Guardian blog about media reporting of cancer
I’ve just written a comment piece for the Guardian website about the media reporting of cancer.
It comes from looking at newspaper archives about how cancer risk was being reported a century or so ago.
Take this quote from The Times:
“It would be difficult to think of any article of diet which has not, at one time or another, been blamed as a cancer-producing substance. The list includes tea, coffee, cocoa, white bread – and also brown bread – cheese, butter, eggs, meat, fish, and poultry.”
I often hear similarly cynical comments about the bewildering array of things we are told either increase or decrease our risk of cancer.
I’d always assumed this cynicism was a relatively new thing.
But this quote is from an article published in 1927, which suggests people have been feeling like scientists are always changing their minds about cancer for quite some time.
This is a concern because media reporting of cancer risk is important. This is why the Policy Report we published last year identified the media as one of the groups that need to make changes to help prevent cancer and it contains recommendations for the media.
I’ll also be chairing a session about media reporting of cancer at the World Cancer Research Fund scientific conference in September. Ben Goldacre, who runs the Bad Science blog, is already confirmed as one of the speakers.
