The Washington Post does a good job today of showing what’s wrong with American journalism in its story on a campaign for eating whale meat in Japan.

In this story, we hear from: 1) the Japanese government, which wants to hunt whales for the local food supply; 2) the Japanese pro-whale (i.e., pro-hunting and killing thereof) community, who point to a few thousand years of doing so; and 3) the environmentalists, who say that increased whaling will harm the species.

So—who haven’t we heard from? Yes, you in the back. That’s right, we haven’t heard from anyone who has any actual facts on whether whales are actually endangered by more whaling. Which, I presume, is what makes this news in the first place. Last I heard, whale populations were not doing at all well—but as the story points out, most nations have stopped the wholesale slaughter that got them into that situation. So that leaves us with little information as to whether the Japanese should whale.

This is a science story. Why is the science left out of it?