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SELLING SCIENCE?Andy Williams & Slavko GajevicPublished online: 17 Sep 2012.
To cite this article: Andy Williams & Slavko Gajevic (2013) SELLING SCIENCE?, Journalism Studies,14:4, 507-522, DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2012.718576
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SELLING SCIENCE?
Source struggles, public relations, and UK
press coverage of animal�human hybrid
embryos
Andy Williams and Slavko Gajevic
Over the last 20 years science news has been written by dwindling numbers of reporters, with
higher workloads, and less time than previously to conduct tasks such as finding, researching, and
checking news stories. Simultaneously, a growing science communication sector is developing
more power to influence what, and how, such news is reported. This paper examines media
coverage of animal�human hybrid embryos in the context of a highly efficient public relations
campaign by a coalition of scientists and scientific organisations in the United Kingdom. It draws
on the findings of a comprehensive content analysis of UK national press coverage of the issue,
and 16 semi-structured interviews with specialist science journalists, key news sources, and press
officers on both sides of a polarised media debate. We argue that while science communicators
won a convincing media victory, the broad (and unintended) effects of such campaigns highlight
concerns about media independence, and the openness and quality of public and scientific debate
about controversial science.
KEYWORDS animal�human hybrid embryos; public relations; science communication;
science news
Introduction: Hybrid Embryos in the News
This article explores an often bitter struggle between a powerful coalition of
scientists, funding bodies, charities, and politicians, on the one hand, and a less cohesive
group of religious figures, ethicists, campaigners, and politicians, on the other, concerning
the media representation of animal�human hybrid embryos between January 2006 and
November 2008. Some scientists wanted to create the controversial embryos in order to
harvest stem cells and study the development of incurable diseases and conditions such as
motor-neurone disease, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s (Bobrow 2009). It was hoped that
such lab-based studies would yield insights that would eventually lead to cures and
therapies. Their opponents feared that fusing animal and human genetic material was a
step too far, and that stem cell scientists already enjoyed very liberal regulatory and legal
environments. The event which triggered the PR backlash from scientists and science
communicators was a proposal to ban the practice in a draft version of the UK Human
Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill. The analysis presented here reveals that those who
supported hybrids won a clear media relations victory, e.g. substantially more sources
were quoted in favour of the science than against, and the scientists’ key messages
dominated media discourse. This success was aided by a co-ordinated, well-resourced, and
tactically rich PR campaign which drew on a range of communication techniques such as:
Journalism Studies, 2013Vol. 14, No 4, 507�522, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2012.718576# 2013 Taylor & Francis
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relationship management; the provision of information subsidies like press releases,
briefing papers, and press conferences; and rapid reaction crisis management. But this
success, arguably, came at a price.
Literature Review: Science, News Sources, and Public Relations
Numerous studies have found that, when writing about science, journalists often get
too close to their news sources. Dorothy Nelkin’s influential study, Selling Science, found
that ‘‘many journalists are in effect retailing science and technology more than
investigating it, identifying with their sources more than challenging them’’ (1995, 164).
Likewise, Hansen highlights science journalists’ over-reliance on official and elite sources
(1994, 111) and Boyce suggests relationships between science journalists and sources are
‘‘too familiar to remain ‘objective’’’ (2007, 33). Research into human genomics news has
also suggested such relationships have led to uncritical displays of optimism when
reporting claims about the benefits of the technology (Haran et al. 2008; Petersen 2001;
Kitzinger and Reilly 1997). Some have suggested that the relationship between science
journalists and scientists has grown so uncritical that specialists, in effect, act like a
priesthood to science (Murcott 2009, 104). The reasons for the power imbalance between
journalists and their sources are numerous, but it is commonly argued that the political
economic constraints under which journalists work play a significant role. The kind of
scrutiny and scepticism demanded by the likes of Murcott is becoming more difficult in UK
newsrooms, at least in part, because so many have been starved of resources over the last
two decades.
Journalism’s contraction in this period has been more than matched by an
unprecedented expansion in the field of PR and media management, and science
journalism has been affected by these trends as much as any other news beat. Williams
and Clifford’s work found the numbers of specialist science news journalists at many UK
news outlets are in decline, with most such reporters fearing further job cuts (2010, 25�6).
It also shows how science specialists are under significant pressure to do more work across
more media platforms than previously and that this is leading to news about science
which is more homogenous, less independent, less critical, and increasingly reliant on PR
(36�56). This echoes the findings of numerous studies which have charted the growing
importance of science public relations in setting agendas, influencing media frames,
mediating news events, and in some cases actually providing journalists with the very
words and images that make up the science news we consume (Gopfert 2008; Machill,
Beiler, and Schmutz 2006; Weigold 2001, 171).
