Quentin Parker

Opinion | Amid harmful media noise on Taiwan and Ukraine, the scientific method could offer clarity

Neither talking up war over Taiwan nor talking down peace in Ukraine is what the world needs. Instead of blind faith in traditional media, we must cultivate clear, scientific thinking

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Why you can trust SCMP

Stall keepers of a newspaper stand eating lunch in Central, Hong Kong, on March 23. Uncritical faith in media outlets may be misplaced today. Photo: Elson Li

Quentin Parker

Published: 12:30am, 17 May 2023Updated: 1:46am, 17 May 2023

We live in dangerous times – a major escalation in Ukraine remains a risk with spring offensives in the offing as a drum beat for war in the Taiwan Strait quickens. What is the person in the street to think about what they see, hear and read in the media? It can be worrying and confusing.

One issue is whether much of public opinion is forged, not based on accurate, reasonable reporting of data, facts and fair appraisal, but on rhetoric, rumour, sensationalism and extreme interpretations of innocuous activities, whipped up into something almost unrecognisable.

How do we identify biased reporting with possible hidden agendas that only benefit the rich and powerful, and how can we counteract it?

As a forensic scientist, I base my opinions on robust data, scientific testing and verification, attention to detail and application of the scientific method. There is always error in such processes and we try to beat down these errors to see the real signal more clearly.

This may be via improved measurements, revamped instruments, better techniques and different approaches. This is especially for daily topics, whether climate change, Covid-19 and the next pandemic, or the risks of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, gene editing and antibiotic resistance.

The scientific method can also be usefully applied more broadly in life – in practical decision-making and opinion-forming.