Lost in Translation? A Comparison of Cancer-Genetics Reporting in the Press Release and Its Subsequent Coverage in the Press

Understanding how genetic science is communicated to the lay public is of great import. To address this issue, this study examines the presentation of genetic research relating to cancer outcomes and behaviors (i.e., prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, smoking and obesity) in both the press release (n = 23) and its subsequent news coverage (n = 71). Data suggest that genetic discoveries are presented in a biologically deterministic and simplified manner 67.5% of the time. The introduction of deterministic language is attributed equally to both press releases and news coverage. Also, there are substantive differences between content introduced in the press release and content presented in subsequent press coverage; in fact, when two sources report on the same scientific discovery, the information is inconsistent more than 40% of the time. These findings suggest that the intermediary press release may serve as a source of distortion in the dissemination of science to the lay public.