Abstract
Background: The UK print and online media is an important channel by which scientific research is communicated to the public. Media risk messages relating to pregnancy or fertility contribute to the context of reproductive decision making, but their fidelity to the underlying science has been questioned. Method: We measured the volume, distribution and content of science-based risk headlines relating to pregnancy or fertility in the UK media over four months. We grouped headlines into unique stories and categorised them by exposure and outcome of interest. We selected four unique stories for closer content analysis and assessed their fidelity to the underlying science, with attention to the role of press releases. Results: We identified 171 headlines over four months (average 43 per month), comprising 56 unique stories. The unique stories most commonly concerned maternal risk factors (n=46) and child health outcomes (n=46). Maternal health outcomes were less frequently the focus (n=20). The most common risk factors in the media coverage were maternal food and drink (n=15), maternal medication and medical interventions (n=9), and maternal health factors (n=6). Media reports were largely faithful to press releases. Where substantive deviations from the underlying scientific study were identified, these could mostly be traced back to press releases or quotes from the study's authors. Press releases often omitted caveats which were reinstated at the media reporting stage, alongside additional expert criticism. Conclusions: Frequent science-based risk messages in the UK media frame mothers as vectors of potential harm to children, who are the focus of health outcomes. Largely, the media does not introduce misinformation, but reports press releases faithfully with additional caveats and expert commentary. Press releases fulfil an interpretative role, often omitting caveats and introducing new elements and advice to women. Their role as a bridge between scientific and lay audiences is discussed.
Highlights
The UK media is an important channel through which new health research is disseminated to the general public[1,2,3]
Health stories are a particular staple of UK media reporting and are frequently communicated in the form of ‘risk messages’, wherein common exposures, habits, or lifestyle characteristics are positioned as risk factors for certain health outcomes[2,3]
The majority of media reports addressed the study’s limitations through the inclusion of caveats and criticisms, including caveats that had been omitted in the press releases (PRs), and additional criticism sourced from the Science Media Centre (SMC) and British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS)
Summary
The UK media is an important channel through which new health research is disseminated to the general public[1,2,3]. The authors refer to the literature on the framing of risk messages in PRs and the impact of this framing on the public’s understanding of health risks and attribution of blame These are important points that the authors re-visit in the discussion. On page 3, for example, the authors cite several key articles (e.g. Reisch and Spiegelhalter; Tulloch and Zinn) but say little about the larger findings from this literature This is important context that helps to set the stage for the study and the discussion section. Press releases fulfil an interpretative role, often omitting caveats and introducing new elements and advice to women Their role as a bridge between scientific and lay audiences is discussed
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