Some problems in conceptualizing the issue of “science and the media”

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the popular representation of science has emerged as a special problem within the field of communication studies. This essay critically reviews what has become the dominant discourse on science and the media, examining its tacit assumptions and assessing its prescriptive agitations. The essay finds that the dominant concern is itself fraught with conceptual and methodological problems, and argues that it has been at its most efficacious in its ideological import. It has worked not only to promote a science coverage dutiful to scientific interests, but to inhibit a truly critical appraisal of popular science communication.