Science, Media and the Public
Publisher: 2 May 2010 Abiodun Giwa
Why does the news media give scanty coverage to science issues in comparison to other social issues like politics? This is a question that arises after two months of perusing the news media – reading through major newspapers and online publications-to measure the media coverage of science related topics. The New York Times, the British Broadcasting Corporation’s website, Fox News website and This-Day Newspaper’s website published in Nigeria were four media that came into focus. In the studies, two newspapers (New York Times and This-Day), two online publications (BBC and Fox News were monitored and read. Some of the media publish science reports, but not as many as other issues, because of reporters’ lack of science-based knowledge, politicians’indifference to scientific data, readers’ recourse to the internet and publishers’ inclination to attract readers by publishing more information on social issues.
The New York Times publishes science-related stories just like the BBC-on daily basis. The Fox news publishes science-based reports and the only time it does in the first month, it publishes an issue antithetical to the liberal position in favor of conservative goals. This-Day publishes report of events in the medical and science field but not as well heeled in comparison to New York Times, BBC and Fox News. One may as well discountenance This-Day as treating science with levity. The first impression one has of the Fox News is that it is good for science-based reports with political intonation. In all, the New York Times and the BBC are considered organs that are well heeled in science- based stories without political bias.
However, in April the Fox News broke out of its political bias in favor of science when it published reports like “That is What Humans Look Like in
Space”, Astronomers Have Spotted the Most Distant Massive Star Explosion of its Kind”, Ancients Site Unearthed in Biblical Home of Abraham” and Meet The Tarantula as Big as Your Face”. With these reports, the Fox News comes to par with the New York Times and the BBC, publishing science stories devoid of political bias.
The BBC reported in February the improvement in hydrogen energy; the difficulties in transporting it and storing it in raw state, but that it promises to be a source of clean energy. On the other hand, the New York times published a report around the same time that said several billions of years ago,
Mars may have been a pleasant place for tiny microbes to live and be sustained based on NASA’s scientists’ report, but the scientists have yet to find sign that actual microbes lived in that oasis. The Fox News published a report that said the State Department did not raise any objection to the Keystone XL oil Pipeline and that the Canadian tar sands capable of creating greenhouse gases would be developed regardless of whether the United States approved Keystone XL. This-Day reported India as the home of biggest herbal healthcare group- a maker of alternative medicine. The report
said that two clinical studies in the world Journal of Gastroenterology showed significant results for some herbs used for the treatment of liver
disorder.
Professor Ronald Strrothkamp of the Chemistry Department at Hofstra University said, Reporters do not know anything about science. They do no think it will sell their newspapers. And they certainly do not think most of their readers will understand science reports.” He said that most of the politicians and celebrities that are reporters’ sources are people who do not believe in global warming; who do not believe in abortion and they say anything for talking sake. Professor Peter Daniel of the Biology Department in the same university acknowledges the dearth of science news. He expresses worry about how science stories are reported with distortion and misrepresentation and says the problem about science reporting arises from journalists’ lack of respect for data and science-based knowledge and that he says causes their distance from reporting science. He cites the example of an ongoing science issue that has been reported in Long Island, New York in the United States, to buttress his assertion. “Hurricane Sandy devastated the Fire Island and turned the bay into a dirty pool of water. The bay depends on the ocean to stay clean. When the storm came, it washed over the sand, put a hole in the sand and created another bridge where the water from the ocean entered into the bay and cleaned up the water. A group of environmentalists from Stony Brook University measured the happening in the Great South Bay and said there had been no effect other than
that the water became cleaner. But the politicians ignored the scientists’data, supported the residents who said the opening in the sand was causing flood. The news reporters also disregarded the scientists’ data in their report and created a conflict between the environmentalists and the residents.”
Ariel Bolshem, a pharmacist at Prospect Health Pharmacy in Brooklyn, said,“The print media is declining; the internet has taken over and people search for information online. According to him, television channels like the National Geography supply information that addresses primary science issues. He said the print media publishes deluge of information on technology and not the real science that deals with systematical knowledge of the physical world gained through observation and experimentation. He expresses unhappiness with what he says the United States government has done
to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), once a veritable source of science information to the media.
