Media, scientific journals and science communication: examining the construction of scientific controversies

Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of the media in the construction of the “water with memory” controversy. It demonstrates that the universality of the canons of the scientific enterprise transcends the scientific publications' domain and can also influence mass media coverage of scientific controversies. Mass media can play a crucial role in scientific controversies. This role goes way beyond acting as secondary sources of news created in the scientific arena. The case study illustrates how media in times of crisis can assume the rhetorical role traditionally imparted to scientific journals, the latter adopting a passionate and sensationalistic approach usually attributed to mass media. The case study demonstrates that mass media's role in science communication cannot be studied in isolation, and that scientific journals and mass media work in interaction in the construction of scientific controversies.