Science is continuously becoming recurrent theme in the media of today, appearing in almost every genre of media. Its constant portrayal of science plays a key role in shaping the perception of individuals towards science and research. In fact, a pop culture portrayal of science and scientists has been proven to impact the average person’s view of what science is and how research is conducted (Lewenstein, 1995). It is therefore unarguably true that media plays a significant role on informing the public about scientific advancements in all fields of study such as medicine, agriculture and technology among others.
Notably, depictions of low credibility science and research procedures are hugely attributed to the misguided views that the uninformed public possesses. The media plays a significant role in highlighting various issues such as ethics and morality in research and science which more often than not is painted in bad light (Winsten, 1985). As a matter of fact, what is presented by the media actually affect how the general populace views a particular research field. For instance, research on diseases is depicted as full of hypocritical research procedures. Moreover, the media distorts most of the science to appear as if out of control of the researchers which is not usually the case. The depiction of deliberate infections of innocent individuals by researchers with an aim of exploring science largely misinforms the public and voids the truth about ethical considerations made before a research can be commenced. The same case applies to other fields of research such as agriculture and technology.
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Since most of the uninformed public depends in the media for information, the wrong depictions of science could be detrimental to public engagement. In fact, the long-term impacts of such depictions can be far-reaching where reluctance to embrace technology may become rampant among members of the public. This will be more so in areas of medicine and agriculture which are directly impacting on an individual’s wellbeing. Notably, science is portrayed in differently in different fictional media such as television shows, movies, music and books among others. In most of the fiction works, science is seen as a negative force in the world. In fact, most of the fiction works show the inevitable eventuality of science as being destructive, causing more harm than good (Weingart, 2012). Examples supporting this position include the film titled universal soldier that depicts science as producing extremely destructive individuals, eventually the research having to be ended. The same case applies to mutant girls, predators and Jurassic world which all depict science to have devastating outcomes to researchers and the entire population involved (Weingart, 2012).
From my point of view, I think the portrayal of scientists in the various forms of media influences how society views people in this profession. Many a times, the scientists are depicted as self-centered individuals with no love for humanity as all that motivates them is their selfish desires to be all powerful (Weingart, 1998). The reason for this view is that scientists in most cases do not share their information with the public which is actually true in real life. Although they have admirable passion for research, the outcomes do not always benefit the public as access to the information by the public is mostly hindered. Some works of fiction actually show the ramifications of lack of informing the public, something that can be interpreted as an admonishment of scientist to step up and enlighten the public on the real facts (Weingart, 2012).
In conclusion, the portrayal of science in media actually influences how certain research and technology is viewed and accepted by the general public. Issues such as cloning and genetic modification are taken with high skepticism by the public since the media depicts them as highly dangerous to the people.
References;
Lewenstein, B. V. (1995). Science and the media.
Weingart, P. (1998). Science and the media. Research policy, 27(8), 869-879.
Weingart, P. (2012). The lure of the mass media and its repercussions on science. In The Sciences’ Media Connection–Public Communication and its Repercussions (pp. 17-32). Springer Netherlands.
Winsten, J. A. (1985). Science and the media: the boundaries of truth. Health Affairs, 4(1), 5-23.