Those who explore the ‘‘medialisation’’ of science have shown how scientists, in
order to legitimatise their work and secure continued funding, have increasingly sought to
‘‘seek public and media attention rather than the truth’’ (Rodder 2009, 453). This media
orientation has encouraged the rapid professionalisation and expansion of media relations
work by many scientific organisations (Schaffer 2011, 402). This is perhaps most obviously
visible in ‘‘big science’’ enterprises, such as the Human Genome Project, which have
openly engaged in lobbying and large-scale media relations drives (Rodder and Schaffer
2010). But universities, scientific journals, and other bodies have also expanded their
media teams, and now routinely make extensive use of promotional tactics (Anderson
2002, 331; Clegg Smith, Friedman Singer, and Edsall Kromm 2010; Henderson and
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Kitzinger 2007; Williams and Clifford 2010; Williams, Kitzinger, and Henderson 2003). Bauer
and Gregory usefully begin to theorise such developments when they describe them as
part of a shift away from a democratic, dialogic, and public-centred model of science
communication to an ‘‘incorporated’’, one-way, business-influenced, persuasion-oriented
model which they call ‘‘public understanding of science incorporated’’, or ‘‘PUS Inc.’’ (2007,
47�8).
Such broad concerns are echoed in some of the few academic studies which
explicitly seek to understand news coverage of human genomics in the context of science
PR. Haran and Kitzinger (2009) explored these issues in relation to the scandal surrounding
the academic malpractice of Korean stem cell scientist Hwang. They claim the media were,
at least in part, taken in by Hwang’s hoax because of specialist science journalism’s routine
reliance on (and proximity to) official sources, its continued ‘‘investment in narratives of
scientific progress’’, and persistent susceptibility to science communicators’ repeated and
continued emphasis on the promise of stem cell research (647�8). Henderson and
Kitzinger (2007) build on previous research into scientists’ use of promotional metaphors
in the news (Nerlich and Clarke 2003; Nelkin 1994), and consider such framing devices as
an integral part of the Wellcome Trust’s news management of the publication of a
‘‘working draft’’ of the Human Genome. They critique the notion of ‘‘science by soundbite’’
(69), suggest that journalists and news sources colluded in hyping the story, and argue
that the role of source�media strategies in ‘‘packaging’’ the story was central to this
process (80�1). More recently Rodder and Schaffer (2010) have described how publicly
funded US scientists from the Human Genome Project came under huge pressure to
sequence the human genome quickly, partly because of a media relations battle instigated
by their private competitor Celera. They show how media and commercial pressure led
Human Genome Project scientists to frame their efforts in a much more ‘‘promotional’’
manner, to employ ‘‘misinformation’’ and ‘‘spin’’, and ultimately to downgrade their
research goal from completely sequencing the human genome to completing a ‘‘working
draft’’, or a ‘‘PR version’’, of the genome (258�9). Less research has been done specifically
on news coverage of animal�human hybrid embryos. Haran notes a failure among
journalists to interrogate the claims of scientists rigorously, a lack of ‘‘critical engagement’’
with the wider social contexts of the science, and examines how the media management
and framing of hybrids raises concerns about the space for open public dialogue about
controversial science (2009, 2011). Stressing that she does not imply ‘‘wilful or malicious’’
intent on the part of the UK Science Media Centre (SMC), she criticises the organisation’s
structural role in this debate. She argues the SMC’s ‘‘unashamedly pro-science’’ advocacy
function leaves little room for two-way ‘‘citizen focused’’ approaches to science
communication (Haran 2011, 241).
These studies all raise concerns about the potentially damaging social and cultural
effects of the role of PR in seeking to promote, publicise, and manage discourse about
science in the news media. The problem is approached in two principal, but related, ways.
Broadly speaking, critiques from journalism studies tend to focus on damage to the quality
and independence of science news caused by a weakened news media’s susceptibility to
messages supplied by a strong science PR sector. The media’s ability to play a sceptical,
critical role in holding science to account is diminished, it is suggested, when over-worked
journalists become more reliant on material provided to them by media managers. A
related strand of this critique emphasises the unequal distribution of power and resources
between news sources, and fears that those with the most resources or authority can, in
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some instances, be assured of more favourable news coverage. On the other hand,
accounts from those who study science communication from the sociology of science
perspective tend to stress a diminished role for active publics in debate about, and with,
science in society. Both approaches highlight potential problems which could lead to a
weakened role for citizens who wish to actively engage in debate about science: because
they may be ill-informed by news discourse unduly influenced by powerful news sources
with vested interests; or sidelined from the democratic governance of science by a
growing emphasis on persuasion over engagement, participation, and meaningful debate.
Methods
In the research reported here we sought to answer the following questions:
. What were the aims and tactics of science communicators in the hybrid embryos debate?
. How successful were science media managers at influencing newspaper coverage of
hybrid embryos?
. Are there any problems associated with such media relations campaigns around
controversial science?
