Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Trajectories of Socioscientific Issues in News Media: Looking into the Future

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Activist Science and Technology Education

Part of the book series: Cultural Studies of Science Education ((CSSE,volume 9))

  • 2065 Accesses

Abstract

Socioscientific issues, such as global warming, constitute some of the most significant issues we face in our culture, yet they often appear to be poorly understood by the general public. Why might this be? The public knowledge of socioscientific issues in large part derives from the coverage of these topics in the news media – newspapers, radio and video broadcast (either in the traditional formats or on-line). This chapter, using various case studies, discusses common practices engaged in by journalists (and news media companies) – practices which are essentially within the very DNA of journalistic practice – that contribute to problems with accurate representation of socioscientific issues in the news media and the difficulties the general public has in understanding those issues when they use the news media as a source of information. In discussing the case studies questions arise such as if news media should be trusted to convey those topics, if news media reports should be used to teach subjects such as global warming to students and if so how, or even if students should be learning about those issues in science classrooms at all or if some other venue is more appropriate.

This chapter is an update and considerable reorganization of “Insights on the media’s practices and representations of (global warming) science: Confusing the public, educating school children?” in 2011, Volume 3(1), pp. 52–79 of the Journal for Activist Science and Technology Education.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    In my journalism program I attended a talk by one of Canada’s most prominent science journalists at which he indicated that he saw his role as a science journalist as being mainly that of entertainment, with informing the public about science being somewhat incidental rather than of necessity.

  2. 2.

    Two years later I finished the program, graduating in 2013.

  3. 3.

    My thanks to Robert J. P. Lyon, former English Department Head of Fergus High School, for introducing me to this term and discussing the issue with me. This discussion helped clarify my thinking on the significance of this issue.

  4. 4.

    I could, but will not, relate many instances which lead me to believe that such an assumption about the ethical standards being sufficient is completely unwarranted.

  5. 5.

    It is worth noting that 3 months later the Canadian Cardiovascular Society released new guidelines for treatment of atrial fibrillation, which affects 250,000 Canadians, and in those recommended that “drug x” be prescribed instead of warfarin to reduce stroke risk because it has fewer [known] side effects (Picard 2011).

  6. 6.

    Such a condition also exists in the “Copy Story Modification” section of this chapter where the author’s more thorough understanding of the topics (through having read both Guardian newspaper stories in detail and other background knowledge) were over-ruled by the host/producer who had read neither.

  7. 7.

    A science journalist who hosts a science show on a speciality network related to me that only 1 of his 14 producers (for different segments of the show) had a background in science. Given this, it is highly unlikely that a news show producer “up the pipe” for general news broadcasts has a science background.

  8. 8.

    Note that this means that the limitations of the production of the print news story subsequently acts as a mediator for what is possible for the content of the radio newscast story.

  9. 9.

    Socioscientific research studies on topics such as global warming are often quite complex with large data sets. For the sake of this chapter I’ve chosen a socioscientific study (one related to education) which has a data set which is manageable for this discussion. Issues present in the news media reporting of a small study such as the one discussed here are as likely (or, I would suggest, more likely) to occur when discussing larger and more complex research reports on issues such as global warming.

  10. 10.

    My thanks to Don Duggan-Haas for the conversation from which this topic arose. I had posted the “Wired” article on my Facebook wall and he copied it to his wall with the comment that it “has a different spin than an earlier article” he had read. Then a friend of his posted the New York Times article on the discussion thread; that article was the article which Don had read. I read both of the popular news media articles, then the original research article and supplementary materials. This analysis and discussion derives from those readings.

  11. 11.

    That’s not to say that there are not J-schools that take a more conceptual approach to teaching journalism so that its students are more reflective about their practices. For instance, Columbia Journalism Professor Judith Matloff (2011), commenting on her academic program, said “…generally you have to remember the curriculum of the school is a much more theoretical one and it’s more craft-oriented, safety training is not something which is usually incorporated in an academic program” suggesting that they deal with more conceptual and theoretical issues in the Columbia School of Journalism program than did the program I was in.

  12. 12.

    Formal investigations by multiple authorities (both governmental and academic) concluded there was nothing in the emails regarding inappropriate analysis or the conclusions that were drawn about global warming from those analyses. Wikipedia has a full discussion for those interested in this issue.

