In the discussion board this week we will examine the issue of how science is pr
ID: 50280 • Letter: I
Question
In the discussion board this week we will examine the issue of how science is presented to the public. It might seem a bit unrelated to the content of the course this week, but I would like you to think about your exposure to science before you enrolled in this class. Particularly the role the media plays in the understanding of science, be it the health issues, bioterrorism, or global warming. We will discuss these issues in the final few weeks of the class. A past episode of ER highlighted a suspected case of smallpox. ER is one of many shows that the U.S. government used to get issues out to the American people. Consider a former CBS show called "The Agency" which portrayed CIA agents combating terrorist plots or a current show “The Unit” which has a similar plot. The government provided enormous financial incentives to networks to insert certain messages into the content of TV shows. This incentive program was somewhat hidden from the American public. Our government believed that messages inserted into television programs reached a broader audience than public service commercials. Meanwhile, the networks enjoy having more profit. Seems like a win-win situation. However, the program was dropped after it was made public in a Salon.com article a few years ago. Is there something disingenuous about government messages imbedded into TV scripts? Or do the ends justify the means? However, all incentives are not gone. The Center for Disease Control offers annual $300,000 grants available to nonprofit or government agencies to "foster Hollywood leadership support for national public health priorities which include ... promoting accurate depictions of healthy living at all stages of life." Some of you might have seen the ABC movie Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America, a couple of years ago. Clearly, television shows continue to portray real health threats in a dramatic fashion. The question I would like you to consider is whether these dramatic representations are the best way to educate the public about health risks? Some sources to check out are: Primetime Propaganda: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/01/13/drugs/ "The Quiet death of Primetime Propaganda": http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1161/a01.html Use these sources as well as your own research to comment on this issue. What do you think of this method of getting information to the public? Compare it to the information you can access from the CDC web (http://www.cdc.gov/) site concerning the flu and bio-terrorism. Which is the most effective way of informing the public? Which is the most accurate? Can you think of a better method to inform the public about important health issues such as the flu vaccine or bio-terrorism? Another aspect of this topic that you might want to consider is how the media shapes our view of health risks. We are exposed to hundreds of natural carcinogens every day yet these won't get near the news or media coverage that dumping of toxic chemicals Puget Sound by the paper industry or shipyards will receive. You could even make the claim that the problem of over-eating is the single greatest health risk today, yet McDonalds is not viewed as an evil company the way industrial polluters of Puget Sound might be portrayed in the media. Is this fair or more importantly is the media misleading us about the greatest health threats in our society? Can you help me? I need in text citation as well. Thank you!Explanation / Answer
The question I would like you to consider is whether these dramatic representations are the best way to educate the public about health risks?
the health issues shown on the TV show have a greater impact on people . the dramatic representation will give a greater prospective on the respective health issue .people will consider the disease may occur to them and how will they encounter those disease . In the science field TV show s can be considered as the best to get the knowledge and useful to create something which will be uselful for the normal public . But the dramatic representation of the TV shows will be dependent on the peoples prespective on the issues . so to conclude that TV shows will be the best way to reach public to have a positive or negative aspect , as a science educator i will encourage the Tv shows which will show the health risk. but the bitter pill case will be an exceptional case it may occur very rarely .
Use these sources as well as your own research to comment on this issue. What do you think of this method of getting information to the public?Which is the most effective way of informing the public? Which is the most accurate? Can you think of a better method to inform the public about important health issues such as the flu vaccine or bio-terrorism? Another aspect of this topic that you might want to consider is how the media shapes our view of health risks.
the method of getting information on the public issues like bioterrorism /global warming /flu . the Tv shows will be the best to reach the people .bioterrorism deliberate relaese of viruses ,bacteria ,or other germs . these germs may have ability to cause disease which make them resistant to the current drugs .such as small pox, will spread from one person to another .they different catogories category A will be higesht risk to public or natural risk ,category B will be moderatly risk category c will be emerging pathogens .
by considering the bioterrorism as the aspect of issue , the best way to consider is through the Tv shows as it will give a clear picture on the diseases and other method is through the articles for the educated people .
for the flu / influenza is very contagious disease , the spread of disease is very common . on this issue the best way to consider to reach the people is through the magzines /articles . in this issue it is not very good to consider the tv shows as they will clear a very picture and it wil create a very negative spread in the mind of the people .
so to conclude ;
the best way to reach people through global warming / bioterrosim TV shows will give a prespective of the disease but the issue of the influenza Tv show will have a bad aspect on the public . as it is terrifying to see the spread of the diseaseas shown in the Tv shows. . the best way to depend on the soley on the person prespective .