Editing Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (section)

=== Response to mass media ===
Many CSI activities are oriented toward the media. As CSI's former executive director Lee Nisbet wrote in the 25th-anniversary issue of the group's journal, ''Skeptical Inquirer'':

{{Blockquote|sign=|source=|CSICOP originated in the spring of 1976 to fight mass-media exploitation of supposedly "occult" and "paranormal" phenomena. The strategy was twofold: First, to strengthen the hand of skeptics in the media by providing information that "debunked" paranormal wonders. Second, to serve as a "media watchdog" group that would direct public and media attention to egregious media exploitation of the supposed paranormal wonders. An underlying principle of action was to use the mainline media's thirst for public-attracting controversies to keep our activities in the media, hence the public eye.<ref>
{{cite news
| last = Nisbet
| first = Lee
|date=Nov–Dec 2001
| url = http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_6_25/ai_79794375
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080117014321/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_6_25/ai_79794375
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = 2008-01-17
| title = The Origins and Evolution of CSICOP; Science Is Too Important to Be Left to Scientists
| publisher = Skeptical Inquirer
| access-date = 2006-06-22
}}</ref>}}

As a media watchdog, CSI has "mobilized thousands of scientists, academics and responsible communicators" to criticize what it regards as "media's most blatant excesses".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stacy |first1=Dennis |title=CSICOP Scare! |url=https://www.anomalist.com/commentaries/csicop.html |publisher=The Anomolist |access-date=14 December 2023}}</ref> Criticism has focused on factual TV programming or newspaper articles offering support for paranormal claims, and programs such as ''The X-Files'' and ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', which its members believe portray skeptics and science in a bad light and help to promote belief in the paranormal.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} CSI's website currently{{when|date=August 2016}} lists the email addresses of over ninety U.S. media organizations and encourages visitors to "directly influence" the media by contacting "the networks, the TV shows, and the editors responsible for the way [they portray] the world."{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}