This is an intriguing article that analyzes a study showing how news releases from a University's Press Office highly influence how a study is reported in the news
The following blog is about this study.The study can be linked there but I found the analysis more informative and easier to read.. i would suggest reading this article first, then go to the study that includes a video demonstrating the principles sited in the first article.
The author has the following suggestions for formatting university press releases that hopefully reduce media hype about a study.
The following blog is about this study.The study can be linked there but I found the analysis more informative and easier to read.. i would suggest reading this article first, then go to the study that includes a video demonstrating the principles sited in the first article.
The author has the following suggestions for formatting university press releases that hopefully reduce media hype about a study.
Scientists or press offices should follow some basic rules for good science news reporting:
- Put a study into an overall scientific context
- Do not emphasize minor aspects of the research simply because they are more exciting
- Do not search for any health implication of pre-clinical data just for the headline, and certainly don’t make it seem like the focus of the study
- Anticipate and explicitly address common misinterpretations of the research
- Consider not reporting preliminary data at all, or at least clearly label preliminary data as such early in the press release and make is absolutely clear what this means
- Do not report correlations as if they prove a specific causation
- Be up front about all the limitations of a study and alternate interpretations
- Make it clear when a study is an outlier, if there are multiple schools of thought, or where the study lies in relation to the current preponderance of expert opinion; in other words, do not present one small study as if it overturns a well-established consenses
- I broke up the above for readability but can't delete some of the bullets.
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