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> 56% of Americans agree with the statement that "Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross
by hertzrat 6y ago
> 56% of Americans agree with the statement that "Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations."
Science journalism is pretty bad for this. Every time a researcher finds any property that influences another, and says more work needs to be done, the headline reads “the cure for cancer is almost here!” or “is this the end of aging?”
- istorical 6y agoAccurate if you replace the term 'science journalism' with 'pop science journalism'. The average person is not interested in science journalism, they are interested in pop science journalism.
- webmaven 6y ago> Science journalism is pretty bad for this. Every time a researcher finds any property that influences another, and says more work needs to be done, the headline reads “the cure for cancer is almost here!” or “is this the end of aging?” Obligatory XKCD link: http://xkcd.com/882/ http://xkcd.com/882/ That said, there is plenty of blame to be had: scientists engage in p-hacking and worse in pursuit of funding, institutional PR departments write sensational press releases, corporations pursue and promote "blockbuster" solutions despite diminishing returns, etc. And of course there are legitimately bad actors mixed in to all of this aggressively pushing the press' both-sideism button for all it is worth (but only where there is an entrenched interest to do so), among many other tactics.