Journal editor blasts media research of science events

Last Thursday, Michael Waldholz, the science and health editor for the Wall Street Journal, spoke at the University of Pittsburgh's Scaife Hall with regard to the media's coverage of science news. He presented several cases where the press has failed to uncover deception or inaccuracy in science and stated that both the public and the media are responsible for ensuring accuracy in reporting.

As an example, he mentioned the case of Imclone Systems, a biotech company which claimed to have a drug that could slow the growth of cancer. Not surprisingly, Imclone's stock took off amidst all of the excitement. However, it was recently uncovered that the Food and Drug Administration has long had issues with the Imclone drug and its clinical trials. This has called into question whether or not Imclone's cancer drug is actually as great as the media made it out to be.

On the topic of sequencing the human genome, he stated that the media has reported more on the race between Celera Genomics and the US government than on the actual genome developments. This results in the American public having very little understanding of the science behind the issues, such as stem cell cloning, that are important to our society. "There are people who really don't have a firm grasp of what the issues are," said Waldholz.

He explained that the media have a very prominent role in informing the public of science developments. "It has often been quoted that the press are writing the first draft of history," said Waldholz. "And sometimes the second, third, and fourth." He stated that because of this, it is very important that the media be capable of accurately reporting on science. He said that often, journalists in the science media do not have an educational background in science and therefore may have difficulty communicating with researchers about technical developments.

Waldholz concluded by stating that the media and public, especially academic institutions, should work together to insure that scientific developments are properly communicated to the American public.