An uneasy relationship: the tensions between medicine and the media

Abstract

The enduring tensions between medicine and the media are largely due to the different perspectives of biomedical scientists and journalists, as this final essay in the series on medicine and the media underscores. These tensions arise because of perceived differences in defining science news, conflicts over styles of science reporting, and most of all disagreement about the role of the media. In the 1990s, scientists are especially concerned by media messages that question their credibility. Since scientists and journalists depend on each other in the communication of science and the shaping of the public meaning of science and medicine, the tensions are likely to increase.