References

  • Adams, S. (1999). Critiquing claims about global warming from the World Wide Web: A comparison of high school students and specialists. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 19(6), 539–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A. (2009). Media, politics and climate change: Towards a new research agenda. Sociology Compass, 3(2), 156–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, N. (2010). A guide to making your science matter: Escape from the ivory tower. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beacco, J.-C., Claudel, C., Doury, M., Petit, G., & Reboul-Toure, S. (2002). Science in media and social discourse; new channels of communication, new linguistic forms. Discourse Studies, 4, 277–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, A. (1994). Media (mis)communication on the science of climate change. Public Understanding of Science, 3, 259–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belluck, P. (2011). To really learn quit studying and take a test. New York Times [Online edition]. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=science. Accessed 10 Feb 2011.

  • Bencze, J. L., Alsop, S. J., & Bowen, G. M. (2009). Student-teachers’ inquiry-based actions to address socioscientific issues. Journal for Activist Science and Technology Education, 1(2), 78–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, G. M., & Bencze, J. L. (2008). Engaging preservice secondary science teachers with inquiry activities: Insights into difficulties promoting inquiry in high school classrooms. In: W.-M. Roth & K. Tobin (Vol. Eds.), The world of science education: Handbook of research in North America (pp. 587–609). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, G. M., & Rodger, V. (2008). Debating global warming in media discussion forums: Strategies enacted by “persistent deniers” and implications for schooling. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 13(1), 89–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, G. M., Bartley, A., MacDonald, L., & Fraser, D. (2010, March). Improving your students’ graphing and graph interpretation practices. A workshop presented at the annual conference of the National Science Teachers Association, Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, G. M., Bartley, A., MacDonald, L., & Sherman, A. (2013, manuscript). Experiences with activities developing pre-service science teacher data literacy (To be submitted).

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyes, E., & Stanisstreet, M. (1992). Students’ perceptions of global warming. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 42, 287–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boykoff, M. (2008). Media and scientific communication: A case of climate change. Geological Society of London, Special Publication, 305, 11–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boykoff, M., & Boykoff, J. (2004). Balance as bias: Global warming and the US prestige press. Global Environmental Change, 14, 125–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boykoff, M. T., & Mansfield, M. (2008). ‘Ye Olde Hot Aire’: Reporting on human contributions to climate change in the UK tabloid press. Environmental Research Letters. http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1748-9326/3/2/024002/erl8_2_024002.html. Accessed 5 May 2008.

  • Charney, D. (2003). Lone geniuses in popular science. Written Communication, 20, 215–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curtis, D. (2007). It’s not news, it’s fark: How mass media tries to pass off crap as news. New York: Gotham Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dearing, J. W. (1995). Newspaper coverage of maverick science: Creating controversy through balancing. Public Understanding of Science, 4, 341–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dispensa, J. M., & Brulle, R. J. (2003). Media’s social construction of environmental issues: Focus on global warming—A comparative study. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 23(10), 74–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Einsiedel, E. F. (1992). Framing science and technology in the Canadian press. Public Understanding of Science, 1, 89–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortner, R. W. (2001). Climate change in school: Where does it fit and how ready are we? Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 6, 18–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gans, H. J. (1979). Deciding what’s news: A study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek and Time. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelbspan, R. (2005). Snowed. Mother Jones [Online publication]. http://motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/snowed. Accessed 21 Feb 2011.

  • Goldsmith, E., & Hildyard, N. (Eds.). (1988). The Earth report: The essential guide to global ecological issues. Los Angeles: Price Stern Sloan Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gowda, M. V. R., Fox, J. C., & Magelky, R. D. (1997). Students’ understanding of climate change: Insights for scientists and educators. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 78(1), 2232–2240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hindman, D. B. (2009). Mass media flow and differential distribution of politically disputed beliefs: The belief gap hypothesis. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 86, 790–808.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyslop, J. H. (1899). Newspaper science. Science, New Series, 10, 695–696.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jakobson, R. (1960). Closing statements: Linguistics and poetics. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Style in language (pp. 350–377). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarman, R., & McClune, G. (2002). A survey of the use of newspapers in science instruction by secondary teachers in Northern Ireland. International Journal of Science Education, 24(10), 997–1020.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kachan, M. R., Guilbert, S. M., & Bisanz, G. L. (2006). Do teachers ask students to read news in secondary science?: Evidence from the Canadian context. Science Education, 90, 496–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karpicke, J. D., & Blunt, J. R. (2011). Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping. Science, 331, 772–775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keim, B. (2011). To learn best, write an essay. Wired Magazine [Online edition]. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/learning-methods/. Accessed 10 Feb 2011.

