How the Media Influences the Public Perception of Science Essay

Chapter One of of Jim Murphy’s book, An American Plague, opens with the quote, ‘About this time, this destroying scourge, the malignant fever, crept in among us” (Murphy 1). This quote is accredited to Mathew Carey in November, 1793. The term scourge is defined as, “a person or thing that cause great trouble of suffering,” and the term malignant is defined as, “tending to produce death or deterioration.” These are very strong terms with extremely negative connotative meanings. The figurative language which is evident in the quote at the opening of Chapter One is personification. Carey’s quote give yellow fever an eerie, human-like quality when he writes, “the destroying scourge, the malignant fever, CREPT in among us” (Murphy 1). CArey’s word choices and use of personification help to create a powerful image in the reader’s mind of the threat looming over the city of Philadelphia.\

Media coverage of climate change has effects on public attitude on the issue, as it mediates scientific opinion on climate change. The media uses interactions between climate science, policy, statistical scientific texts, data, scientific language and the appearances of scientific personalities. Such as work and stories from scientists that are personally known. It is clear that science and policy shape media reporting and public understanding. Whether people believe in it or not is their

After explaining the danger and lack of means to prevent the spread of these severe ailments, Oldstone proceeds to go in depth about the aforementioned ailments. He begins with Lassa fever by describing the name, and then describing a case in which the fever presented on several different patients, effectively killing them in a very “The Last Stand” way. Oldstone repeats this in separate chapters about Ebola and Hantavirus, HIV, and Mad Cow disease, highlighting the complexity of the maladies of modern day and the effect they have on their

In a general sense society derives much of their beliefs and indifferences from stories that are covered in the media. If the stories are being reported biased, how can we, as a society, see the whole picture? The author's purpose is to inform readers about the different biases that news and media sway by and to provide evidence that proves instances when these biases have weakened the validity of the reporter's story. "Journalist are like dogs-whenever anything moves, they begin to bark." (Gladstone, 2011/2013, P.25)

The perpetuation of misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting effects even after it is discredited. For instance, if an audience is reliant on the information provided by the media to make an informative decision about a topic involving their morals, the validity of the author’s claims will determine the mass majority of their decisions they make in the future. As a result, false information may continue to influence beliefs and attitudes even after being debunked if it is not replaced by an alternate causal explanation.

In, “One Man’s Rumer I Another Man’s Reality, Gregory Rodriguez, an author of the Los Angeles Times he argues about the power of broadcasting the truth and its effect on the people. As a result, “can false rumors and off-the-wall theories be corrected by broadcasting the truth” (Gregory Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2009)?

The power and consequently the responsibility of media, especially mainstream, is something that shouldn’t be underestimated. It often sets the agenda amongst the general public and is the reference point for the majority of the discussion surrounding it. For many, what they see and read in the media forms the basis of their opinions on most important topics. Despite warnings not to, many believe that everything they read in the media must be true.

In the story, the unknown epidemic has civilization in chaos and severely limits humankind's ability to communicate. Many of the citizens are deprived of their ability to read or write. Others lose the ability to speak. Society identifies themselves by carrying items or symbols that represent their name. Furthermore, individuals communicate through common sign language and gestures that can commonly result into mayhem. Correspondingly, it appears common that the folks who obtain the illness, are the ones who are attacking the non-infected humans. One very important quote that directly represents the effects of the virus is, “The illness, if it was an illness, had cut even the living off from one another. As it swept over the country, people hardly had time to lay blame on the Soviets. The illness was stroke-swift

In reference to the media’s role, they have been highlighted for playing a part in maintaining these views by portraying victims in a certain way according to the newsworthiness of each story

The media has been adversely affected by the explosion of information sources. It has become a tedious and cumbersome endeavor to accurately locate information sources that can stand to even the slightest bit of scrutinizing. For those who attempt to report the truth, they continue to find it

Another disease that other people would think that it was a deadly disease is The Spanish flu, they would think this would be a deadly disease by information in the book says that The Spanish Flu is a Deadly disease that started

With all the bad science in the media the general public is often confused as to which are the correct choices. Educating the public to be better consumers of science would improve general health and lower the need for access to healthcare (Pincus, Esther, DeWalt, & Callahan 1998).

The natural sciences is a world the general public will either dive into head first to exploit research out of fear and ignorance or to coexist with and celebrate recent advancements and discoveries. Whether or not the public stands and cheers or sulks and cries is entirely dependent on the accessibility of information and data that is available for public discretion and evaluation. People remain ignorant about many scientific advances that have paved the path for potential scientific solutions in major areas including cancer research, prenatal health, pediatric medicine, and genetics. However, sometimes the disregard for the aforementioned scientific triumphs is not entirely the fault of the public. The media has an incredible influence

In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. As long as the newspapers, internet, network television, etc, continued to be easily accessible to the public, the media will continue to have an influence in shaping its opinions. Factors such as agenda-setting, framing and priming help shape the public opinions. Agenda-setting is when the media focuses their attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinion on, whereas framing allows the media to select certain aspects about the problem and then

Students of the class Introduction to Research Methods conducted two studies to collect data on the perception of scientists. The purpose of the two studies conducted was to examine the stereotypes of scientists of undergraduate Speech and Hearing Science majors, and whether the use of media has an influence on these stereotypes. Study one was a descriptive study that consisted of administering a Draw-A-Scientist test. This was done in order to understand the perceptions of scientists in a sample of Speech and Hearing Science majors at a large research university in the Midwest, and be able to compare the results to other literature. Study 2 was an experimental study, conducted to analysis the effect of a media stimulus on the perceptions of scientist. The goal of conducting two studies was to have the ability to compare the results of the descriptive study with the experimental study in order to determine the effects of the media and analyze certain stereotypic characteristics of a scientist.