An inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press
30 Nov 2012-
About: The article was published on 2012-11-30 and is currently open access. It has received 160 citations till now.
Citations
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TL;DR: This article examined the 2016 US presidential election campaign to identify problems with, causes of and solutions to the contemporary fake news phenomenon, and employed textual analysis to identify the causes of fake news.
Abstract: This paper examines the 2016 US presidential election campaign to identify problems with, causes of and solutions to the contemporary fake news phenomenon. To achieve this, we employ textual analys...
440 citations
TL;DR: Exaggeration in news is strongly associated with exaggeration in press releases, and improving the accuracy of academic press releases could represent a key opportunity for reducing misleading health related news.
Abstract: Objective To identify the source (press releases or news) of distortions, exaggerations, or changes to the main conclusions drawn from research that could potentially influence a reader’s health related behaviour.
Design Retrospective quantitative content analysis.
Setting Journal articles, press releases, and related news, with accompanying simulations.
Sample Press releases (n=462) on biomedical and health related science issued by 20 leading UK universities in 2011, alongside their associated peer reviewed research papers and news stories (n=668).
Main outcome measures Advice to readers to change behaviour, causal statements drawn from correlational research, and inference to humans from animal research that went beyond those in the associated peer reviewed papers.
Results 40% (95% confidence interval 33% to 46%) of the press releases contained exaggerated advice, 33% (26% to 40%) contained exaggerated causal claims, and 36% (28% to 46%) contained exaggerated inference to humans from animal research. When press releases contained such exaggeration, 58% (95% confidence interval 48% to 68%), 81% (70% to 93%), and 86% (77% to 95%) of news stories, respectively, contained similar exaggeration, compared with exaggeration rates of 17% (10% to 24%), 18% (9% to 27%), and 10% (0% to 19%) in news when the press releases were not exaggerated. Odds ratios for each category of analysis were 6.5 (95% confidence interval 3.5 to 12), 20 (7.6 to 51), and 56 (15 to 211). At the same time, there was little evidence that exaggeration in press releases increased the uptake of news.
Conclusions Exaggeration in news is strongly associated with exaggeration in press releases. Improving the accuracy of academic press releases could represent a key opportunity for reducing misleading health related news.
383 citations
TL;DR: For health and science news directly inspired by press releases, the main source of both exaggerations and caveats appears to be the press release itself, however there is no evidence that exaggerations increase, or caveats decrease, the likelihood of news coverage.
Abstract: Background
Exaggerated or simplistic news is often blamed for adversely influencing public health. However, recent findings suggested many exaggerations were already present in university press releases, which scientists approve. Surprisingly, these exaggerations were not associated with more news coverage. Here we test whether these two controversial results also arise in press releases from prominent science and medical journals. We then investigate the influence of mitigating caveats in press releases, to test assumptions that caveats harm news interest or are ignored.
Methods and Findings
Using quantitative content analysis, we analyzed press releases (N = 534) on biomedical and health-related science issued by leading peer-reviewed journals. We similarly analysed the associated peer-reviewed papers (N = 534) and news stories (N = 582). Main outcome measures were advice to readers and causal statements drawn from correlational research. Exaggerations in press releases predicted exaggerations in news (odds ratios 2.4 and 10.9, 95% CIs 1.3 to 4.5 and 3.9 to 30.1) but were not associated with increased news coverage, consistent with previous findings. Combining datasets from universities and journals (996 press releases, 1250 news), we found that when caveats appeared in press releases there was no reduction in journalistic uptake, but there was a clear increase in caveats in news (odds ratios 9.6 and 9.5 for caveats for advice and causal claims, CIs 4.1 to 24.3 and 6.0 to 15.2). The main study limitation is its retrospective correlational nature.
Conclusions
For health and science news directly inspired by press releases, the main source of both exaggerations and caveats appears to be the press release itself. However we find no evidence that exaggerations increase, or caveats decrease, the likelihood of news coverage. These findings should be encouraging for press officers and scientists who wish to minimise exaggeration and include caveats in their press releases.
111 citations
TL;DR: Comparisons between policy communities within the United Kingdom and elsewhere are useful to the understanding of how different policy environments are amenable to influence through lobbying.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: There has been insufficient research attention to alcohol industry methods of influencing public policies. With the exception of the tobacco industry, there have been few studies of the impact of corporate lobbying on public health policymaking more broadly. METHODS: We summarize here findings from documentary analyses and interview studies in an integrative review of corporate efforts to influence UK policy on minimum unit pricing (MUP) of alcohol 2007-10. RESULTS: Alcohol producers and retailers adopted a long-term, relationship-building approach to policy influence, in which personal contacts with key policymakers were established and nurtured, including when they were not in government. The alcohol industry was successful in achieving access to UK policymakers at the highest levels of government and at all stages of the policy process. Within the United Kingdom, political devolution and the formation for the first time of a Scottish National Party (SNP) government disrupted the existing long-term strategy of alcohol industry actors and created the conditions for evidence-based policy innovations such as MUP. CONCLUSIONS: Comparisons between policy communities within the United Kingdom and elsewhere are useful to the understanding of how different policy environments are amenable to influence through lobbying. Greater transparency in how policy is made is likely to lead to more effective alcohol and other public policies globally by constraining the influence of vested interests.
