Media untrue report, rooted in university News Center

We often see exaggerated reports of research in the media, but one study found that the root of the problem was not exaggerated in media-published press releases by academic institutions. So while scientists often blame reporters for exaggerating their research, the News center of their school is the birthplace of hype. The study, published in the British Journal of Medicine (British Medical Journal),

The researchers analyzed 462 press releases published by 20 British universities in 2011, and compared them with the original scientific papers, hoping to find out the ins and outs of the hype. The researchers also picked out news reports that were exaggerated in reports from 12 major media outlets, including national newspapers, the BBC's website and Reuters.

The study divides the exaggerated press releases into three categories:

1. Nothing, directly to the reader to provide the original paper is not mentioned in the proposal;
2. To exaggerate the relevance of the research findings to causality;
3. The research is still in the animal experimental stage, but it is reported that the research results can be applied to humans.

In contrast to the press release and peer-reviewed original papers, they found that 40% of press releases contained exaggerated health recommendations, 33% of which exaggerated the link between causes and results, while 36% of press releases were based on the results of the only animal experiments, directly inferring that the results could be applied to humans.

How the scientific research has been misinterpreted as a rumor is a step-by-step. Image source: guokr.com

"People often accuse the media and journalists of making exaggerated, sensational, and even alarmist news in their reports, but our research has found that the exaggerated facts already exist in press releases published by academics and academics, not new in later media reports," the researchers wrote. ”

The researchers were surprised to find that the media did not particularly favor exaggerated press releases when reporting. In addition, only a handful (about 1/10) of press releases would suggest limitations in the paper itself, but they found that this did not reduce media coverage.

The researchers said: "For Bo reporter Eyeball, press release with the journal paper different ways of writing presented." But writing simple and interesting doesn't mean you can exaggerate the facts. Petoc Samna, a professor at Cardiff University, Petroc Sumner, says the university's News center has been promoting new discoveries and related scientists, which is a difficult task, but should not be an excuse to exaggerate facts and hype.

"We may have to find a balance between facts and exaggeration because readers are not interested in the dry, tasteless text of an academic journal," Sumner said. In addition, despite some exaggerated factual reports, the school News Centre is only trying to do its job, and many press releases are written without the involvement of scientists.

Original: http://www.guokr.com/article/439660/

Media untrue report, rooted in university News Center