UPDATE: 1/5/12 5:30AM – Due to reader pressure, the article has been changed – see below the Continue reading line.
The story about the hybrid sharks being a byproduct of climate change turns out to be an act of quote fabrication in some media outlets. This story by Dina Spector of the Business Insider, is a prime example of such quote fabrication:
After I showed the original press release contained not one mention of “global warming” or “climate change”, one of our readers decided to ask the researcher about this statement attributed to to Jessica Morgan in that Business Insider story:
According to lead researcher Jess Morgan, the hybridization might be a sign that the animals are adapting to rising temperature levels as a result of climate change.
Here’s the answer. Bolding mine.
I did the obvious thing this morning and emailed Jessica Morgan the following:
From: Dennis Kuzara [mailto:xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 5 January 2012 1:04 AM
To: jessica morgan
Subject: Is this quote accurate?
Jessica
Dina Spector of the Business Insider,| Jan. 3, 2012, 3:09 PM, stated the following:
> The world’s first hybrid shark was discovered by scientists in waters off Australia’s east coast on Tuesday, reports Amy Coopes of the AFP.
>
> According to lead researcher Jess Morgan, the hybridization might be a sign that the animals are adapting to rising temperature levels as a result of climate change.
The press release made no mention of “climate change” or “global warming”. Is the quote in this news article that is attributed to Jess Morgan, (which I assume is Jessica Morgan) accurate?
Since sea surface temperatures have increased less than 0.45 degree C over the last 30 years, clarification of any known ties between shark interbreeding and climate change would be appreciated.
Thank you
Dennis Kuzara
And I received this reply:
On 1/4/2012 7:34 PM, Morgan, Jessica wrote:
Quote not correct – I have now stated numerous times that it is extremely unlikely that climate change caused the hybridization event – however, the hybrid-Australian blacktips are now being seen further south of their known range (Australain blacktips have a tropical distribution) in cooler waters suggesting that the hybrids may have a wider temperature tolerance than their parents (ie the hybrids may be better adapted to handle changing water temperatures). That long statement is being condensed and printed as your quote below.
Jess
==============================================================
Interestingly and refreshingly, Business Insider allows you to ask a question of the reporter, here’s a screencap of the footer allowing you to do just that:
You can click anywhere on the screencap (or the button) above to ask Dina that question. I’m sure we all want to know why. We look forward to hearing why the Business Insider makes up “scary” quotes from scientists where none actually exist.
According to her website at http://dinaspector.com:
Dina Spector graduated summa cum laude from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a B.S. in magazine journalism and a minor in geography.
A fine reference, and I’m sure she’ll have a good reason rooted in solid journalism that she’ll gladly share with us.
================================================================
UPDATE: The article has been significantly changed, both the headline and body of the text have been modified significantly, and the fabricated quote from researcher Jessica Morgan has been removed. See the screencap:
There’s no mention though of any correction on the story. http://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-first-hybrid-shark–2012-1
And, even though researcher Jessica Morgan says:
I have now stated numerous times that it is extremely unlikely that climate change caused the hybridization event
They still have “climate change” in the headline.
No duty to the truth or scruples with these folks I guess.
==================================================
UPDATE2: I’ve heard back from the editor:
Here’s a story about your story, I’m sure you are already getting some questions
—
Henry Blodget
CEO/EIC, Business Insider
257 Park Avenue South, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10010
The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University might want to consider adding a journalist ethics course to their curriculum.
John says:
January 4, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Very interesting. The hybrids can go further SOUTH, into COLDER waters. I hadn’t fully realized how much colder the earth was getting…..
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This is why I love this site, the people here are really switched on.
Finding hybridization between, for example, a Hammerhead and a Nurse shark would be extraordinary, but given how little we know of sharks, and how similar these two are, it’s possible that someday these two species might even be relegated to subspecies.
This would parallel the renaming of bears, putting Thalarctos maritimus into the genus Ursus, for example, and making the Kodiak and Grizzly bears subspecies of Ursus Arctos.
It’s hardly a big deal.
From TheGoodLocust (in the previous thread about this):
“Ah yes, I heard someone from New Zealand going off on this as absolute proof of global warming.”
I couldn’t forget this line all day. How is this story absolute proof of anything? Two interbred sharks are found (apparently) in one small part of the world and that proves something about a complex, worldwide problem in physics and chemistry? And proves it absolutely?