A multi-method approach was adopted. In order to determine which source groups
were most successful at generating coverage, and to examine the nature of their
interventions, we completed a comprehensive analysis of coverage (427 items) in the UK
national press (broadsheets, tabloids, and mid-market) between January 2006 and
December 2008.1 All coding categories were developed inductively from scrutinising
the media coverage, and from a thorough knowledge of previous similar content and
discourse analyses of genomics coverage. Notes were made to ensure consistent
categorisation of basic details such as format, news hook, and journalist specialism, as
well as more complex coding categories relating to sources quoted and the kinds of
arguments and rhetoric most commonly used on both sides of the debate.
Analysis of the manifest content of media messages can generate findings which
indicate the success (or not) of a media management campaign. It can also outline and
suggest broad areas of media management work that were successful or not. But in order
to get under the skin of the media, to gain insights into exactly how news sources sought
to influence media discourse, it is necessary to carry out research with the full range of
social actors involved in the processes of news production. We therefore also conducted
16 semi-structured interviews with key participants in the media debates including:
specialist science journalists, primary news sources such as scientists, campaigners, and
religious leaders, as well as press officers and senior media managers (Table 1). Some
participants wished to remain anonymous, and identifying information has been removed
from quotations for this reason.
The findings of the content analysis were used to inform a semi-structured interview
design which focused on exploring the following broad areas: the media management
aims of participants on both sides of the debate; the resources that media managers
devoted to the communication of the science; the public relations tactics employed;
whether and how news sources collaborated and co-operated with other groups of news
sources; and finally, potential or actual problems that arose around the media manage-
ment of the hybrid embryos story. This article will mainly draw on the interview data from
journalists, and those who argued in favour of allowing the creation of hybrid embryos,
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because the principal aim is to understand and interrogate how the science was sold to
the news media, the public, and policy makers with a particular emphasis on the media
relations strategies used.
Findings and Discussion
Aims and PR Tactics
A highly organised PR coalition. One of the most striking characteristics of the PR
campaign in favour of hybrid embryos was the organised show of media-management
unity by participants (it is rare, if not unprecedented), that such a large range of
organisations with an interest in communicating science should work together so closely,
and for so long).2 Early on in the development of the story a coalition of scientists and
press officers formed to allow the groups involved to pool PR resources, putting aside
sectional or organisational interests. The coalition, which grew substantially over the
course of the debate, was co-ordinated by the SMC, which instituted a fortnightly PR ‘‘war
party’’ (Minger) in December 2006 to plan media strategy in response to government
plans to ban the creation of hybrid embryos in the upcoming HFE Act. The coalition
consisted of a large number of organisations and individuals, but key members were:
scientists whose work would be affected by the proposed ban (Stephen Minger and Chris
Shaw, Kings College; Lyle Armstrong, Newcastle University; as well as Robin Lovell-Badge
from the Medical Research Council (MRC)); learned societies (Academy of Medical Sciences,
Royal Society); research councils and funding bodies (MRC, Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council, Wellcome Trust) and press officers (e.g. from the SMC and
numerous disease charities).
The overriding motivation for the formation of this coalition cited by interviewees
was the perceived need to convince the public and policy makers that hybrid embryo
TABLE 1
Semi-structured interview participants
Press officersFiona Fox, Director, Science Media CentreWill Greenacre, Press Officer, Science Media CentrePress Officer, UK learned societyPress Officer, medical research charityNick Hillier, Press Officer, Academy of Medical Sciences
ScientistsProf. Robin Lovell-Badge, Head of Developmental Genetics at the Medical Research CouncilProf. Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, (then) Chief Executive, Medical Research CouncilDr Stephen Minger, (then) Senior Lecturer in Stem Cell Biology at Kings College, London
JournalistsSteve Connor, Science Editor, IndependentMark Henderson, Science Editor, The TimesRoger Highfield, (then) Science Editor, Daily TelegraphNational newspaper specialist science/health journalist (anonymous)
OpponentsArchbishop Peter Smith, (then) Archbishop of CardiffPeter Kearney, Director, Scottish Catholic Media OfficeDr Calum MacKellar, Director, Scottish Council on Human BioethicsJosephine Quintavalle, Director, Comment on Reproductive Ethics
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research should not be banned, and that decisions on regulating the science should be left
to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). This was deemed important
for a number of overlapping reasons. Primary amongst those cited in the interviews was
the hope that this laboratory-based research could lead to therapies and cures for a range
of diseases and debilitating conditions. Secondary reasons include: the defence of
‘‘scientific freedom’’ (Minger); the principle of defending science from ‘‘anti-science’’
opponents (Lovell-Badge); the importance of defending science in the media against the
backdrop of recent perceived science PR failures (one press officer told us, ‘‘We can’t keep
having people saying ‘you got it wrong on MMR [measles, mumps and rubella vaccine],
you got it wrong on BSE [bovine spongiform encephalopathy], you got it wrong on GM
[genetically modified] foods.’ There’s an element of professional pride about it’’ (Hillier);
another stated, ‘‘this was our GM’’ (Fox)).
