Media
Baron-Cohen appeared on Private Passions, on 13 April 2008, the biographical music discussion programme hosted by Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3.
He was featured on the BBC news page calling for an ethical debate on the issue of a prenatal test for autism, arguing it is important to debate this in advance of such a test existing, given the pace of biomedical research in autism. In an article in 2000 (Development and Psychopathology) Baron-Cohen argued that high-functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome need not just lead to disability, but can also lead to talent. He has found over 25 years that the media largely report his work accurately but in March 2009, he wrote a piece in New Scientist on the misrepresentation over his group's research into foetal testosterone in typically developing children.
He has appeared in many television science documentaries, one example being Brainman in which he diagnosed Daniel Tammet (who has extreme memory) with both synaesthesia and Asperger Syndrome.
In 2008 Baron-Cohen assessed Gary McKinnon, the British computer hacker who had been accused of breaking into 97 United States military and NASA computer networks in 2001 and 2002, and diagnosed him as having Asperger Syndrome.
He appeared in TIME Magazine, featuring his 'assortative mating' theory of autism.
Read more about this topic: Simon Baron-Cohen
Famous quotes containing the word media:
“The media have just buried the last yuppie, a pathetic creature who had not heard the news that the great pendulum of public conciousness has just swung from Greed to Compassion and from Tex-Mex to meatballs.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“Few white citizens are acquainted with blacks other than those projected by the media and the so—called educational system, which is nothing more than a system of rewards and punishments based upon one’s ability to pledge loyalty oaths to Anglo culture. The media and the “educational system” are the prime sources of racism in the United States.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)