Influence and power of the media.
People tend to get most of their information beyond work and family horizons from the press, radio, and television. So, do they really believe media stories that suggest, for example, there is no link between HIV and AIDS? This is unlikely, but there is a curious paradox--namely, that the same time, people to varying degrees are open minded about such stories as unidentified flying objects, astrology, reincarnation, and alien abduction. Yet, people are discerning and seem able to spot the dangerous rubbish, happy to be entertained and unlikely to be misled by the things that will really alter their lives.
Radford
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The Guardian, London, UK.
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; D000818:Animals; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002417:Cattle; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform; D004739:England; D019115:Fasciitis, Necrotizing; D006678:HIV; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D009956:Psittacosis