Managing relationships between scientists and science journalists. PR is as much
concerned with managing relationships with key publics as it is about managing
communication (Broom, Casey, and Ritchey 2000; Ledingham 2003), and one of the key
publics targeted by the coalition were specialist science and health journalists. The
cultivation and dissemination of key messages was accompanied by a well-planned, and
highly effective, drive to cement already strong relationships between scientists and
specialist reporters. This was made somewhat easier by the fact that many of the key
reporters, scientists, and press officers in this debate belong to very close-knit social, as
well as professional, networks. Key ‘‘relationship management’’ tools were regular media
briefings at the SMC (there were five dealing with hybrids between 2006 and 2008). Such
briefings, a regular feature at the SMC, usually begin with a number of scientists giving
presentations in front of an audience of invited specialist journalists followed by an open
question and answer session.
From an early stage, and certainly before this became a contentious political story,
relationships were mobilised and cultivated between these beat reporters and relevant
scientists which would endure throughout. A lot of the language used to describe these
events stresses the briefings were a chance for the scientists to communicate their plans in
a neutral, value-free, way. But while all effort was undoubtedly made to ensure against any
mis-communication of the science, these events can also be seen as largely pre-emptive
exercises in ‘‘issues management’’, a field of PR which arose out of US corporations’
urge to protect against public criticism and adverse legislation (Heath 1997). As one
communicator told us, ‘‘you always have to tailor your communications to your audience
and so the minute you start that process, then you are, I guess, . . . trying to persuade
someone’’ (press officer, UK learned society). In a PR battle aimed at constructing
persuasive narratives for understanding the science, they were tightly managed media
events set up in order to secure ‘‘maximum impact’’ for the scientists (Fox).
Another, more common, relationship management tool used by the SMC was their
popular time-saving service of connecting journalists with ‘‘media-friendly’’ scientists on
their 800-strong database of contacts (Greenacre). Other members of the PR coalition also
report doing this kind of work very often during busy periods, such as the bill’s progress
through parliament in 2008 (Hillier; medical research charity press officer). The health
charities, for their part, worked hard to put reporters in touch with affected patients to
satisfy the reporters’ demands for ‘‘human-interest stories’’ (medical research charity press
officer). A number of press officers also told us about (very rare) instances in which they
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‘‘seeded’’ exclusive information or stories to individual journalists, which is another key
tool in building relationships of mutual dependence.
There are some strong indications that relationship management with specialists
was effective for the coalition. Unusually, more science specialist journalists covered this
story than any other group of reporters (Table 2).
In a general content analysis of science coverage in the UK media, Boyce, Kitzinger,
and Lewis (2007, 19�20) found that only 10 per cent of all science news is normally written
by specialist reporters, rising to 16 per cent of articles specifically about human genetics.
Yet here, even after the hybrid embryos story became ‘‘political’’ when the bill was passing
through Parliament, many of the stories were at least co-authored by science journalists.
Interviews suggest these reporters retained ‘‘ownership’’ of the story after having covered
it for a number of years already, and that this allowed them to convince editors to let them
continue reporting about it. This was the case for those specialists who worked on
newspapers traditionally antipathetic to embryonic stem cell science, as well as those on
more supportive titles.
The benefits to the coalition of cultivating the science beat are clear. Of course, such
specialists are often more able to understand and communicate complex science, but
there are other practical advantages. In this case science and health specialists were far
more likely to cite pro-hybrid sources (principally scientists), and far less likely to quote
opponents (mainly reproductive ethics campaigners), than other groups of journalists
(Figure 1).
Pro-hybrid sources outnumbered their opponents overall in the news coverage: 53
per of all quoted sources were in favour of hybrids compared with 34 per cent against.
The coalition’s media relations success cannot be wholly explained by the influence
of strong PR, of course. Other factors include a lack of co-ordinated PR opposition from
those who opposed the science, little vocal dissent from other scientists (whether founded
or not), and the fact there was no real widespread public opposition to the science (all of
which have been present in other science controversies such as the MMR autism scare, or
the coverage of GM foods in the early 2000s). That said, the testimony of many
stakeholders suggests the coalition’s press strategy played a significant part in securing
favourable coverage (Fox, UK learned society press officer, Connor, MacKellar, Quintavalle).
Addressing the influence of the early SMC briefings, one science journalist explained it was
most marked in the coverage of tabloids and mid-markets traditionally least sympathetic
TABLE 2
The specialism of reporters in press coverage of hybrid embryos
N %
Science/health 131 29.2Political 88 19.6No named journalist 80 17.9Letter to the editor 51 11.4Unspecified/general reporter 42 9.4Columnist 20 4.5Other specialism 13 2.9Guest writer: science/medical 9 2.0Guest writer: other 9 2.0Guest writer: religion/ethics 5 1.1Total 448 100.0
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to embryonic stem cell science (Henderson). Early PR management of the issue meant that
throughout 2007 the coalition could cultivate contacts and hone their messages without
significant opposition. Those who spoke against the science in this period were either
isolated individuals or small campaigning groups, and they did not co-ordinate their PR
(MacKellar; Quinatavalle). By the time the better-resourced press offices of the Catholic
Church in England and Wales, and in Scotland intervened, they did so in a media
environment that was already largely sympathetic to the scientists’ case.
