By Ranjona Banerji
Disclaimer: This is a different sort of a rant.
At last, because of the pretty pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope released by NASA this week, the world turned its gaze away from human shenanigans and looked up.
Well, not really up but at least at their screens for something a little out of the ordinary.
Science journalism remains however an art more honoured in the breach. Those who are serious about it are cloistered in their science journals. Those who are in the wider world of the mainstream media know that sensationalism is all that will work. Plus, the basic assumption that every reader or viewer is an idiot. Nothing sells like those old crazy headlines from National Inquirer: Two-headed woman gives birth to three-headed goat. That’s a joke, by the way but we all know that people will believe it.
We saw this during the pandemic. A few dedicated journalists tried to assess the issue, separate fact from political fiction and present what was happening as best they could. Many of their voices got lost in the hysteria of fake news, fear, allegations and patriotic fervour.
It is always those sensible voices which are ignored, while the tawdry sensationalists hog all attention.
If pandemic info was bad, the vaccination story was even worse. Allegations flying back and forth and opposing scientific theories using and abusing the media to get their views across. It’s usually the scientists and doctors who are best at manipulation and self-publicity who are heard the most. This is because so many journalists are lazy and will rush to the easiest quote machine. Those who dig a little deeper find that no one wants their work: It is painstaking, it is real, it is upsetting, it counters government and it requires effort to understand.
The pandemic affected us all so we had to pay a little bit of attention.
But the Universe?
Now that’s too large to explain.
Even the nitty-gritties are too much to explain.
Like the James Webb Space Telescope sees largely in the infrared because wherever we see into “space” we’re looking back in time and the further we want to look, the more the light is infrared.
Like the fact that Webb has not replaced the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble is still there. Mainly in the visual. It’s been there since 1990.
For as long as Hubble lasts, they will complement each other.
But why am I telling you all this?
Well, for one, I’m interested.
I’ve also realized, and I saw this as a journalist, you’re not going to get much from the mainstream media.
I do remember to this day the Time Magazine issue with the Pillars of Creation visual from Hubble.
I also remember the Voyager articles from 1977 and the assortment of the human experience sent out on those gold discs for someone in the Universe to hear.
But almost no updates of this will you find in the popular media. The two Voyagers? Still out there. Past the sun’s heliosphere in interstellar space.
I’m not even a science graduate. I have no mathematics. I’m just interested.
If the little excitement over the first James Webb images is anything to go by, I’m not the only one.
But I guarantee, this excitement won’t last long.
I’ve written about this many times before.
So, how much have you heard about the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory at Hingoli, Maharashtra?
Look it up.
It’s amazing! Mergers of black holes and neutron stars felt in these observatories as waves travel through us.
(Unsolicited advice: bypass the mainstream media and start with YouTube.)
No. Science we don’t like.
We talk a lot about how much we should like it. But that’s about it.
Sad.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal