What does this say about the public perception of science?

[Hagi]

I don't really consider thousands to be a very impressive amount of people out of a population of 82 million. Same goes for your experiences on the bus, it only takes a few people out of dozens to make it seem a certain paper is everywhere.

"Bild" is the biggest German newspaper with a reach of approximately 12.31 million readers. It really IS everywhere. On top of that their website bild.de gets up to 6.8 million clicks per day.

I don't think that this is any different in other European countries, especially not in the UK with its high number of tabliod newspapers.

So TheKasp's argument that tabloid newspapers are influential still stands.

Even assuming that every single reader believes everything that's written in there, which is a ludicrous assumption, that's still only about 14% of the country. Hardly a majority.

I'm not saying tabloid newspapers don't have any influence. I'm saying they only seriously influence a minority. The majority of people do not make their decisions based purely on articles in tabloids.

 

[Twilight_guy]

In other words: reports write sensational headline for otherwise boring story, people make snap judgement about it before reading article and pester scientist, scientist thinks entire world shares opinion of pestering people, everybody is a little bit dumber for the whole experience.

The real issue here is that news sites (even the Escapist from time to time) write headlines that are of dubious quality and designed to get looks and people don't bother to read an instead make up some story in there mind based on the headline. I've seen this so many times on the Escapist where people make a comment based solely on the name of the thread and don't bother to read anything.

The reason people don't understand what scientists do is the same reason the public doesn't understand what 99% of all jobs entail, people will only ever have a few jobs in their lifetime and without direct experience it is often difficult to get an idea of what a job actually entails. In other words, ignorance. It's not really a problem with science though so don't think people are science illiterate.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

I don't even know what to say here so... I'm going to facepalm and blame the education system.

 

[RoonMian]

Even assuming that every single reader believes everything that's written in there, which is a ludicrous assumption, that's still only about 14% of the country. Hardly a majority.

I'm not saying tabloid newspapers don't have any influence. I'm saying they only seriously influence a minority. The majority of people do not make their decisions based purely on articles in tabloids.

They have a much wider reach than any other newspaper and they have a wider reach than any other news company on the internet so they DO influence the majority of people who get information out of newspapers and the internet. You're simply wrong in using the whole number of the population as the foundation of your argument.

So TheKasp's argument still stands.

 

[Benni88]

This is because a lot of people have a deficiency in discussion skills. Quite often, they only hear what they would like to hear, or what is most sensationalist. This is why news agencies are often able to manipulate their audience into believing a load of shit.

 

[Hagi]

Even assuming that every single reader believes everything that's written in there, which is a ludicrous assumption, that's still only about 14% of the country. Hardly a majority.

I'm not saying tabloid newspapers don't have any influence. I'm saying they only seriously influence a minority. The majority of people do not make their decisions based purely on articles in tabloids.

They have a much wider reach than any other newspaper and they have a wider reach than any other news company on the internet so they DO influence the majority of people who get information out of newspapers and the internet. You're simply wrong in using the whole number of the population as the foundation of your argument.

So TheKasp's argument still stands.

Yeah... it's not like newspapers have been in major decline for years on end... So biggest newspaper surely means they're crazy big right?

Nor should you take television into account in your reasoning, I mean who watches television? Clearly it's insignificant compared to the amazing total of 3,5 million Bild copies.

And people who get information purely out of newspapers and the internet surely don't ever visit multiple, possibly contradicting, news sources. That one tabloid is all they ever read and the only website they ever visit. And when they do they'll take everything reported as absolute undeniable truth, obviously.

 

[freaper]

Wait, so they're not cloning a neanderbaby?

Aww man.

Or is it a ...nyanbaby?

OT: As long as the media continues to represent scientists as either pussies in lab-coats or crazy world-dominators that mentality won't disappear. Even in games (the nerdiest medium par excellence): guns > science.

 

[RoonMian]

-snip-

Why the hell am I arguing with someone who thinks that the Bild only influences a minority in my country in the first place?

This is getting silly. Hagi, you believe what you want to believe, I don't care.

 

[Hagi]

-snip-

Why the hell am I arguing with someone who thinks that the Bild only influences a minority in my country in the first place?

This is getting silly. Hagi, you believe what you want to believe, I don't care.

By all means, continue living in your sad little world believing most everyone around you to be idiots and yourself as part of the small intellectual elite capable of seeing things how they really are...

 

[Altorin]

I don't know, "Harvard professor seeks mother for cloned cave baby," sounds like a magnificently awesome headline to me.

 

[Angie7F]

I think it has more to do with the media trying to make "interesting" articles than it has to do with scientists and normal people not being on the same page.

 

[Xanex]

Wait. Didn't they already clone cave dwelling humanoids? I thought thats were internet trolls came from.

On a more serious note. Even if they got around laws and common sense and did this, it wouldn't be a true neanderthal. Because environment shapes everything just a suredly as genetics.

 

[Griffolion]

I'm not certain a bunch of rabid, drooling, mentally deficient bloggers and tabloid journalists should be mistaken for the general public.

Yeah, Hagi has it bang on. Any member of the GP that gets behind any of these blogs/"journalists" is already part of the preached-to choir.

 

[Loonyyy]

Daily Mail< There's your problem. They're sensationalist, science illiterate idiots. They're less reliable than Fox News.

While I think people are less science literate than they should be by far, The Daily Mail is less science literate than the public at large by far.