Managing messages: text-based information subsidies. As well as relationship manage-
ment, the coalition also produced high volumes of conventional text-based ‘‘information
subsidies’’ for journalists (Gandy 1982). The SMC’s ‘‘roundup’’ press releases were
particularly successful. These documents aim to ‘‘put research into context’’, and differ
from conventional press releases in that they are composed entirely of quotations from
scientists and other sources (Greenacre). They are usually pre-emptive attempts to manage
news coverage, and are often written in anticipation of breaking news about controversial
science. They are invariably embargoed in order to control when this information is
allowed to be published. One SMC press officer claimed, ‘‘It’s purely about putting the
comments of the scientists out, so that when journalists do cut and paste bits of press
releases, which they obviously do . . . they’re cutting and pasting quotes from the best
scientists who kind of represent the scientific consensus’’ (Greenacre). The SMC is insistent
that these documents do not overtly attempt to impose a narrative on the issue at hand:
‘‘When churnalism does happen they’re just churning the scientists’ words and not a pre-
agreed ‘line’ from the SMC’’ (Greenacre).
This emphasis on information transfer over rhetoric and persuasion is telling. As
Haran argues, the organisation’s claim that it ‘‘eschews PR’’ is somewhat problematic, as
the line between information and persuasion can be hard, perhaps impossible, to draw
(2011, 247). Reticence to see what the coalition did as ‘‘conventional PR’’ and discursive
anxieties about accusations of spin are important. The SMC has undoubtedly taken
measures to minimise their own organisation’s rhetorical influence on framing, or selling,
science. However, there is still inevitably a large amount of selection, editing, and framing
FIGURE 1
Proportion of pro- or anti-hybrid sources quoted by reporters from different specialist news
beats (N�646)
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involved in composing texts like this. Furthermore, the scientists quoted in these
roundups do not exist in a promotional vacuum: many are experienced media operators,
and all had the support of institutional press officers. A key element of PR practice is the
formulation and careful design of key messages. This has led to a professional focus on
‘‘message design and dissemination to achieve awareness, to inform, to persuade*even
to manipulate’’ (Heath 2001, 2). Fox told us that although the SMC ‘‘imitated’’ conventional
PR campaigners, she did not see their work as a campaign, and they never met to
formulate key ‘‘campaign messages’’, something which surprised her fellow non-science
PRs. But whether they consciously planned them or not it is clear from the content analysis
that a shared set of messages existed.
Arguments which mention the promise of potential cures and therapies occur in
three-quarters of all articles which mention hybrid embryos (Table 3). Other arguments
include: the guarantee that embryos would be destroyed before they were two weeks old;
the justification that hybrids were needed to overcome a shortage of donated human
eggs; the suggestion that the hybrids were mainly human in terms of their genetic make-
up, in order to counter arguments about creating monsters, and desecrating nature; as
well as the assurance that the embryos would never be allowed to develop in animal or
human wombs. Variations on such claims permeate the press releases, briefings, and other
information subsidies supplied by all partners in the coalition throughout the campaign.
These messages do serve to pass on information from science communicators, of course.
But they also frame the debate in ways that are advantageous to those who supported the
science; they are (highly convincing) persuasive tools which are easily digestible and
reproducible by overworked journalists working to tight deadlines.
The messages used by anti-hybrid sources were not reproduced as often as pro-
hybrid ones, and when they were cited they rarely set the agenda of news stories and
were more likely to be ‘‘reaction quotes’’. Even when opponents did manage to set the
media agenda, the coalition’s ‘‘crisis management’’ (Regester and Larkin 2005) was highly
effective at turning the tide of coverage back in their favour. For instance, on 20 March
2008 the highly influential Cardinal Keith O’Brien used his Easter sermon to condemn the
science as ‘‘grotesque’’, of ‘‘Frankenstein proportions’’, and a ‘‘monstrous attack on human
rights, human dignity, and human life’’ (SCMC 2008). The intervention gained widespread
coverage in the Sunday newspapers. However, the SMC co-ordinated a very successful
fight back, with one of its ‘‘rapid reaction roundups’’ consisting of quotations from
numerous scientists repeating the (by now finely honed) arguments they had made in
favour of hybrids for over a year already, and complaining about scaremongering, unfair,
and inaccurate attacks from the church hierarchy (Fox; Minger; SMC 2008). This was
followed up by an exhausting schedule of media appearances and interviews by key
TABLE 3
Most common arguments in favour of hybrid embryos (N�427)
Stories
N %
Promise of potential or actual therapies/cures 315 73.8Embryos destroyed after 14 days (or sooner) 124 29.0Shortage of eggs justification 109 25.5Embryos still mainly human (e.g. containing 99.9% human DNA) 99 23.2Embryos will not be placed in humans/animals 82 19.2
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scientists (Minger), and a rhetorically strong intervention in The Times from Catholic
scientist, and (then) chief executive of the MRC, Prof. Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (The Times,
March 29, 2008).
