quackery, pseudoscience, and corruption: cam in the media · quackery, pseudoscience, and...
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Quackery,pseudoscience,andcorruption:CAMinthemedia
DrMoniqueLewisGriffithUniversity
Ø Factivasearch:“FriendsofScienceinMedicine”Ø 2011-2017Ø MajormetropolitanornationalnewsoutletsØ FSMwebsiteandmediaarchivesØ 144articlesfoundØ Inclusioncriteria:mainstreamnewsreports,
featuresstories,editorialsthatreferredtoFSMorfeaturedFSMactor
Ø 76articleswereanalysedØ Intercoderreliability
Searches
Ø Codebook–67codesØ 4Maincodes
Ø HeadlineintonationØ ArticleintonationØ FramingØ Sources
Coding
• MypreviousresearchofherbalmedicinemediarepresentationsinAustraliannewspapers(Lewis,2011a;Lewis,2011b)
• FindingsfromotherresearchthatanalysedtheFSMdebateinAustralia(Brosnan,2015;Flatt,2013);
• Framesthatwereaddedafterinitialscrutinyofthedata;
• Newframesthatemergedduringthecodingprocess.
Framing codes were based on …
Results for headline and article tone
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Negative Positive Neutral CAMNegative CAMPositive CAMNeutral CAMMixed
Num
bero
sarticles
HeadlineIntonationofnewsarticle
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35Num
bero
farticles
Framesinnewsreports
• Lucrativeindustry/profession(42%,n=32)• CAMasillegitimate(32%,n=24)
Most frequent frames
• EvidenceforCAMispoor(21%,n=16)• CAMispopularandrelevant(20%,n=15)• Primacyofbiomedicalknowledge(20%,n=15)
• RiskofCAMproductsorservices(18%,n=14)
• RegulationofCAMprofessions(14%,n=11)
Other frequent frames
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45Num
bero
farticles
Primarysourcesinnewsreports
• ‘highprofilescientists’(Medew2012,TheAge)
• ‘leadingscientistsandmedicalresearchers’(Arndt2012,TheAustralian)
• ‘themostseniorscientists’(Colvin2012,ABCRadio)
• ‘Australia'smostprominentdoctors,medicalresearchersandscientists’(Houghton2012,TheCourierMail).
Building ethos with the voices of ‘biomedical insiders’ (Hallin et al., 2013)
• ‘BigWellness,likeBigTobacco,isbigbusiness’(HeraldSun,2017),
• ‘Theendresultisamarketfloodedwithshonkyproducts,makingitverydifficultforconsumers,andhealthprofessionals,topickthesmallamountofevidence-basedwheatfromthevoluminous,hypedrivenchaff’(TheAge,2013).
• ‘Therewouldbepressureonthe[university]researchers(with)$15millionatstake.Wewouldn'treallywanttoproducenegativeresults.’(ABCNews,2014).
CAM as lucrative and unethical
• ‘Taxpayers’moneyshouldnotbewastedonfunding[thesecourses]...norshouldgovernmenthealthinsurancerebatesbewastedonthisnonsense’.(Burke2012)
• ‘Pseudoscientificcoursessullythegenuinelyscientificcoursesandresearchconductedatthesameinstitution’,sayAlastairMacLennanandRobertMorrison,whoco-wrotetheeditorialintheMedicalJournalofAustralia.(AAP2012)
• Muchofmodernchiropractic,unfortunately,hasdescendedintotherealmofquackery.(Demasi2013,Catalyst)
CAM as illegitimate
• Journaliststrusttheirexpertise• Strategiccommunicationtactics• AbsenceofvoicesfromCAMscienceresearch
• JournalistsfavourFSMframingsofCAM• Appealofaudienceadvocacystories• Newsculture• Newsvalues• Effectivemediarelationspractice
Why they are winning with framing …
Accessvia:https://ssrn.com/author=3350645
• Truthfulness• Authenticity• Respect• Equality• Socialresponsibility
Ethical communciation 101: TARES
THANKYOU
DrMoniqueLewisGriffithUniversity
DrMoniqueLewisSchoolofHumanities,LanguagesandSocialScienceGriffithUniversityQueenslandEmail:[email protected]:@DrMoniqueLewisPublications:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Monique_Lewis3https://ssrn.com/author=3350645