grkles

What do you make of the current standard in reporting astronomy news? i.e., press conference before refereeing?

A couple weeks ago, I saw a talk by David Spergel in which he threw some doubt into the BICEP2 results. One conclusion was that the means by which science news is presented to the public is changing, and not in a good way -- press conferences are being held, results are being tweeted before the refereeing process can be completed and the results verified. Do you have any comments on the popularization of astronomy news and how it affects the academic process?