Potential problems with such PR campaigns. In instrumental terms these science
communicators won a clear media victory, which was later compounded by the proposed
ban on creating hybrids not being implemented. But science media relations campaigns
should not be judged on their effectiveness alone. We turn now to a series of potential
problems which relate to the ability of a weakened science news media to act as an
interrogative watchdog, and anxieties around the social effects of promoting messages
about science to the media in this way. These problems are not general to the
communication work carried out by the press offices under discussion, but rather specific
to these kinds of persuasive, single-issue, pan-organisational campaigns. Indeed groups
like the SMC routinely work effectively in a difficult environment to improve (often
sensationalist or ill-informed) media coverage of controversial science as well as broad
areas such as scientific uncertainty, risk, methods, and processes such as peer review.
Likewise, these criticisms are not raised with a view to apportioning blame to individuals
or organisations. The problems raised here are too complicated for blame games, but they
do have potential impacts on the news coverage of, and the nature and quality of public
debate about, scientific controversy.
Churnalism, Science PR, and Accountability
Three of the four science press officers we interviewed confirmed they regularly
experience ‘‘cut and paste journalism’’, and that their material was routinely ‘‘churned’’ in
the reporting of hybrids. One stated: ‘‘You send a press release out and it gets picked up
by a newswire and [then] you can see it on 80 different websites. And for me it’s
brilliant . . . You could say that churnalism is a sign that science press officers have got their
jobs down pat’’ (Hillier). In common with other science press officers, however, he was also
aware that such dependence might be problematic, explaining that, in another sense
‘‘I shouldn’t really celebrate that, I should really say ‘that’s a bit bad’ . . . I very rarely get
questioned on the press releases that we send out’’ (Hillier). Another told us that
churnalism was quite a widespread problem ‘‘despite what journalists might say’’ (Fox).
She was highly critical of the trend, but admitted that her organisation’s success was
linked with the slow demise of the news media: ‘‘It’s perhaps ironic, because we reject
churnalism, and we critique it. But we acknowledge the SMC is a reaction to churnalism,
we work so well because of it’’ (Fox).
By necessity, most media relations work influences the news media from offstage,
beyond the view of all but the most careful and tenacious readers. This can be
problematic. The effects of the coalition’s relationship management, although clearly
significant, are difficult to quantify for media researchers; they are almost completely
invisible to the media audiences. Fiona Fox is very open about the fact that despite their
very close relationships, ultimately, journalists and science PRs have ‘‘different interests’’.
She explained:
mostly [journalists] don’t notice that because . . .we’re so open. They think we’re with
them, and that we only exist to serve them. [But] we work on behalf of the scientific
community and we’re going to use our savvy and our media skills to get them the best
media coverage and the best impact.
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Although the SMC is a highly effective press office, and its employees are ethical
public relations operatives, this statement is telling. However imperfectly applied in
practice, in principle, journalists have a commitment to upholding the public interest. PR
usually has a primary commitment to organisational self-interest. These two do not always
overlap. Information subsidies are not always free; they can have a hidden price which can
manifest itself in effects on news independence and, by implication, the possibilities for
full public debates about controversial science.
The ‘‘C-word’’: When is a Campaign Not a Campaign?
One problem identified by this study is a lack of willingness on the part of science
communicators to accept they took part in a persuasive PR campaign with political aims.
There is a clear tension in their discourse about whether they actually campaigned or not.
We use the word throughout because we see this unequivocally as a PR campaign: an
organised, professional, and systematic attempt to persuade politicians and the public to
support well-defined goals. All four press officers we interviewed disagree with us on this.
Minger was somewhat atypical in acknowledging this was a campaign: ‘‘I didn’t like the
idea that it was a campaign’’, he told us, ‘‘but once we publicly said, ‘we’re not going to
allow the Government to dictate what is acceptable research’, then you’re a little bit on a
crusade’’. His discomfort stems in part from the fact that some participating organisations
(e.g. the MRC) are restricted in their ability to campaign politically, but it also relates to
general anxieties about the appropriateness of scientists engaging in persuasive PR
campaigns about the benefits of their professional practices. It is linked to the above-
mentioned sensitivity of many communicators about the persuasive aspects of their PR
drive, and their insistence on the neutral, value-free, transfer of information to the media.
Robin Lovell-Badge’s explanation of such reticence is telling:
‘‘Campaign’’ sounds a little bit like, either it’s personal interest or you sort of distort the
truth a little bit to try and get your way . . .A campaign is like the pro-life groups did,
writing to all their MPs [Members of Parliament] and saying vote against, without giving
the full information . . . I refer to [what we did] as a campaign, but always in inverted
commas, because I don’t think it really was. If you like, it was a campaign for the truth,
and it was to provide, as much as we could, the scientific truth to Members of both
Houses of Parliament in such a way that they could make their own decision in an
informed way.