84 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the problems for police reputation, operational effectiveness and integrity of the criminal justice system that can arise from off-duty use of social media (SM) by police officers.
Abstract: This paper examines the problems for police reputation, operational effectiveness and integrity of the criminal justice system that can arise from off-duty use of social media (SM) by police officers. It locates recent trends in SM use against the background of changes in information and communication practices in policing and the wider community. The concept of police indiscretion is used to explore those features of SM that facilitate and encourage disclosures as well as to, using a series of case studies, identify the harms that can arise. It is suggested that there is currently insufficient appreciation of how SM is impacting upon policing and that, in contrast to the impacts of previous new technologies, SM has the potential to transform many policing practices more quickly and in a more wholesale fashion. Some suggestions for responding to this scenario are offered.
80 citations
Cites background from "An inquiry into the culture, practi..."
...As evidence before the Leveson inquiry has amply shown, there is a substantial market for police-held information in the mainstream media (Leveson 2012)....
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...I am also not looking directly at other means of leaking by police officers to the mainstream media (Leveson 2012, Victoria 2012), except in so far as it relates to the use of SM....
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...(Chief Constable Matthew Baggott, evidence, 28 March Leveson inquiry, Leveson 2012, p. 12) This culture puts a premium on public performance (Marwick and boyd 2010)....
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References
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Book•
14 Oct 2010
TL;DR: Powell, who was the chief of staff for thirteen years, takes Machiavelli's lessons on how to take power and hold on to it and explores if they still apply to modern politics and leadership.
Abstract: In his new book, Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief of staff for thirteen years, takes Machiavelli’s lessons on how to take power and hold on to it and explores if they still apply to modern politics and leadership.
69 citations
Book•
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: Soley and O'Malley as discussed by the authors examined the arguments surrounding attempts to improve standards by introducing statutory rights for the public, and the reasons for the failure of these initiatives, and reexamine the ways in which debates over press freedom versus regulation illuminate fundamental conflicts between a fully accountable press and the economic imperatives of the free market economy.
Abstract: A free press is the cornerstone of democracy. Does this then give the press the right to print inaccurate material with relative impunity? Should the public have a statutory right of reply to inaccuracy in the press? And how free is the press in a world of converging technologies and crossmedia ownership? Clive Soley and Tom O'Malley set the issues of press regulation in their historical context, focusing on the period after 1945. They specifically look at the history and record of the Press Council and assess the performance of the Press Complaints Commission. The book analyses the arguments surrounding attempts to improve standards by introducing statutory rights for the public, and the reasons for the failure of these initiatives. Focusing on issues of principle such as accuracy, misrepresentation and privacy, the authors reexamine the ways in which debates over press freedom versus regulation illuminate the fundamental conflicts between a fully accountable press and the economic imperatives of the free market economy.
40 citations
Book•
01 Jun 1992
TL;DR: In this paper, the author interviewed proprietors, journalists from both tabloid and non-tabloid newspapers, and media victims, and discussed issues ranging from chequebook journalism to the Calcutt Committee, from circulation wars to the reporting of issues such as AIDS.
Abstract: Have journalists changed since Ben Johnson denounced them as "dishonest swindlers"? Are sex, sensationalism, bias and the invasion of privacy fundamental to journalistic scoops? In this book the author interviews proprietors, journalists - from both tabloid and non-tabloid newspapers - and media victims. He recounts notorious press cases past and present, and discusses issues ranging from chequebook journalism to the Calcutt Committee, from circulation wars to the reporting of issues such as AIDS.
23 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, Price looks back over almost a century of battles between the media and our political leaders to find out who is to blame, and exposes liars in Downing Street and scoundrels in Fleet Street, bullies and megalomaniacs in both.
Abstract: Britain has one of the oldest and most developed democracies on earth. It is admired and copied the world over. Yet at home British politics is frequently viewed with a mixture of derision and contempt. Why? Our democratic system may be mature but the politicians we elect and the media we rely on to tell us what they are up to often behave like difficult teenagers, calling each other names, arguing for the sake of argument and pointing the finger of blame rather than accepting responsibility. Little wonder that the public switches off, tired of all the racket and fed up with the lot of them. How did we get into this sorry state, or was it ever thus? With first-hand experience of the worlds of both journalism and politics, Lance Price looks back over almost a century of battles between the media and our political leaders to find out who is to blame. He exposes liars in Downing Street and scoundrels in Fleet Street, bullies and megalomaniacs in both. There are many wiser heads, too, who see the madness and try to find a better way of doing things. Yet are all in pursuit of the same objective? Power. They want power over each other and power over the rest of us. It is a battle without end and too often the truth is the first casualty. Where Power Lies is the story of how powerful men and women have tried for generations to twist the facts to their own ends. It puts the struggle for supremacy between journalists and politicians into perspective. And it offers a glimmer of hope for a future in which both sides grow up, learn to respect each other and trust the rest of us with that most precious of all commodities, the truth.
14 citations
7 citations