Stephen Souter wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Hobbs aka McDaniel) wrote:

Maybe part of the problem is just how they
communicate with the public. Their press conferences are geared up for
people with only a 7th or 8th grade education. It comforts that audience
to hear the kinds of stuff spouted at the press conference. Somebody
like you needs a higher level of info to think about.

Press briefings are geared towards those who are not specialists in the
field(s) in question. That includes those with university degrees in
other fields. Someone with a doctorate in medicine or physics or media
studies watching on NASA TV, for example, can be expected to have had
more than a 7th or 8th grade education, but that does not necessarily
mean they would not also be at sea if Squyres et al started spouting at
them the specialist jargon of the practicising geologist.

I picked 7th/8th grade because in the mainstream movie business that is
considered to be the understanding level of the majority of viewers
and it seems to me that NASA has added a lot of showbiz techniques to
their public presentations.

Those who want the more technical details will need to wait for the
scientific papers to be published,

-McDaniel