  • Khalid, T. (2001). Pre-service teachers’ misconceptions regarding three environmental issues. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 6, 102–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lewenstein, B. V. (2001). Who produces science information for the public? In J. H. Falk (Ed.), Free-choice science education: How we learn science outside of school (pp. 21–43). New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, M. (1995). Scientific explanation in US newspaper science stories. Public Understanding of Science, 4, 119–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacCharles, T. (2009, October 23). If the news is Canadian, Harper’s not watching. Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2009/10/23/if_the_news_is_canadian_harpers_not_watching.html. Accessed 21 Feb 2011.

  • Matloff, J. (2011, February 23). Discussing taboos surrounding sexual assault on female reporters in conflict zones. “Q” on CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/q/episodes/. Accessed 25 Feb 2011.

  • McBean, G. A., & Hengeveld, H. G. (2000). Communicating the science of climate change: A mutual challenge for scientists and educators. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 5, 9–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, R., & Wynne, B. (1988). Public understanding of science: From contents to process. International Journal of Science Education, 10(4), 388–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monbiot, G. (2006). Heat: How to stop the planet from burning. Toronto: Doubleday Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monbiot, G. (2007). The editorials urge us to cut emissions, but the ads tell a very different story. The Guardian [Online edition]. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/14/comment.media. Downloaded 21 Feb 2011.

  • Nelkin, D. (1987). Selling science: How the press covers science and technology. New York: W. H. Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norris, S. P., Phillips, L. M., & Korpan, C. A. (2003). University students’ interpretation of media reports of science and its relationship to background knowledge, interest, and reading difficulty. Public Understanding of Science, 12, 123–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oreskes, N., & Conway, E. M. (2010). Merchants of doubt: How a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming. New York: Bloomsbury Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penney, K., Norris, S. P., Phillips, L. M., & Clark, G. (2003). The anatomy of junior high school science textbooks: An analysis of textual characteristics and a comparison to media reports of science. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education, 3(4), 415–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Picard, A. (2011, February 18). New guidelines to treat heart condition stress quick, aggressive approach. The Globe and Mail, Globe Life section, p. L5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe, M., & Grace, M. (2003). Science education for citizenship: Teaching socioscientific issues. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reis, P., & Galvao, D. (2004). Socioscientific controversies and students’ conceptions about scientists. International Journal of Science Education, 26(13), 1621–1633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reuters. (2010a, November 25). 2010 on course to be joint hottest year since 1850. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/25/2010-joint-hottest-year-global-warming. Accessed 19 Feb 2011.

  • Reuters. (2010b, November 24). UN: Greenhouse gases at highest level since pre-industrial times. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/24/un-greenhouse-gases. Accessed 19 Feb 2011.

  • Roll-Hansen, N. (1994). Science, politics, and the mass media: On biased communication of environmental issues. Science, Technology & Human Values, 19, 324–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saari, M.-A., Gibson, C., & Osler, A. (1998). Endangered species: Science writers in the Canadian daily press. Public Understanding of Science, 7, 61–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, T., Chambers, W. F., & Zeidler, D. L. (2004). Student conceptualizations of the nature of science in response to a socioscientific issue. International Journal of Science Education, 26(4), 387–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schibeci, R. A. (1990). Public knowledge and perceptions of science and technology. Bulletin of Science and Technology Society, 10, 86–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shanahan, J., & Good, J. (2000). Heat and hot air: Influence of local temperature on journalists’ coverage of global warming. Public Understanding of Science, 9, 285–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyson, B. (2010). World Health Organization report says 30 minutes cell phone use daily may increase risk of brain cancer. Helium: Medical Concerns and Issues. http://www.helium.com/items/1835360-world-health-organisation-report-30-minutes-cell-phone-use-daily-may-increase-risk-of-brain-cancer. Accessed 24 Feb 2010.

  • Yore, L., Bisanz, G., & Hand, B. (2003). Examining the literacy component of science literacy: 25 years of language arts and science research. International Journal of Science Education, 25(6), 689–725.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zehr, S. C. (2000). Public representations of scientific uncertainty about global climate change. Public Understanding of Science, 9, 85–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    G. Michael Bowen

Authors
  1. G. Michael Bowen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Michael Bowen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    John Bencze

  2. Faculty of Education and Department of Science and Technology Studies, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Steve Alsop

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bowen, G.M. (2014). Trajectories of Socioscientific Issues in News Media: Looking into the Future. In: Bencze, J., Alsop, S. (eds) Activist Science and Technology Education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4360-1_16

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation