Science by press conference

Science by press conference (or science by press release) is the practice by which scientists put an unusual focus on publicizing results of research in the media.[1] The term is usually used disparagingly.[2] It is intended to associate the target with people promoting scientific "findings" of questionable scientific merit who turn to the media for attention when they are unlikely to win the approval of the professional scientific community.

Examples

• In 1989, chemists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann held a press conference to claim they had successfully achieved cold fusion.[3][7] (Highlighting the complexity of defining the term, Pons and Fleischman technically had an accepted paper in press at a peer-reviewed journal at the time of their press conference, though that was not widely acknowledged at the time and the quality of the paper and its review were subsequently criticized.[8])
• In 1998, Andrew Wakefield held a press conference to claim that the MMR vaccine caused autism.[3] In January 2011, an article by Brian Deer and its accompanying editorial in BMJ identified Wakefield's work as an "elaborate fraud".[9][10][11]
• In 2002, a group called Clonaid held a press conference to announce they had successfully achieved human cloning.[3]
• In 2005, the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences (ERF) reported their findings from testing aspartame on rats. Their studies were widely criticized and later discounted.[12]
• In September 2012, Gilles-Éric Séralini held a press conference to claim that genetically modified food caused terrible cancers in rats, on the eve of the publication of a scientific paper, a book publication, and a movie release, and in the runup to the vote on the GM food labeling initiative, California Proposition 37. As the Séralini affair unfolded, it was revealed that Séralini required journalists to sign confidentiality agreements in order to receive pre-prints of the paper, to prevent them from discussing the paper with independent scientists.[13] The scientific paper was retracted in 2013.[14]

A common example of science by press conference occurs when the media report that a certain product or activity affects health or safety. For instance, the media frequently report findings that a certain food causes or prevents a disease. These reports sometimes contradict earlier reports. In some cases, it is later learned that a group interested in influencing opinion had a hand in publicizing a specific report.