According to CSI's charter, in order to carry out its major objectives the Committee:
# maintains a network of people interested in critically examining paranormal, fringe science, and other claims, and in contributing to consumer education;
# prepares bibliographies of published materials that carefully examine such claims;
# encourages research by objective and impartial inquiry in areas where it is needed;
# convenes conferences and meetings;
# publishes articles that examine claims of the paranormal;
# does not reject claims on a priori grounds, antecedent to inquiry, but examines them objectively and carefully.
CSI conducts and publishes investigations into Bigfoot and UFO sightings, psychics, astrologers, alternative medicine, religious cults, and paranormal or pseudoscientific claims.
Media response
Many of CSI's activities are oriented towards the media. As CSI's former executive director Lee Nisbet wrote in the 25th-anniversary issue of the group's journal, ''Skeptical Inquirer'':This involvement with mass media continues to the present day with, for example, CSI founding the Council for Media Integrity in 1996, as well as co-producing a TV documentary series ''Critical Eye'' hosted by William B. Davis (the actor who played the Smoking Man in ''The X-Files''). CSI members can also be seen regularly in the mainstream media offering their perspective on a variety of paranormal claims, and in 1999 Joe Nickell was appointed special consultant on a number of investigative documentaries for the BBC. In its capacity 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.” While much of this criticism has focused on factual TV programming or newspaper articles offering support for paranormal claims, CSI has also been critical of programs such as ''The X-Files'' and ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', which its members believe portray skeptics and science in a bad light and help to promote belief in the paranormal. CSI’s website currently 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 it portrays the world.”
Following pseudoscientific and paranormal belief trends
CSI changes its focus with the changing popularity and prominence of various aspects of what it considers to be pseudoscientific and paranormal belief. For example, as promoters of intelligent design have increased their efforts to have this teaching included in school curricula in recent years, CSI has stepped up its own attention to the subject, creating an "Intelligent Design Watch" website and publishing numerous articles on evolution and intelligent design in ''Skeptical Inquirer'' and on the Internet.Health and safety
An issue of particular concern to CSI are paranormal or pseudoscientific claims that may endanger people's health or safety, such as the use of alternative medicine in place of science-based healthcare. Investigations by CSI and others, including consumer watchdog groups, law enforcement and government regulatory agencies,[http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01446.html] have shown that the sale of alternative medicines, paranormal paraphernalia, or pseudoscience-based products can be enormously profitable. CSI says this profitability has provided various pro-paranormal groups large resources for advertising, lobbying efforts, and other forms of advocacy, to the detriment of public health and safety. Other organizations concerned with health care claims include Quackwatch and the National Council Against Health Fraud.Humor
As referenced by CSI member Martin Gardner, a maxim regularly put into practice by the organization is H. L. Mencken's "one horse-laugh is worth a thousand syllogisms." ''Skeptical Inquirer'' has carried such articles as reports on the success rate of past years' tabloid "psychic predictions" and coverage of the Australian Skeptics' "Bent Spoon Awards" (winners are notified by telepathy and must pick up their trophies by paranormal means).Humanism
CSI is a member organization of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and endorses the Amsterdam Declaration on the principles of modern humanism.Awards to fellows
CSI awards the Robert P. Balles Annual Prize in Critical Thinking. The first award was shared by CSI fellows Ray Hyman and Joe Nickell and by Andrew Skolnick for their reports in 2005 on CSICOP's testing of Natasha Demkina, the girl who claimed to have X-ray eyes.Publications
CSI publishes the magazine ''Skeptical Inquirer'', containing articles on skepticism, pseudo-science and the paranormal, as well as reports on experiments conducted to test alleged paranormal phenomena. ''Skeptical Inquirer'' was founded by Marcello Truzzi, under the name ''The Zetetic'' and retitled after a few months under the editorship of Kendrick Frazier, former editor of ''Science News''. Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope calls ''Skeptical Inquirer'' "one of the nation's leading antifruitcake journals". In addition, it publishes ''Skeptical Briefs'', a quarterly newsletter published for associate members.Adapted from the Wikipedia article Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
