288: Substitutions|a comic posted two weeks before this one]] will read this comic as one about {{w|Tumblr}} posts.

==Transcript==
:[A news anchor with a perfect news-anchor-hair-helmet.]
:Anchor:..and in science news, according to a new study, 85% of news organizations repeat "new study" press releases without checking whether they're real.
{{comic discussion}}