{"id":4686,"date":"2015-06-09T14:38:24","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T14:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=4686"},"modified":"2015-05-29T14:45:32","modified_gmt":"2015-05-29T14:45:32","slug":"linked-i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-loss-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/06\/09\/linked-i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-loss-heres-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Linked: &#8220;I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss. Here&#8217;s How.&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:6735,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/io9.com\\\/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20151213191715\\\/http:\\\/\\\/io9.com\\\/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-04 20:09:08&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-04 20:09:08&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:6736,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/techcrunch.com\\\/2009\\\/04\\\/08\\\/who-the-hell-is-enrolling-in-journalism-school-right-now&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20250319120418\\\/https:\\\/\\\/techcrunch.com\\\/2009\\\/04\\\/08\\\/who-the-hell-is-enrolling-in-journalism-school-right-now\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-04 20:09:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-20 02:11:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-01 05:07:23&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-07 03:41:29&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-23 11:55:39&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-23 11:55:39&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/io9.com\/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">via iO9<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Take a look at the press release I cooked up. It has everything. In reporter lingo: a sexy lede, a clear nut graf, some punchy quotes, and a kicker. And there\u2019s no need to even read the scientific paper because the key details are already boiled down. I took special care to keep it accurate. Rather than tricking journalists, the goal was to lure them with a completely typical press release about a research paper. (Of course, what\u2019s missing is the number of subjects and the minuscule weight differences between the groups.)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>and<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>When reporters contacted me at all, they asked perfunctory questions. \u201cWhy do you think chocolate accelerates weight loss? Do you have any advice for our readers?\u201d Almost no one asked how many subjects we tested, and no one reported that number. Not a single reporter seems to have contacted an outside researcher. None are quoted.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Let\u2019s not make this about chocolate. Let\u2019s keep in mind that the entities that covered this story, most of them were what you\u2019d call traditional media or groups that are real press (not bloggers). Yet, not only did they link to the actual published paper, they didn\u2019t vet or do any research at all into its claims.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s assume that the people who wrote those articles are professionals who care about the work they do. They aren\u2019t at fault because they aren\u2019t paid by merit, by great story telling, by factual \/ accurate reporting. They\u2019re paid by page-view or click-through of the advertisers on the site. The news media is so starved to stay out of the red that these \u201cjournalists\u201d are forced to drum up click-bait un-verified mumbo jumbo all day, put up provocative \/appealing photos, write 250 words and then move on to the next thing. \u201cMaybe this is the one that will go viral on Facebook\u201d they say and they hit submit and find another collection of \u201c10 things that will kill you. #3 is shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe the entire quality of journalists has completely gone to crap. <a href=\"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2009\/04\/08\/who-the-hell-is-enrolling-in-journalism-school-right-now\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sarah Lacy back in 2009<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>It\u2019s not that I\u2019m pessimistic about the future for good journalists. Quite the opposite, in fact. Journalism isn\u2019t dying; it\u2019s just in a period of extreme volatility. And in any time of volatility, there\u2019s huge room for opportunity. But you\u2019re not going to learn how to exploit it in a stuffy classroom taught by people who got there by working at newspapers.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Right. Let\u2019s all stop going to journalism school and write about fad diets and call ourselves journalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"via iO9: Take a look at the press release I cooked up. It has everything. In reporter lingo:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2016-03-17T02:29:16Z","apple_news_api_id":"44855e3c-489d-42cb-892b-7899b1114a6c","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2016-03-17T02:29:16Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ARIVePEidQsuJK3iZsRFKbA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-linked","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-1dA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6191,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2016\/09\/21\/linked-green-tea-its-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":4686,"position":0},"title":"Linked: \u201cGreen Tea IT\u2019s IT\u201d","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"September 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A large scoop of green tea ice cream, sandwiched between two old-fashioned oatmeal cookies, and dipped in dark chocolate. One of the things I miss about SF was that you could go to any corner store and get one of these. Looks like you can order them online now but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2690,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/07\/15\/internet-use-affects-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":4686,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 &#8220;Internet Use Affects Memory&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"July 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"via NYTimes: Dr. Sparrow and her collaborators, Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard and Jenny Liu of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, staged four different\u00a0memory\u00a0experiments. In one, participants typed 40 bits of trivia \u2014 for example, \u201can ostrich\u2019s eye is bigger than its brain\u201d \u2014 into a computer. Half of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3336,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/12\/07\/sir-is-broken\/","url_meta":{"origin":4686,"position":2},"title":"\u2605 Siri is Broken","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Gizmodo: What those Apple ads fail to report\u2014at all\u2014is that Siri is\u00a0very much a half-baked product. Siri is officially in beta. Go to Siri's homepage on Apple.com, and you'll even notice a little beta tag by the name. Benoit Maison: It is important to understand that unlike Apple\u2019s hardware and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3955,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/linked-can-buzzfeed-be-stopped\/","url_meta":{"origin":4686,"position":3},"title":"\u2605 Linked: &#8220;Can BuzzFeed Be Stopped?&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"July 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"via TechCrunch:\u00a0 Historically, high journalism has largely been subsidized by low journalism. Nowadays, though, the two are increasingly decoupled, largely because we can get the latter online in unlimited quantities. BuzzFeed is the poster child of this movement, partly because of its undeniable success, partly because it is to low\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4425,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/01\/14\/linked-to-siri-with-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":4686,"position":4},"title":"Linked: &#8220;To Siri, With Love&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"via NYTimes: Gus had never noticed Siri before, but when he discovered there was someone who would not just find information on his various obsessions (trains, planes, buses, escalators and, of course, anything related to weather) but actually semi-discuss these subjects tirelessly, he was hooked. And I was grateful. Now,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2975,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/08\/17\/pre-bed-booze-may-bust-rest\/","url_meta":{"origin":4686,"position":5},"title":"\u2605 &#8220;Pre-Bed Booze May Bust Rest&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"August 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Scientific American: Subjects in the study drank strong, weak or alcohol-free beverages an hour-and-40-minutes before going to bed. The more booze the volunteers imbibed, the higher their overnight heart rate. These rapid beats were an indication that their bodies were not in the most productive rest mode, say the researchers.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}