How and Why the Media Gets It Wrong

• Activity Number: 267
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 5, 2014 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Committee on Excellence in Statistical Reporting
• Author(s): Donald Berry*+
• Companies: MD Anderson Cancer Center

Abstract

Reporters want people to read (or listen to) what they say. "Man bites dog" sells, "dog bites man" doesn't. Something else that sells is controversy, especially about issues of concern to ordinary people. For example, reporters have a field day with screening mammography. A publication of a flawed study in a third-rate journal can create a frenzy in the media. Truth is beside the point. An erudite editorial in the Chicago Tribune once criticized the media for covering a published observational study that claimed outlandishly positive benefits for screening mammography. The study was published in a third-rate journal that has to share blame with the media. The editorial said in part: "Millions of women woke up one day last week to news that the last word had been written in the debate over mammography screening. Newspapers, TV and radio stations reported what many described as the definitive study, proving beyond doubt that getting routine mammograms sharply reduces a woman's chances of dying of breast cancer. Too bad it wasn't true." I will address the whys and wherefores of this unfortunate circumstance. And I will suggest what statisticians can do about it.