Image via Public Domain Pictures
Science should be reported on truthfully
By Jessica Berget, Opinions Editor
It’s weird what constitutes as news nowadays. There is something surreal about looking at whatever social media account you’re scrolling through in the morning to find an actual news reports about a celebrity having trouble jumping over a puddle, but this is our unfortunate reality.
Mainstream media has taken news—something that should be honest and informative—and twisted it into a hodgepodge of entertainment and pleasure. As bad as mainstream journalism is, scientific journalism is even worse. It’s prone to the same biases and interpretations, but is susceptible to more exaggeration and sensationalism.
Science is something that has been continuously sensationalized in the media. Although sensationalizing may sound like a good thing, after doing a quick Google search of what the term means, it’s clear it is not something that should be associated with science. To sensationalize something means to present information that excites and entertains the public, at the expense of accuracy. As much as I believe scientific findings should be reported in a way that interests the public, it should not be done at the expense of accuracy for the sake of entertainment. It should be done honestly, and for the sake of education and sharing scientific information.
You shouldn’t trust every scientific study you read or hear about. Scientific reports are often misrepresented or fabricated in online news articles or mainstream television to excite the public and ultimately to get a boost in ratings. Mainstream news and media needs to stop fabricating scientific research to get people talking about it, but report on it honestly and truthfully. Science is already super interesting, so we shouldn’t have to fabricate it to make it easier to digest. Yes, it may be difficult to understand at times, but dressing it up to make the public understand it doesn’t do anyone any good, either.
