DeDukshyn
30th January 2013, 00:12
I found an excellent article highlighting some issues with the way news, particularly health related news, is presented to the public by the media.
Excerpt:
... what if a study found that most studies end up being wrong? Would that study make the news? Well, it happened. A paper with the startling title: "Why Most Biomedical Findings Echoed by Newspapers Turn Out to be False" was published a few weeks ago by a French research group. And no, that study did not make it into the headlines.
The researchers, lead by neurobiologist François Gonon, examined the way newspapers reported on a number of high profile studies on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They asked the question: do scientific claims reported in the media end up being proven true over time? Their answer: in most cases, no. Then they asked: do the media go back and set the record straight? No again.
Full story here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/10/04/f-crowe-studies-false.html
Excerpt:
... what if a study found that most studies end up being wrong? Would that study make the news? Well, it happened. A paper with the startling title: "Why Most Biomedical Findings Echoed by Newspapers Turn Out to be False" was published a few weeks ago by a French research group. And no, that study did not make it into the headlines.
The researchers, lead by neurobiologist François Gonon, examined the way newspapers reported on a number of high profile studies on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They asked the question: do scientific claims reported in the media end up being proven true over time? Their answer: in most cases, no. Then they asked: do the media go back and set the record straight? No again.
Full story here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/10/04/f-crowe-studies-false.html