The implication seems clear: campaigning is done by self-interested (and possibly
manipulative) publics; but when scientists use similar tactics the persuasive act should be
understood differently. It is marked as exceptional by the use of quotation marks, and
inoculated against the taint of vested interest by the certainty of scientific truth. This
displays quite an un-reflexive approach to the nature of ideology, discourse, and the
plurality of meaning in communicative acts. It also suggests a rather scientistic privileging
of the authority of scientists over that of lay publics.
Leszek Borysiewicz also told us he did not see the coalition’s work on hybrids as a
campaign, but it seems that his experience of the PR drive around hybrids left him with
some concerns:
It’s not my responsibility to promote a particular line or direction. It is our responsibility
to put, in an open-ended way, what our views have been. It is right and proper to say,
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well, this is how far the evidence goes, this is what we believe we can actually learn from
it, and that is a statement of belief, rather than of fact, and leave it to the wider body to
enter into that discussion.
This statement implies more nuanced views on the contingent, contestable, and
perhaps fragile, nature of scientific ‘‘truth’’. He also emphasises how scientists should
participate in open-ended debate rather than simply seek to persuade publics of a fixed
set of immutable truths, and displays anxieties that scientists, and public trust in science,
might be damaged by playing the media game:
In public debate, if there is something that the public do hold with scientists, that’s open-
mindedness . . . That value of being seen to be even-handed, and being prepared to be
convinced by an alternative view, is something that is at its core. Once you cross that line
you get into the very dangerous territory of promoting propaganda for a particular
course or direction . . . It is not for science to dominate society’s views.
This was a general point, and he did not accuse anyone involved with this campaign
of communicating propaganda. The science communicators most active in the media
management of hybrids understand the common pitfalls of working with the media very
well. Recurring themes in interviews were the dangers of simplification, sensationalism,
and the news’ inability to communicate uncertainty effectively, and action was consistently
taken to mitigate these dangers and to remain even-handed when communicating the
science. Nonetheless, this widespread failure to acknowledge the persuasive and political
nature of the communicative tactics and rhetoric employed by the coalition does not bode
well for the prospects of critical self-reflection when problems do occur.
Simplification, Hype, and Scientific Self-censorship
One area of the campaign that attracted sharp criticism from some quarters was the
repetition of the claim that the proposed hybrid embryos were composed of 99.9 per cent
human genetic materials. Variations on this claim were present in almost a quarter of all
articles. The figure was also reproduced in many of the press statements of coalition
members. This was a matter of concern to some in the coalition, as well as to other
sections of the scientific community. Stephen Minger, for example, found the figure
‘‘unhelpful’’ and encouraged journalists not to use it. In April 2008, the (then) Science
Editor of the Daily Telegraph, Roger Highfield, published a critical article claiming this
figure ‘‘misleads the vast majority of people’’, and citing a statement from mitochondrial
DNA expert, and Nobel Prize winner, Sir Martin Evans that the science of hybrid embryos
had been ‘‘hyped’’ and claims about cures ‘‘overheated’’ (Daily Telegraph, April 8, 2008). In
a blog post about the production, packaging, and circulation of scientific ‘‘facts’’ for the
media, Highfield later claimed ‘‘this ‘fact’ was propaganda’’. He told us that while he was
not in favour of banning hybrid embryo research, at the same time he was uneasy about
elements of the way it was communicated: ‘‘I just felt it was being over-sold, at the end of
day, and I felt that there were a lot of complexities there that were not being mentioned at
all . . . I could just see inevitably, that it was going to be hyped up’’ (Highfield).
Others have suggested this kind of science PR can limit the range of dissenting voices
from the scientific community covered by the press, and even that it stifles open debate
about controversial science between scientists. Opponents complained bitterly that the
coalition failed to provide a platform for Catholic scientists opposed to the creation of
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hybrid embryos (Quintavalle). A specialist science journalist questioned the lack of a voice
in the campaign for scientists who questioned the value of the science. Referring to the fact
that those seeking to carry out the science did not subsequently receive any research
funding, he stated: ‘‘obviously there were scientists . . . sitting on the MRC committees or
Wellcome Trust committees . . . saying, ‘this science isn’t up to it. We shouldn’t fund it, there
are better things to fund.’ So it’s a pity we didn’t have them’’ (Connor). Fiona Fox responds
by claiming the SMC represented the views of ‘‘mainstream science’’, and the ‘‘scientific
consensus’’, adding that when asked to put journalists in touch with dissenting scientists
they did. The fact remains, however, that the pro-active and agenda-setting nature of the
campaign in favour of hybrids, coupled with the general lack of critical reporting of the
issue, fed a situation in which coverage of such voices was limited.