Media study shows that some newspapers publish science-based reports on daily basis, but not as many as other social-issue based stories; traceable to reporters’ lack of science-based knowledge, politicians’ indifference, readers’recourse to the internet and publisher’s inclination to making decisions that will sell their newspapers.
The New York Times publishes science-related stories just like the BBC-on daily basis. The Fox news publishes science-based reports and the only time it does in the first month, it publishes an issue antithetical to the liberal position in favor of conservative goals. This-Day publishes report of events in the medical and science field but not as well heeled in comparison to New York Times, BBC and Fox News. One may as well discountenance This-Day as treating science with levity. The first impression one has of the Fox News is that it is good for science-based reports with political intonation. In all, the New York Times and the BBC are considered organs that are well heeled in science- based stories without political bias.
However, in April the Fox News broke out of its political bias in favor of science when it published reports like “That is What Humans Look Like in
Space”, Astronomers Have Spotted the Most Distant Massive Star Explosion of its Kind”, Ancients Site Unearthed in Biblical Home of Abraham” and Meet The Tarantula as Big as Your Face”. With these reports, the Fox News comes to par with the New York Times and the BBC, publishing science stories devoid of political bias.
The BBC reported in February the improvement in hydrogen energy; the difficulties in transporting it and storing it in raw state, but that it promises to be a source of clean energy. On the other hand, the New York times published a report around the same time that said several billions of years ago,
Mars may have been a pleasant place for tiny microbes to live and be sustained based on NASA’s scientists’ report, but the scientists have yet to find sign that actual microbes lived in that oasis. The Fox News published a report that said the State Department did not raise any objection to the Keystone XL oil Pipeline and that the Canadian tar sands capable of creating greenhouse gases would be developed regardless of whether the United States approved Keystone XL. This-Day reported India as the home of biggest herbal healthcare group- a maker of alternative medicine. The report
said that two clinical studies in the world Journal of Gastroenterology showed significant results for some herbs used for the treatment of liver
disorder.
Professor Ronald Strrothkamp of the Chemistry Department at Hofstra University said, Reporters do not know anything about science. They do no think it will sell their newspapers. And they certainly do not think most of their readers will understand science reports.” He said that most of the politicians and celebrities that are reporters’ sources are people who do not believe in global warming; who do not believe in abortion and they say anything for talking sake. Professor Peter Daniel of the Biology Department in the same university acknowledges the dearth of science news. He expresses worry about how science stories are reported with distortion and misrepresentation and says the problem about science reporting arises from journalists’ lack of respect for data and science-based knowledge and that he says causes their distance from reporting science. He cites the example of an ongoing science issue that has been reported in Long Island, New York in the United States, to buttress his assertion. “Hurricane Sandy devastated the Fire Island and turned the bay into a dirty pool of water. The bay depends on the ocean to stay clean. When the storm came, it washed over the sand, put a hole in the sand and created another bridge where the water from the ocean entered into the bay and cleaned up the water. A group of environmentalists from Stony Brook University measured the happening in the Great South Bay and said there had been no effect other than
that the water became cleaner. But the politicians ignored the scientists’data, supported the residents who said the opening in the sand was causing flood. The news reporters also disregarded the scientists’ data in their report and created a conflict between the environmentalists and the residents.”
Ariel Bolshem, a pharmacist at Prospect Health Pharmacy in Brooklyn, said,“The print media is declining; the internet has taken over and people search for information online. According to him, television channels like the National Geography supply information that addresses primary science issues. He said the print media publishes deluge of information on technology and not the real science that deals with systematical knowledge of the physical world gained through observation and experimentation. He expresses unhappiness with what he says the United States government has done
to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), once a veritable source of science information to the media.
Media study shows that some newspapers publish science-based reports on daily basis, but not as many as other social-issue based stories; traceable to reporters’ lack of science-based knowledge, politicians’ indifference, readers’recourse to the internet and publisher’s inclination to making decisions that will sell their newspapers.
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