OK, The “Grunt heard round the world” is no more, apparently burning up over the Pacific. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the probe and what fragments made it through the atmosphere fell about 775 miles west of Wellington Island.
In looking at Google News, I found this was the highlighted story from the BBC. While it is factually correct in words, it has a visual lie, probably due to the correspondent and/or editors inability to understand that radar imaging does not see color. Note the “fiery” red image.
Now here is the fun part, not only is the false color radar image visually misleading (it is of the intact spacecraft, not the fiery re-entry), it is also a FIVE DAY OLD image. Observe, from the source:
BBC apparently couldn’t be bothered to check their own photo source.
And, per the BBC caption “The German TIRA (Tracking and Imaging Radar) facility caught this image of Phobos-Grunt” the image wasn’t “caught” (implied with the re-entry), it was a planned photo though careful tracking.
If the radar image looked like this, without the false color added….
…do you think the BBC (or the Daily Mail, see update below) would have used it with the re-entry story?
UPDATE: WUWT gets results, BBC has changed the image!
My error. They’ve changed the position of the radar image, moving it further down and substituting a new one in the original position. Thanks to reader JJ for noticing.
They did change the caption though to:
“The German Tira (Tracking and Imaging Radar) facility saw Phobos-Grunt during its last days”.
This implies they realized the original image and caption was misleading.
Plus, there are other material changes to the article. Note that the time stamp for “last updated” has not changed from the original story (13:31). Seems pointless to have a “last updated” time stamp if you don’t use it to advise readers of changes. – Anthony
UPDATE: Monday: 9AM PST The Daily Mail gets it even wronger than the BBC. It seems that my concern about reporters misinterpreting and using a “fiery” radar false color image with the re-entry story isn’t an exclusive misstep of the BBC. If readers see any other misuse/miscaption of the radar image, please point it out in comments. – Anthony
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I am a fan overall of the substantive discussions here. I understand the juxtaposition of the headline and the image makes an inference that is misleading and modestly sensationalizing, perhaps one believed by the journalist. I also understand that such sloppiness is epidemic in he BBC and most other media. However, pointing this out as an isolated incident looks looks a little petty and lacking proportion, and may detract from your credibility when there are more egregious trespasses that duly need singling out. Just a thought from a supporter of the blog.
Not quite off topic media reporting wise, but the first story the Canadian CBC had about the Italian cruise ship sinking is that 4000 people jumped into the water to escape. Some people did but the CBC story went against all the other information being released.
Whaleoil, a blog in good old New Zealand, has an excellent moniker for these lazy journalists that just repeat whatever’s put in front of them……..Churnalists. Seems entirely appropriate for most of what I see through most (not all) mainstream media, particulary when it comes to climate.
Cor blimey, that was close! It nearly it England!
u.k.(us) says: “Just how well understood is our atmosphere, when an orbiting object interacting with same, is given a re-entry window measured in days ? I thought everything was settled !”
This object had a rather peculiar shape, and determining the ballistic path may have required estimating the time-to-failure of panel structural components during reentry, not a simple calculation. The Russians aren’t amateurs at this. In fact, about 1959, using Russian tables, I was able to predict the time in orbit of an early US satellite within 2 days; NASA underestimated the reentry date by two weeks.
This is not what I expect of WUWT. The caption on the photo says: “The German Tira (Tracking and Imaging Radar) facility saw Phobos-Grunt during its last days”.
it says nothing about being an image from reentry. I hope WUWT is not falling into the trap of the CAWG group by condemning everything that does not fit into thier worldview.
Sir,
I am usually a big fan of yours because of your courage at uncovering and making public the never-ending examples of dishonesty and pathological science in the climate debate. But I must agree with John B and Tony Hooper, and I find your mistrust of the BBC very much misplaced in this case. I have 20+ years of professional experience analyzing radar images; the use of a wide range of “false” color scales to represent the levels of reflected radar energy from any scene or object, what we call Radar Cross-Section or RCS, is a common, widely accepted and useful procedure. The Black-Red-Orange-Yellow-White color mapping of RCS shown by the BBC in their Phobos-Grunt article is one of a handful of tools routinely used to visualize many forms of radar derived information (and not just radar images BTW). To call the BBC to the mat on this one, for what you perceive is an implicit reference to a fiery reentry, strikes me as very naive, and ultimately a battle for the low ground. You are so much more on target when you call the BBC (and others) for their use of edited/manufactured images of floods, drowning polar bears, and other shenanigans.
False or simulated colorization of images should always be noted in the caption.
