ScienceBlogs.com Deals With Community Backlash Over PepsiCo Column

History's Coming To writes "Several writers for the ScienceBlogs.com collective have publicly resigned from the site, and many more have voiced concerns over parent company Seed's decision to include a paid blog under the nutrition category from PepsiCo. The blog was to be written by PepsiCo food scientists, detailing their work. The UK's Guardian newspaper has picked up on the story, and includes a letter from Seed editor Adam Bly which covers the company's rationale." The ScienceBlogs Team later canceled the PepsiCo blog and apologized, instead leaving their users with a few tough questions: "How do we empower top scientists working in industry to lead science-minded positive change within their organizations? ... How do companies who seek genuine dialogue with this community engage?"

Comments

The LeftischScienceBlog

[thethibs]

I'd never heard of this blog until I read about it here. Clearly, the first thing to do was to go see.

Why would a science blog site not have room for PepsiCo scientists? Why would anyone not want the opportunity to review and challenge their work and engage them in intelligent dialogue, as is the norm in real science?

It doesn't take much perusing (look it up) of the ScienceBlog site to understand why. It's hard to miss the theme that selects what gets blogged and what's ignored. Challenge? Dialogue? It is to laugh.

They really should be honest about their mission and name it the LeftScienceBlog.