Science Information, Media Misinformation, and Public Trust

Dear Colleagues,

The media—including the internet, television, newspapers, and radio—translate science for the public, many of whom are science-curious but perhaps not equipped to understand reports published in the refereed scientific literature. Rampant misinformation fills the public dialogue, especially about COVID-19, suggesting that the media have not done a good job at translating science, for at least a subset of the population.

Uncertainty is always present in new scientific findings, so errors of fact and interpretation can arise in many ways. Therefore, a distinction must be made between mistakes and misinformation. Errors earnestly and inadvertently made by scientists are mistakes; this category can include retractable inaccuracies, which may not be inadvertent but are rare. Errors willfully or ignorantly made by journalists, in contradiction to the published science, are misinformation.

The journal Publications is concerned with public access to and engagement with scientific research, so it is within the purview of this journal to characterize the relationship between science information and media misinformation, and how this relationship erodes public trust in science. The overall hypothesis to be examined is: Public distrust of science arises from the contradictory presentation of science by the media, rather than from the public’s objective assessment of the science itself. Several corollaries of this main hypothesis exist, any of one of which would be appropriate for evaluation:

• Media sources fail to convey the uncertainty that surrounds every new finding;
• Media sources amplify certitude when they report a new finding;
• Media sources seldom put a new report into the context of current science.

Prof. Dr. R. Grant Steen
Guest Editor

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• scientific misinformation
• media misinformation
• media presentation of science
• antivaccination movement
• science denial
• climate denial