First two major earthquakes
Mag 6.2 2012/01/15 14:21:32 -60.852 -55.886 14.2 SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS
Mag 6.6 2012/01/15 13:40:18 -60.765 -55.858 10.0 SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/300_-60.gif
then just up the road (shipping lane) the Grunt hits at 1745 GMT http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/phobos-grunt-splash.jpg?w=300&h=278
or did Russians got time and place of the impact wrong, either way not a good day to be cruising of the Chile’s southern tip (smiley face).
“Cor blimey, that was close! It nearly it England!”
Check your roofs in the UK for incidental damage, maybe you can get the BBC to “cover” it.
Here is a better link for the map (possible to navigate), Falklands are not far off.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/300_-60.php
Phobos will be a great place to set up camp, I expect to see a Chinese flag there within a decade.
@Marc: However, pointing this out as an isolated incident looks looks a little petty and lacking proportion, and may detract from your credibility when there are more egregious trespasses that duly need singling out.
Marc, I think it bears pointing out that this is not an isolated incident- bad, sensationalistic reporting is endemic. This is merely a particularly egregious example of the general laziness and/or stupidity of science reportage.
Oh, come on! What do you expect from a bunch of £$%&*s who waste millions on articles about invisible telepathic parrots?
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004665.html
As if anyone cared what appeared on the BBC anymore.
FD
“UPDATE: WUWT gets results, BBC has changed the image!”
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WUWT is increasingly influential. Maybe BBC will start listening to Anthony re: climate.
Well, one can hope, no?
13 Jan: Bishop Hill: A difference of opinion
According to an article in the University of Virginia newspaper, Michael Mann returns to his old haunting grounds next week, lecturing at a student-run environment week…
COMMENT by Pharos: Mann’s keynote speech is due to be livestreamed on Tuesday 17 Jan 2012 at 1.45 pm EST…via this site or an alternative also linked on it …
https://sites.google.com/site/enviroday2012/keynote/keynote-live-stream …
http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2012/1/15/a-difference-of-opinion.html
No Sir.
This image, as you indeed state is several days old and was also being used by the BBC to illustrate this story yesterday BEFORE it plunged to Earth. It appears that the perception that this image was being used to illustrate the spacecraft’s “fiery re-entry” was your interpretation and not that of the BBC.
Why, was there something they don’t lie about?
Unfortunately, many in the media and information business make editorial, and errant decisions often, to the determent of their credibility. Sometimes it is the flipping of a scene as a mirror reflection to make it look better, reversal of a filmed piece to increase the length (often times involving flames), changing the color or hue of a visual to add emphasis, and many other tricks. How you edit something and the camera angles utilized will set the tone for an entire segment. I am to the point of not trusting any media unless it is verified across multiple independent organizations. Unfortunately it is getting harder and harder to do so with all of the consolidation going on.
This rubbish from the beeb is by itself not a big deal. That it is one link in a long chain of similar no big deal but wrong anyway episodes makes it part of a very big deal – it is a trend of simple but sometimes influential errors. As the saying goes – if they can’t get the little stuff right why should anyone expect them to get the big stuff right?
Paul says:
January 15, 2012 at 12:29 pm
“How about this report from Austrailia claiming that the probe was loaded with 11000 tonnes of toxic fuel, just a 3 orders of magnitude error.”
They’re using Greenpeace Tons.
Anthony, the BBC is a national embarrassment for those of us who bother to question whatever governments and/or broadcasters choose to tell us. The content and opinion of current affair programmes is politically left of centre and political correctness prevails at the expense of factual accuracy, except where money is concerned. A case in point is the series “Frozen Planet”; fantastic documentary, until the final episode where AGW is the dominant theme. In the USA you will be able to buy the DVD/BluRay documentary, MINUS the AGW final episode. The BBC seem to think that their leftist leanings will be tolerated by us Brits, but are cagey about these leanings with the rest of the world. On the other hand “Top Gear” (best TV show ever) which is probably the worlds most politically incorrect programme and has managed to upset the citizens of Mexico and India, is about to launch a new series with Jeremy Clarksons salary doubled. The BBC are typical leftists, it is OK for them to make money from whatever hypocritical way they can, but that is not allowed for the rest of us.
Charlie says:
January 15, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Missed it by what? 1,000 miles? At 18,000 mph, that’s 300 miles per minute, so off by less than 5 minutes. Even if that prediction was only one orbit old, it’s not too bad. Certainly better than anything the press could have come up with.
Jim Cornelius said:
January 15, 2012 at 4:19 pm
No Sir.
This image, as you indeed state is several days old and was also being used by the BBC to illustrate this story yesterday BEFORE it plunged to Earth. It appears that the perception that this image was being used to illustrate the spacecraft’s “fiery re-entry” was your interpretation and not that of the BBC.
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Then why did BBC change the picture?
Tabloid journalism. Nature abhors an empty septic tank.