title: Biotechnology and the popular press: hype and the selling of science.
abstract: The popular media has emerged as an important source of scientific information. It has been suggested that the portrayal of genetics by the media is often inaccurate--a phenomenon branded 'genohype'--and, as a result, is having an adverse impact on public understanding and policy development. However, emerging data suggest that, in some circumstances, the media reporting of science is surprisingly accurate and portrays a message created by the scientific community. As such, there are reasons to believe that the hyping of research results might be part of a more systemic problem associated with the increasingly commercial nature of the research environment.
authors.affiliation: Health Law Institute, 461 Law Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2H5 Canada. tcaulfld@law.ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Caulfield
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D003146:Communications Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D040541:Marketing / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D008402:Mass Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D011639:Public Opinion; D017594:Publication Bias; D012586:Science / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States