Comments Live:
I have been astonished to see a widespread piece of news about an alleged invention of a “time machine” by an Iranian citizen.
Although this piece of news is definitely true, the coverage is not in accord with the fair practice of reporting. The title and the content – which are reproduced in almost the same way everywhere else – are purportedly about an “Iranian scientist”. However, I wonder why the reporter could not distinguish between an academician/scientist and a crackpot. Crackpots of this kind can be found all over the world and no one would call them “scientist” or “researcher”.
It seems that the report relies merely upon another piece of news from the state-organised “Fars News Agency” < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fars_News_Agency >. In the correct journalistic practice, one should not rely on a single source, especially when the source is proven to be unreliable in many cases (as it is the case with “Fars News Agency”). Even going further from Fars News, one can look up Tabnak (another news agency close to the state) to find out:
“Time machine or a tool to deride the Iranian nation?!” (11.Apr.2013) (in Persian) < http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/print/313080 >
So, even the agencies close to the state had not taken that piece of news by the face value. If one goes further away from the state, one could see:
“Interview with an Iranian claiming invention of the time machine” (10.Apr.2013) (in Persian) < http://sharghdaily.ir/?News_Id=7208 >
Thus, I believe that the Telegraph report (marred by the current political atmosphere of Iran) have accepted some piece of news from a single (unreliable) source without the necessary critical judgment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/04/11/what-time-machine-iranian-state-media-quietly-deletes-a-report-that-iran-had-built-one/
