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Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research

Cancer research in the news is often associated with sensationalised and inaccurate reporting, which may give rise to false hopes and expectations. The role of study selection for cancer-related news stories is an important but less commonly acknowledged issue, as the outcomes of primary research ar...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Amberg, Amanda, Saunders, Darren N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7652252/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33166352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242133
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author Amberg, Amanda
Saunders, Darren N.
author_facet Amberg, Amanda
Saunders, Darren N.
author_sort Amberg, Amanda
collection PubMed
description Cancer research in the news is often associated with sensationalised and inaccurate reporting, which may give rise to false hopes and expectations. The role of study selection for cancer-related news stories is an important but less commonly acknowledged issue, as the outcomes of primary research are generally less reliable than those of meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Few studies have investigated the quality of research that makes the news and no previous analyses of the proportions of primary and secondary research in the news have been found in the literature. We analysed distribution of study types, research sources, reporting quality, gender bias, and national bias in online news reports by four major news outlets in USA, UK and Australia over six-months. We measured significant variation in reporting quality and observed biases in many aspects of cancer research reporting, including the types of study selected for coverage, the spectrum of cancer types, gender of scientists, and geographical source of research represented. We discuss the implications of these findings for guiding accurate, contextual reporting of cancer research, which is critical in helping the public understand complex science, appreciate the outcomes of publicly-funded research, maintain trust, and assist informed decision-making. The striking gender bias observed may compromise high-quality coverage of research by limiting diversity of opinion, reinforces stereotypes and skews public visibility and recognition towards male scientists. Our findings provide useful guidelines for scientists and journalists alike to consider in providing the most informative and accurate reporting of research.
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spelling pubmed-76522522020-11-18 Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research Amberg, Amanda Saunders, Darren N. PLoS One Research Article Cancer research in the news is often associated with sensationalised and inaccurate reporting, which may give rise to false hopes and expectations. The role of study selection for cancer-related news stories is an important but less commonly acknowledged issue, as the outcomes of primary research are generally less reliable than those of meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Few studies have investigated the quality of research that makes the news and no previous analyses of the proportions of primary and secondary research in the news have been found in the literature. We analysed distribution of study types, research sources, reporting quality, gender bias, and national bias in online news reports by four major news outlets in USA, UK and Australia over six-months. We measured significant variation in reporting quality and observed biases in many aspects of cancer research reporting, including the types of study selected for coverage, the spectrum of cancer types, gender of scientists, and geographical source of research represented. We discuss the implications of these findings for guiding accurate, contextual reporting of cancer research, which is critical in helping the public understand complex science, appreciate the outcomes of publicly-funded research, maintain trust, and assist informed decision-making. The striking gender bias observed may compromise high-quality coverage of research by limiting diversity of opinion, reinforces stereotypes and skews public visibility and recognition towards male scientists. Our findings provide useful guidelines for scientists and journalists alike to consider in providing the most informative and accurate reporting of research. Public Library of Science 2020-11-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7652252/ /pubmed/33166352 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242133 Text en © 2020 Amberg, Saunders http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Amberg, Amanda
Saunders, Darren N.
Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research
title Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research
title_full Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research
title_fullStr Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research
title_full_unstemmed Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research
title_short Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research
title_sort cancer in the news: bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7652252/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33166352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242133
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