The Media - Manipulation

Clearly, various players in the debate over whether Sydney fish are contaminated chose to interpret the two bioaccumulation studies according to their own interests and to further those interests by restricting (or increasing) the flow of information and attempting to ensure that their interpretations of the studies were accepted.

Each participant in this controversy implicitly acknowledged that the truth did not automatically emerge from the data obtained in the studies but was up for grabs to whomever could successfully get their own interpretation accepted as the 'truth'. Science is a resource in the political arena and those who have best access to it and most control over it can shape interpretations and meanings. Criticisms of the media for false, inaccurate or distorted reporting are often made by disgruntled players who have lost power over interpretation or those who do not understand the game.

This article was originally published as Sharon Beder, 'Science and the Control of Information: An Australian Case Study', The Ecologist, vol. 20, July/August 1990, pp136-140.

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