I hope that silly person hears Jess Morgan’s reply and feels the proper amount of shame and embarrassment for their ridiculous carrying on – and their jaw-dropping level of naivete.
Dina’s just a cute young cub reporter…a dreamer…writing up her fantasies.
Funny how major media will run with a story from such a source.
Not funny that they can make it stick in so many minds.
I hope they do not go as far south as Adelaide. They might eat Barrie Harrop by mistake and get very, very, very sick. Even worse, they would make fools of themselves posting in the WSJ comments sections.
Her ‘story’ has been ‘revised’.
New headline, new story, same agenda, sort of a Climate Change ‘lite’
[The World’s First Hybrid Shark Could Be A Sign Of Climate Change]
She may have been ‘asked’ to do a re-write (only the by-line is unchanged) but she is clinging to the Climate Change angle as one of many possibilities. Good thing there is a screen scrape for posterity. I guess this blog entry may show up on Google in a few years, and then she may have some more ‘splanin to do.
(Dina, you can’t just ‘Re-Write’ the internet. It never forgets.)
NO, No, No, NO! If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times. Don’t be redunandant.
Journalism and BS are synonymous!
What is troubling is when a Journalist is proud to call themselves an “environmental activist”. Back in the 1960s, such a bias would be unthinkable, but today, some are proud to hold such a position. You can NOT be an objective reporter and an activist at the same time, the two are a contradiction.
Try this, go to YAHOO and search for, “Journalist environmental activist” , it’s scarey to see how easy it is to find so many “Journalist and environmental activists”.
And now for something completely different, a climate-change induced, hybrid, black-tip shark.
We’ve done that!
Oh, uhhh. A Scotsman on a horse!
Karl Maki says: “Ms. Spector’s focus at Syracuse was clearly on the B.S.”
“…Responsibilities include managing Business Insider’s fast-growing stable…”
So is she a BS expert or an HS expert? Enquiring minds want to know.
Pat Moffitt says: So why mention climate change at all?
“Climate Change” aka “Global Warming” is a sort of shibboleth that must be uttered in every scientific paper [climate related or not] to pay fealty to “The Cause.” These phrases will become a hideous embarrassment to researchers in a few years. Based on this post, Jess Morgan is focused on science, not politics.
This will be fun. It’s kind of like adding “in bed” at the end of fortune cookies. So, to any story, find a line and add “as a result of climate change.”
1) Mitt Romney wins Iowa Caucus as a result of climate change.
2) The new cast of the “Celebrity Apprentice” has been announced as a result of climate change.
3) The San Francisco 49ers earned a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs as a result of climate change.
It works for almost anything!
The great irony here is a 2011 DNA test method “proves” hybrid sharks have been around since the 1980s- or the time when we decided the hybrid’s parents were not the same species.
Go figure.
Anthony – Great example of ‘jumping the shark’, but in the future I think it’s best to completely ignore Business Insider. They are an advertising driven site that relies on sensationalist garbage masquerading as actual content.
Took me a few seconds to place Business Insider when I saw your post. Two weeks ago, after reading this truly asinine gem of an article (link below), I learned enough about BI and their ‘authors’ to know I wanted to actively avoid them.
According to Henry Blodget, we can all break windows until we’re rich – http://www.businessinsider.com/no-steve-jobs-did-not-create-jobs-by-inventing-the-iphone-2011-12
The more serious question is whether these hybrids will find a place in shark society or be shunned for their illegitimate background. The tough cold water ones are probably pretty up tight about chumming with those warm water wussies, even if they can’t help but jump each other when fins rub and the mood is right.
The UN will need to develop an outreach program to counsel the offspring of these casual flings, to help them build their self esteem and adjust. It was written somewhere that this whole moral decline of sharks is driven by AGW so it could be part of their climate change mitigation program.
Question…..
Can I.Q.accurately be measured below zero?
I may also add that journalists are just people like the rest of us with their own opinions and biases, and that in recording a story may easily phrase something in a manner that may be misconstrued.
