We live among swelling waves of misinformation and disinformation. This is sometimes by accident but increasingly by design in organized campaigns. The daily and periodic media remind us of this with respect to politics. But too often unremarked is that this radical attack on the foundations of our democratic mutual exchange of verified information is the undercutting of medical science—as well as climate and safety. Not without precedent, the frequency and threat are unparalleled.
Consider a major case in point:
The New York Times promotes a prominent misinformed challenge to scientific knowledge without any basic investigation.
In March 2017, the New York Times published an article that accused Dr. Carlo Croce of The Ohio State University Medical Center of blatant scientific misconduct. [(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/science/cancer-carlo-croce.html)] Clearly apparent, the accusations were based almost completely on the unproved claims of D.A. Sanders, a Purdue University virologist.