Case Study: The War on Science

Client: Milkweed Editions

Media Connect had the opportunity to work with Milkweed Editions and author Shawn Otto to promote The War On Science:  Who’s Waging It, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do About It.

Otto is cofounder and producer of the US presidential Science Debates, the largest political initiative in the history of science. He is also an award-winning novelist and screenwriter, best known for writing and co-producing the Academy Award-nominated House of Sand and Fog.

“On every issue in modern society – from climate change and energy to public health and the environment, from the economy to defense to the Internet – we are in the midst of an unprecedented expansion of scientific progress and a simultaneous expansion of danger,’ says Otto. “At the very time we need it most, science is being attacked in a vast, well-funded, three-front war:  the identity politics war on science, the ideological war on science, and the industrial war on science.  The result is an unprecedented erosion of thought in modern democracies as voters, policymakers, and justices ignore evidence and base policy decisions on the demands of the most strident voices.”

Otto’s compelling new book investigates the historical, social, philosophical, political, and emotional reasons why the evidence-based politics that gave birth to democracy are now in decline and authoritarian politics are once again on the rise on both left and right—and he provides some compelling solutions to bring us to our collective senses, before it’s too late.

“In short, will we, the people, remain well enough informed to be trusted with our own government?”  Otto asks in conclusion. “Winning the war on science is this generation’s calling. The winners will chart the future of power, democracy, and freedom itself.  This book is an account of that war, and what we — concerned citizens of all political persuasions, in all countries — can do to win it.”

Here is a sample of the dozens of media placements Media Connect generated:

TELEVISION

• C-SPAN

PRINT/ONLINE

• Newsweek
• Salon
• Scientific American
• World Policy Blog
• Innovation Hub WGBH

RADIO

• Wisconsin Public Radio
• KGO-AM, #2 News/Talk, San Francisco: “The DreX Show”
• KMOX-AM, #1 Talk (#3 Overall), St. Louis, MO: “The Charlie Brennan Show”
• KBEM-FM, #1 Jazz, Minneapolis, MN: “Morning News”
• Genesis Communications Network, Nationally Syndicated: “Amerika Now!”
• The Total Education Network, Nationally Syndicated + Online Radio: “Total Education Hour”
• Prairie Public Broadcasting, Regional NPR Affiliate Syndicated to North Dakota as well as parts of Minnesota and Montana: “Main Street”
• WLRN-FM, #1 Variety + NPR Affiliate, Miami, FL: “Topical Currents”