Recognizing these things while we may disagree with what is said we are best to at least examine the remarks/content of an article for its value. I for one recognizing the apparent attempts in some circles to quash free speech stand in favor of hearing both sides of the arguments and am glad to see them presented here as in other place. Long live free speech and the right to report and publish. Thank you Journalists for all the good that you do
It may happen that the hybrid adapts better to climate change should it happen in any measurable degree, but there’s no possible way that Climate Change CAUSED the hybridation. I cannot imagine a Shark deciding to mate another shark just because he does better in different waters. They don’t rationalise that. If they mate, it will be because of some weird inter-species sex-appeal, which is the way nature has always worked. It creates all kind of aberrations until one of them happens to have a useful advantage, defeating the incredibly small odds that it could happen, just by the force of the big numbers.
Looks like they’ve “corrected” the article. The title now reads:
“The World’s First Hybrid Shark Could Be A Sign Of Climate Change”
“Is Another Scary” becomes “Could Be”. This is what passes for integrity and professionalism in journalism now.
More about wild indiscrimate AGW-driven shark orgies:
“Is it true that sharks have two penises? Why?
Kalvin from Richmond, Ont.
Neat question, Kalvin!
Technically, male sharks don’t have penises. What they do have are grooved organs that are used to deposit sperm into the genital duct of sexually receptive female sharks. These organs, called ‘claspers’, are developed along the inner margin of each pelvic fin (the paired fins located behind a shark’s belly). Because the pelvic fins are paired, so are the claspers. That’s really all there is to it.
Curiously, although male sharks have two claspers, they only use one at a time. Unfortunately, mating behavior has been observed in only a few species of sharks, but already some basic features of courtship and copulation are clear. When not in use, both claspers lie flat against the undersurface of the body. After communicating its amorous intentions to a sexually receptive female shark through ritualized swimming and gentle ‘love nips’ along her back or flanks, the male grasps one of her pectoral fins (the wing-like fins located behind the gill slits) in his mouth and arches his body so that his pelvic fins are brought close to hers. If the amorous male happened to ‘dock’ along the left side of the female, he flexes his right clasper across the mid-line of his body and inserts it into her vent (genital opening). To secure the inserted clasper in place, its tip unfolds in complex, species specific ways — often anchoring by way of one or more spike-like clasper spurs (ouch!). Often, shark mating occurs on the bottom, with the larger female inverted (upside-down), but in some active species — such as the Great White (Carcharodon carcharias) mating apparently occurs right side-up and at or near the surface. In any case, if the male shark happens to dock along the right side of the receptive female, he uses his left clasper.
There is, however, a report from British waters of a pair of Tope Sharks (Galeorhinus galeus) that were captured together, a male and a female locked belly-to-belly by both claspers. So, in case you thought it might be fun to have two penises, you have been warned!”
http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/topics/lh_2penises.htm
And poodles mixed with cocker spaniels make cocka-poos….yawn. This isn’t about inter-species, sharks are not mating with dolphins, it’s about breeds and interbreeding. If these showed up at a shark show, they’d never get through the door.
Paul says:
January 4, 2012 at 10:11 pm
“I may also add that journalists are just people like the rest of us with their own opinions and biases, and that in recording a story may easily phrase something in a manner that may be misconstrued.”
No way Paul, my profession excludes me from phrasing any bias that can be misconstrued. Wonton factual misconstruction must be condemned in any journal. Free speech should not stand stand in favor of lies. Many of us do not have the cognitive ability or knowledge to disseminate fact from propaganda and are misled by this type of shoddy journalism.
Liberty to say what you what is free speech. I agree free speech when expressed as a opinion can rightly express a bias, it’s not a story. A journal is different, it’s not free speech. It is a journalists responsibility to report without bias.
I agree there would be limits to this novice reporters culpability, but for the sake of free speech it is a responsible course to heavily reprimand her, and those who emulate her low journalistic standards.
In the case of these sharks, there is an improvement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterosis
In the case of Spector, only regression, Here is an example of the serious reporting at Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-face-swaps-2011-12?op=1
On 1/4/2012 7:34 PM, Morgan, Jessica wrote:
“” – however, the hybrid-Australian blacktips are now being seen further south of their known range (Australain blacktips have a tropical distribution) in cooler waters suggesting that the hybrids may have a wider temperature tolerance than their parents (ie the hybrids may be better adapted to handle changing water temperatures).””
So what! Nothing new. Charles Darwin wrote a big journal all about this known phenomenon. Want a crossbreed example, try the Australian platypus. When a white tip European mates a black tip Indigenous Australian then the offspring has a greater tolerance to cancerous skin damage from UV radiation.
Headline – sex trumps temperature, next we will have human species intermixing due to climate change……………………….