Dr David Tuller: Guardian Columnist George Monbiot on the “Bizarre Cult” at the London-Based Science Media Centre

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Another fascinating interview between David Tuller, DrPH, and Guardian columnist, George Monbiot, this time on the Science Media Centre, which has played a major role for years in promoting the internationally discredited and harmful biopsychosocial model of ME to UK journalists, leading to ME sufferers being wrongly viewed as either suffering from a psychological illness, just needing to pull themselves together, or both, by many health professionals and the general public.
David introduces the interview here:

‘Last week, Guardian columnist George Monbiot wrote another scathing piece about the failure of the UK health care system to address the plight of people diagnosed with ME/CFS. (Monbiot’s previous column on the issue appeared in March; our interview about it is here.) The new column was pegged to the case of 27-year-old Maeve Boothby O’Neill, whose death in 2021 from complications of severe disease has received extensive media coverage in the UK (if not, unfortunately, in the US).

But Monbiot’s main focus in this column was the sorry history of London’s Science Media Centre in promoting egregiously flawed studies about the illness. The SMC, a PR agency masquerading as a purportedly neutral arbiter of scientific research, has been on Monbiot’s radar for decades. Yesterday, Monbiot and I discussed some of the issues he addressed in the column, including what he has referred to as the “cruel and bizarre cult” that has controlled it since its inception. (Because of a time lag on the zoom call, in a couple of places we seem to be talking over each other.)’

https://virology.ws/2024/10/25/tria...qmhtBoLD6eMrm4PR9g_aem_uAW4vkCENh9VMy84DAlvlA

Trial By Error: Guardian Columnist George Monbiot on the “Bizarre Cult” at the London-Based Science Media Centre​

5 Comments / By David Tuller / 25 October 2024

By David Tuller, DrPH
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Last week, Guardian columnist George Monbiot wrote another scathing piece about the failure of the UK health care system to address the plight of people diagnosed with ME/CFS. (Monbiot’s previous column on the issue appeared in March; our interview about it is here.) The new column was pegged to the case of 27-year-old Maeve Boothby O’Neill, whose death in 2021 from complications of severe disease has received extensive media coverage in the UK (if not, unfortunately, in the US).
But Monbiot’s main focus in this column was the sorry history of London’s Science Media Centre in promoting egregiously flawed studies about the illness. The SMC, a PR agency masquerading as a purportedly neutral arbiter of scientific research, has been on Monbiot’s radar for decades. Yesterday, Monbiot and I discussed some of the issues he addressed in the column, including what he has referred to as the “cruel and bizarre cult” that has controlled it since its inception. (Because of a time lag on the zoom call, in a couple of places we seem to be talking over each other.)