Genocide-denying director of the SMC awarded an OBE

GM Watch -

Fiona Fox, the CEO of the (London) Science Media Centre, has today been awarded an OBE (Order Of The British Empire) for “services to science”. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/15/queens-birthday-honours-obe

As a science blogger has noted, those “services” primarily involve operating as the gatekeeper between science and the public. He also notes that the bestowing of this honour completely ignores Fox’s failure to apologise for her denial of “the Rwandan Genocide as part of a political group that made a habit of such things.” http://ignorantmusings.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/from-genocide-denial-to-an-obe/

It isn’t just the genocide denial, however, that makes the awarding of this establishment accolade a complete disgrace, but the fact that the genocide denial is symptomatic of a lack of ethics apparent elsewhere in Fox’s record – see the two items below.
It’s a record that also demonstrates that Fox is anything but fussy about truth and evidence when it comes to pushing her ideological agenda, which is a revealing characteristic for someone appointed to play a leading role in overseeing science communication in the UK.

Just how brilliantly the SMC under Fox has managed to manipulate the media on issues like GM is analysed here: http://www.spinwatch.org/index.php/issues/science/item/164

Only yesterday, Jonathan Leake, the science and environment editor of The Sunday Times, asked on Twitter, “Whenever scientists question GM the SMC lines up experts to knock them down. Why??” He told the SMC, “Scientists should be able to monitor [this technology] without fear of ridicule by your experts.”
That seems unlikely to happen on Fiona Fox’s watch.
What you should know about Fiona Fox: 1.Fiona Fox – LobbyWatch profile 2.Science Media Centre Director Made Fake Call — — 1.Fiona Fox – LobbyWatch profile

Fiona Fox is the director of the Science Media Centre (SMC). Despite having no previous background in science or science communication, Fox has been afforded, since her appointment in December 2001, the status of expert…

Within a matter of months of Fox becoming director, the SMC was embroiled in controversy over its activities. It was accused of operating as ‘a sort of Mandelsonian rapid rebuttal unit’ [1] and of employing ‘some of the clumsiest spin techniques of New Labour’ [2]. There have also been controversies about both the SMC’s funding and Fox’s background.

According to the profile provided by the SMC, Fox previously ran ‘the media operation at the National Council for One Parent Families’ and was ‘Head of Media at CAFOD, the Catholic aid agency’. In addition, the SMC says, Fox ‘has written extensively for newspapers and publications, authored several policy papers and contributed to books on humanitarian aid’. [3]

What they do not say is that throughout much of that time Fox led a double life. It’s one which seriously undermines the SMC’s claims to be open, rational, balanced and independent, not to mention its being in the business of ensuring the ‘that the public gets access to all sides of the debate about controversial issues.’

Read More: gmwatch.org