Recently,
I wrote an extensive article (and also
here) about the hatchet job written by some hack anti-GMO activists against renowned plant geneticist, and pro GMO scientist Kevin Folta that used misquoted and out-of-context emails in an attempt to discredit him. Obviously, shades of the loathsome "Climategate" email hack which was trying to do the same to top climate scientists.
In an entry at PLoS* Biology Blogs, written by Paul D. Thacker and Charles Seife, attacked Dr. Folta for a whole host of sins, including a claim that he was more or less directing Monsanto's strategies for dealing with GMO labeling laws.
These gonzo "journalists" (and I use that term very loosely with these at PLoSONE) lacked the college freshmen level of investigative journalism to spend 30 seconds clicking on a couple of Google hits to determine that GMO scientist Kevin Folta has been a strong advocate of GMO labeling laws (something that I personally oppose).
Doesn't journalism 101 demand that investigative writers confirm their sources at least twice? An episode of The Newsroomhas several teachable moments in basic journalism ethics.
Well, I guess that PLoSONE decided that their marginal image was taking a beating, and decided to delete the article (although, to their credit, they kept the comments up, which appeared to be about half pingbacks from critical blogs). PLoSONE left this statement on the deleted page:
[infobox icon="quote-left"]PLOS Blogs is, and will continue to be, a forum that allows scientists to debate controversial topics. However, given additional information for further inquiry and analysis, PLOS has determined that the Biologue post that had occupied this page, “The Fight over Transparency: Round Two,” was not consistent with at least the spirit and intent of our community guidelines. PLOS has therefore decided to remove the post, while leaving the comments on it intact. We believe that this topic is important and that it should continue to be discussed and debated, including on PLOS blogs and in PLOS research articles.
We sincerely apologize for any distress that the content of this post caused any individual.[/infobox]
Dr. Folta had demanded an apology from PLoSONE. I guess this is the best PLoSONE is going to give–a non-apology apology. They weren't even willing to mention his name. I'll call that somewhat cowardly. And they didn't take any responsibility for their actions.
I haven't been a fan of PLoS for many years. I'm even less so today.
Please note, in conversations on Twitter with Dr. Folta, it appears that he does not consider this a personal apology.