News that starts with the people who are normally asked last
Bad Science: Faux facts, health fads and influencers
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Does coffee cause or cure cancer?! Do eggs heal or herald heart attacks?! If you were to read everything you need in the press, you’d be very confused! It’s ALL - and also NONE - of the above!
This episode is about ‘New research shows…’ headlines, and how the media commodifies science into clickbait. Take this Washington Post article from earlier this month: ‘4 proven health benefits of drinking coffee”. Note the term “proven”. Yet as one physician commented: “not a single study you referenced demonstrated causation”.
Whether it’s for clickbait or e-commerce or ‘churnalism’ (press releases by private corporations regurgitated as news), we’re inundated with ‘health’ articles that too often feed us useless, non-information. They might not kill you, but by systematically undermining the public’s understanding of science and evidence, they may be doing a huge amount of harm.
It is precisely this that allows things like anti-vax conspiracy theories, climate-denialism or exploitative wellness influencing to flourish.
Our guest today, Dr Deborah Cohen, is an expert in the “Wellness Industrial Complex”. Drug companies aren’t allowed to market straight to patients in the UK, but by using celebrity influencers and news outlets, they’re getting around that. The result? Cohen argues: “Health has been commodified in an age of anxiety, to the point where we can no longer tell medicine apart from marketing.”
Get ready to learn about stats and quacks– but don’t worry, it’s not all maths. It’s media literacy.
This episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)
It was edited by Christy Callaway-Gale
The music is by @soundofsamfire
Follow us @mediastormpod
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