Tag Archives: Stephen Colbert Is the Best Source of Science on TV; Will he be stuck interviewing dingbat celebrities at CBS?

Is Stephen Colbert’s love of science compatible with his new job (host of the Late Show) on US network television?

For those not familiar with Stephen Colbert and his body of work, here’s a brief description from David Shiffman’s April 11, 2014 article (Stephen Colbert Is the Best Source of Science on TV; Will he be stuck interviewing dingbat celebrities at CBS [Columbia Broadcasting System]?) for Slate.com (Note: Links have been removed),

David Letterman announced last week that he will soon be retiring from The Late Show after hosting for more than 30 years, and CBS has confirmed that Stephen Colbert will replace him. While switching from The Colbert Report to The Late Show will be a huge career advancement for the comedian and TV show host, it could be a big loss for television coverage of science.

Stephen Colbert is one of the only news or faux-news anchors to regularly cover scientific discoveries and interview scientists. “The Colbert Report has certainly been one of the best television programs ever for showcasing scientists—and I don’t just mean ‘for a comedy talk show,’” says science comedian Brian Malow. He points out that the guest who has made the most appearances is Neil deGrasse Tyson. “More than any movie star! And Tyson isn’t even the only physicist he’s featured!”

Among the other physicists Colbert has interviewed are Brian Greene, Michio Kaku, and Lawrence Krauss. He has hosted oceanographer Robert Ballard, neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland, surgeon Atul Gawande, and evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin as well as experts in science policy such as then–Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins. The online archive of interview guests includes separate categories for “academic,” “medical,” and “scientist.”

Shiffman provides a description of the current situation regarding science coverage in the mainstream media (Note: Links have been removed),

Colbert’s transition comes at a terrible time for coverage of science. “Traditional science journalism has been gutted in recent years due to the economic downturn,” says Sheril Kirshenbaum, the co-author of Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future. …

The consequences were clear most recently in CNN’s horrifically bad coverage of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. CNN cut its science, technology, and environment team in 2008. When host Don Lemon was covering the lost plane, he speculated on air that there could be some supernatural explanation, or perhaps the airliner could have disappeared into a black hole.

Meanwhile, Animal Planet is airing fake documentaries about mermaids.

I hadn’t realized until reading Shiffman’s article that Colbert covers science news in addition to interviewing scientists (Note: Links have been removed),

Colbert features science in many of his show’s segments, not just in his interviews. Colbert’s recurring series “The Craziest F#?king Thing I’ve Ever Heard” is often about interesting new scientific discoveries. He has discussed neuroscience, insect reproduction, and the Large Hadron Collider. He put the scientific Journal of Paleolimnology “on notice” for proposing an explanation for walking on water that differed from the biblical account.

The Colbert Report covered a mishap in University of Maine Ph.D. student Skylar Bayer’s research in marine biology. A bucket of her samples—scallop gonads—was accidentally taken by someone else. A Colbert Report producer saw her blog post and thought it would make a fun segment for the show; they turned it into a mock crime drama. …

I recommend reading Shiffman’s piece which is lively and interesting. One observation though, while he decries the loss of science journalism in mainstream media, he makes no mention of science blogs as a source of increasing popularity, It’s odd since he himself is a science blogger on Southern Fried Science.

If you have the time, follow the links in Shiffman’s article, in particular the one leading to the faux documentary about mermaids.

I wish Mr. Colbert all the best as he takes on his new job and I hope that he is able to include a science presence on the new show.