I really believe that Margaret Leinen's comment speaks to a fundamental problem in the way scientific (and, in fact, any) controversies get reported in the popular media.

A few years ago, FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), a national media watch group, posted an intriguing essay on how journalists striving for superficial "balance" can actually result in a form of informational bias. They used national reporting on Global Warming as their example. The piece, a very interesting read, is here:

Journalistic Balance as Global Warming Bias

And in an interesting example of synchronicity (no, not that kind), today's CSICOP Online link is an article on a very similar issue by Matthew Nisbet and Chris Mooney, this one looking at scientists and journalists working together (or not) to present the controversy over whether global warming is effecting the intensity of hurricanes. More good reading here:

The Next Big Storm

-marco