In scientific research, the newest thing is often the *least* definitive—we have seen this over and over with COVID—with science reported, then revised, as more information comes in.
In 1996 scientists announced the astonishing news that they’d discovered what they believed might be signs of ancient life inside a meteorite from Mars. In 2014 astrophysicists declared that they’d found direct evidence at last for the “inflationary universe” theory, first proposed in the 1980s.
The problem science journalists face is that this process is fundamentally at odds with how news coverage works, and that this can be confusing to readers. In most areas—politics, international relations, business, sports—the newest thing journalists report is almost always the most definitive. The Supreme Court heard arguments on Mississippi’s challenge to Roe v. Wade; pitcher Max Scherzer signed a three-year, $130-million contract with the Mets; Facebook rebranded its parent company as “Meta.
Same goes for particles that seemed to travel faster than the speed of light—something the scientists themselves said was almost certainly some kind of mistake, but which reporters couldn’t resist running with . Sometimes, as with the Mars meteorite, the breathless coverage is driven a powerful publicity campaign—in this case, by NASA. And sometimes, as argued by prosecutors in the trial of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, it’s just plain fraud.
But if you put the excitement first and the caveats further down, readers are likely to see the latter as merely dutiful. It can be like the “results not typical” disclaimers that appear in ads trumpeting the amazing success of weight-loss products. In principle, readers or viewers are supposed to take serious note—but how many do?
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