STAT Names Inaugural Reporter on Trust in Science — SkimNews
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- STAT named its inaugural reporter on trust in science, a 34-year-old journalist who disclosed she is overweight, has high cholesterol, high blood pressure, severe ADHD, and OCD, and takes a high-dose SSRI
- The reporter personally tried the keto diet, injected a compounded peptide, and took dietary supplements including NAC after her second OCD medication underperformed, even after her doctor pointed out holes in the evidence
- The beat's launch essay argues that coverage of declining trust in science wrongly assumes skeptics are just a small minority of ill-informed people; the more illuminating question, she writes, is what happens when scientific knowledge collides with fear, confusion, and frustration
- A 2020 study cited in the piece found only 50% of U.S. adults could identify a scientific hypothesis, and more than a quarter of respondents in a recent survey said raw milk is healthier than pasteurized, with another quarter unsure
- On her first reporting trip, the journalist attended a Children's Health Defense conference in Washington — the organization Kennedy once led — where speakers claimed polio was caused by pesticides and that flu shots increase Alzheimer's risk; a woman thanked her for listening to her story of a son allegedly paralyzed after a vaccine
- The reporter agreed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that even rare suspected vaccine injuries deserve attention, but pledged to call out false claims whether from 'a suburban mom or the secretary of Health and Human Services,' and to investigate networks that profit from sowing unsubstantiated doubt
- The piece cites Francis Bond, founder of the pro-vaccine Jenner Society, who predicted in 1902 that the anti-vaccine movement would be 'stamped out' — a prediction that, the reporter notes, never came true
Why it matters: STAT's launch of a dedicated trust-in-science beat signals mainstream health journalism's recognition that declining public confidence in medicine isn't merely an anti-vaccine fringe problem but a structural crisis now touching statins, antidepressants, pasteurization, and water fluoridation. With Kennedy now leading HHS, the beat lands at a moment when both genuine patient grievances and organized misinformation will compete for the same reporter's attention.
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