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Generally I've found that the problem is not breathless scientists, it is breathless journos. They're looking for the "next big scoop" and so mostly misinterpr

Generally I've found that the problem is not breathless scientists, it is breathless journos. They're looking for the "next big scoop" and so mostly misinterpret findings in order to come up with the most sensational headline possible. Don't get me wrong, science has it's own (major) problems, such as losing sight of reproducibility, falsifiability, etc, but usually when it comes to "I read about a discovery that sounded fabulous but didn't pan out", the heightened expectations are usually coming from the media, not the other way around.

Hyp3rion 6y ago
This is correct. To add to your point, it's also the respective institute's media departments. In a university for example, there's a strong incentive to hype up your research to attract young, impressionable undergraduates to your school. Not just a journalist looking for the "next big scoop", but often a journalist looking for that at an institute that wants to also have "the next big thing".