CNN has a fluff piece (surprised?) on Paul the Octopus and his surprisingly good soccer prediction streak. In it, they did a great job demonstrating all that's wrong with journalism today. Journalism these days amounts to finding or creating a controversy, finding at least one person on each side of the issue, and getting their opinion. If one opinion is so obvious that there is near-universal agreement on it, they may not even bother finding a representative of the obviously-correct side.
Paul the Octopus has predicted World Cup winners surprisingly well. According to CNN, this leads to the obvious question: is Paul the Octopus psychic? Now, you, I, or a reputable news outlet would assume no. CNN, though, went that extra mile. They found an animal psychic who was willing to say yes.
From http://www.cnn.com/... :
Can an octopus really be psychic?
Michelle Childerley, who describes herself as an animal communications expert, told CNN that all animals -- as well as humans -- possess a psychic ability, with telepathy the main way of communicating among many species. She says dogs can often sense what an owner wants before they vocalize it.
As far as Paul's ability to predict a football result, Childerley claims the octopus is perfectly aware of what he is being asked. "He's picking up on what everyone around him is thinking," she said. "He knows there are two boxes which represent two sides, so he's basically tuned in to the more positive team at the moment he makes his choice."
Yes, that's right. CNN couldn't even make a judgement on cephalapod psychic powers.
I know that this is just a silly piece of fluff, and I know that I'm supposed to understand that they're just having fun, but this article is the same template that they (and most of the rest) use for political stories. Come up with a controversy, get both sides' opinions, make no judgements. It's just....gah.