However, the authors of the research are quick to point out a limitation of their study. They only focused upon articles in newspapers which reported on studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. In this situation, journalists have an original paper and, more often than not, a press release from which to glean their information. However, because the media interest in science has made public figures of some scientists, journalists often report on developments which occur well before publication in a journal
For example, the enormous media interest in embryonic stem cell research has made even announcements about a scientist's intention to carry out research headline news. Professor Ian Wilmut, made famous by the intense media interest in the cloning of Dolly the sheep, has made a number of comments in public about his intention to move from animal cloning to the creation of cloned human embryos for research purposes. Eighteen months on from his first announcement that he would like to use cloned human embryos in research, Professor Wilmut has yet to be granted a license to carry out the work. And so, a number of journalists have written stories about research that hasn't even started yet, let alone been published in a journal.
It is perhaps this kind of science story which does more to overhype genetics and associated areas of research than stories about published research. But it's difficult to know who to blame for this: the journalists for giving the impression that research is more advanced than it really is or the scientists for talking it up before it has even begun.
Juliet Tizzard is the Founder of BioNews and was formerly Director of the charity that publishes it, the Progress Educational Trust (PET). She is coauthor of Key Issues in Bioethics (buy this book from Amazon UK or Amazon USA) and Designer Babies: Where Should We Draw the Line? (buy this book from Amazon UK or Amazon USA).