There is also some doubt about the indirect effect of this PR campaign on the
formation of a public scientific consensus around hybrid embryos. A related, but less visible,
problem than the range of voices actively promoted by the coalition is the notion that
scientists who questioned the promise of hybrid embryos, or who queried the need for such
a large media relations effort, simply kept quiet in order to give the impression of a united
front. This was confirmed in some of our interviews. Lovell-Badge stated, ‘‘there were
indeed some scientists who couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about in respect of
hybrids, because they were concerned . . . this was not something that was necessarily
going to work’’. Talking of these, Fiona Fox commented, ‘‘I think some scientists self-
censored’’. A journalist put this in the context of other scientific controversies:
Something that always worries me about science is when it hits the political arena*we’ve seen it with animal research, we’ve seen it with global warming*if you have
legitimate reason to challenge the value of research, people say to you, ‘‘look, I think
you’ve got a good point but I’d rather you didn’t mention that in public, because you’re
damaging all this hard work we’ve done to get the public to accept this’’. (Highfield)
This is troubling because of the unspoken limits it places on open and honest public
debate about science among scientists. Such self-imposed foreclosure on dissent may also
have disturbing consequences for wider public debate about science. Disconcertingly, as
this journalist implies, the dangers of such a falsely homogenous public scientific debate
may correlate with the amount of effort, resources, and ‘‘hard work’’ expended on
persuasive public and media relations.
Some in the coalition accept the dangers of self-censorship but charges of
simplification and hype are denied. In answer to claims about the controversial 99.9 per
cent figure, Fiona Fox told us, ‘‘[that was] the truth as the scientists knew it. I do not accept
that they sat in a room and said, ‘we’re going to say it’s 99.99 per cent human because that
will win us the vote in Parliament’’’. Some might blame scientists or PRs for wilfully
miscommunicating their science; but the problem is clearly more complicated than that.
Communicating scientific uncertainty to journalists is notoriously difficult, even more so
when one is pitted in a Manichean media debate against ideologically opposed
campaigners. As Fox explains, all too often science communicators’ ‘‘nuanced messages’’
do not make it to the printed page. Lovell-Badge echoes this:
it’s very hard when you’re challenged by a pro-life group saying ‘‘you want to make
monsters’’, and blah-blah-blah. Your response obviously is going to be ‘‘look, if we don’t do
this research, then we are less likely to come up with good cures for diseases’’, and it’s very
easy for that to get translated into ‘‘this research is going to lead to cures immediately’’.
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But despite science communicators understanding such pitfalls, they do find
themselves implicated in the process of generating media hype and simplifying science.
He continued, ‘‘it’s very easy for [such arguments] to be translated in the wrong way, not
just by journalists but also by spokespeople for organisations and research charities’’
(Lovell-Badge). Simply blaming the news media, then, is as inadequate a response to these
problems as only blaming science PR. The problems of simplification, hype, and scientific
self-censorship are systemic, complex, and over-determined, and arise because of: the
often intense struggles between polarised groups of news sources and media managers;
the demands placed on these groups by media forms and journalistic norms; as well as
their own (understandable) urge to generate sympathetic coverage. If blame can usefully
be placed anywhere it is on the rules of the game more than the tactics that groups or
individuals employ when playing it.
Bauer and Gregory write that both ‘‘science and journalism are traditionally sceptical
professions’’ which should ‘‘interrogate and assess results critically. Their work seeks
controversy and the debunking of myths’’. PR, on the other hand serves to promote ‘‘a
positive image of its paymaster so as to minimise controversy and critical response’’ (2007,
47). We agree with the broad normative assumptions underpinning these statements, and
worry that engagement in large-scale persuasive PR campaigns such as this, no matter
how ethical, reflexive, and sensitive they may be, might have the unintended consequence
of weakening the sceptical edge and interrogative ability of both scientists and journalists.
In so doing, it could also diminish the public’s ability to participate in full and meaningful
debates about controversial science.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Science Media
Centre, the Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust who co-funded and
commissioned the content analysis element of this research. We are also grateful to the
Academy of Medical Sciences for allowing us to reproduce content analysis findings from
this research.
NOTES
1. Our sample was generated using the Nexis media database and the search string: hybrid
embryo OR admixed embryo OR animal human hybrid OR human animal hybrid OR
human animal embryo OR animal human embryo OR chimera OR parahuman OR cybrid
OR centaur OR Mootant OR Franken* OR Humanzee OR chimpmanzee OR minotaur. The
validity of our coding categories was tested using a pilot sample of 40 stories selected to
represent the diversity of coverage. After further discussion, a finalised coding frame was
formulated and a detailed 16-page coding manual was written to ensure the consistency
of coders. Regular coding review meetings were held, the research team worked in the
same room, and maintained regular informal conversations to maintain consistency.
Overall inter-coder reliability tests showed our reliability rates were very high:
most variables were over 90 per cent reliable, and all were more than 80 per cent reliable.
2. There is a very real sense in which this article addresses only half of the PR campaign
around hybrid embryos. We focus on media relations work, but there was also a parallel
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and equally well-organised effort to lobby MPs on the issue. At the same time as press
officers from coalition organisations were carrying out the work described here, policy
experts were managing relationships with politicians, and writing and disseminating
briefings for MPs, fact sheets and other such political ‘‘information subsidies’’.
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