Television Psychic Busted (Surprised?)

So-called "medium" Sylvia Browne got caught live on a radio show making an incorrect "prediction" about condition of miners trapped in the Sago mine disaster and then tried to backpedal when the tragic news came out reversing previous news that had indicated that many of the miners had survived.

Browne was a guest on "Coast to Coast", a live syndicated radio show hosted by George Noory. Noory was discussing the recent (now known to be incorrect) news that all but one of the miners was alive. (As detailed in this link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180681,00.html)

Noory: "Had you been on the program today, would [you] have felt if — because they heard no sound — that this was a very gloomy moment — and that they might have all died?"

Browne: "No. I knew they were going to be found. I hate people that say something after the fact......."

But later in the show, news broke that contradicted the earlier report confirming in fact that tragically all the miners had perished, except one who was in critical condition. Noory tried to protect Browne from the obvious conclusion that she had (surprise!) no psychic ability, but Browne cut him off and tried to reverse her original "prediction":

Norry asked: "With your accuracy rate so high ...."

Browne (interjecting/blurted): "I didn’t believe that they were alive."

Noory: "What’s that, the miners?"

Browne: "Yeah, I didn’t think — and see, I’ve been on the show with you, but I don’t think there’s any that are going to make it."

The sad thing is that this gaffe will not dissuade any of her fans that she is truly a psychic medium. There is no evidence at all that any of these television psychic have any psychic ability whatsoever. Mostly that is because there is no scientific evidence at all that has stood up to any peer review that validates the existence of any paranormal phenomena. Browne herself has refused to submit to James Randi's paranormal challenge (to which she agreed live on CNN) which will award $1 million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate any paranormal powers under his observation. Needless to say no one has claimed that prize.

Yet, people like Browne, John Edwards and James Van Praagh regularly appear on television and what's more they often appear on shows, such as Larry King Live, that people generally associate with "real" news. This is shameful, because most of the time there is not even the mention that psychic power is scientifically questionable in general and often 100% completely disproved in the case of specific psychic personalities.

James Van Praagh has been featured on Entertainment Tonight in such a manner as to make it seem like his powers are unquestionably fact. This is incredibly dangerous in a society where scientific literacy and critical thinking are lacking. Its even more disturbing when main stream news programs do not hold so called psychic personalities accountable to any standard of proof.

If people are unwilling to apply even a modicum of critical thinking to these and other charlatans, how can we expect to have an informed and intelligent public capable of making important and nuanced decisions in important areas of public policy such as medical research, the environment, international relations, the future of our democracy, etc.

The media is our most important tool for disseminating accurate and critically analyzed information. When mass media as an institution starts to fail, it should be very alarming to all. As I have quoted before, we must heed Thomas Jefferson's warning: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be".

P.S. - The internet is chock full of sites debunking these so-called "mediums". For starters try this piece by Michael Shermer: http://www.valleyskeptic.com/crossing_over.html