The long-gestating skeptical media literacy film Science Friction has recently been released. The documentary, produced by Brian Dunning (of Skeptoid) and directed by Emery Emery (The Aristocrats), exposes the truth about how science experts are mischaracterized in media.

Many people are aware that television documentaries often distort events and take experts out of context, but few realize the extent of it. Science Friction gives scientists a chance to clear the record. Experts interviewed include Matt Kirshen, Janine Krippner, Simon Singh, Jamy Ian Swiss, David S. Anderson, Banachek, Kenny Feder, Steven Novella, Michael Shermer, Richard Dawkins, ZDoggMD, and SI Deputy Editor Benjamin Radford. Each has a story to tell about how scientists and skeptics are misrepresented in news media and documentaries.

Often the reason for the deception is simply sensationalism, alarmism, and mystery mongering. Other times there’s a more crass commercialism aspect (archaeologist Feder relates an all-too-familiar scenario of being pressured by producers to endorse pseudoscientific views on Atlantis) or a religious agenda (Dawkins describes being interviewed under false pretenses and his footage being deceptively edited by creationists for Ben Stein’s film Expelled). Dr. Novella describes his fruitless attempts at trying to give science-based information on alternative medicine to a condescending and disingenuous Dr. Oz, while Shermer gives behind-the-scenes insight into how he explained a psychic’s abilities on a TV show—in footage left on the cutting room floor. From Mermaids: The Body Found to Strange Evidence, the film offers a wide cross-section of media deception.

The film, which was privately funded and released through Skeptoid Media, is now available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime and also on Tubi (with commercials). For more information, visit https://sciencefriction.tv/.