This paper examines the silencing of science, that is, efforts to prevent the making of specific scientific claims in any or all of the arenas in which these claims are typically reported or circulated. Those trying to mute the reporting or circulation of scientific claims are termed “partisans.” The paper examines silencing through a systematic examination of the “rapid responses” to a smoking study published in the British Medical Journal claiming that secondhand smoke is not as dangerous as conventionally believed. Media coverage of the smoking study is also examined, as is the question of whether there is self-silencing by the media regarding doubts about the negative effects of passive smoke. The results suggest that the public consensus about the negative effects of passive smoke is so strong that it has become part of a regime of truth that cannot be intelligibly questioned.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Agres, T. (2003) “Science, Policy, and Partisan Politics,”The Scientist (August), URL: http://www.thescientist.com
2.
Bloch-Nevitte, S. (1996, November). “Settlement Reached in Olivieri Dispute,”University of Toronto Bulletin (November): 1–2.
3.
Canadian Medical Association Journal (2003) “Editorial: Polemic and Public Health,”Canadian Medical Association Journal169: 181-181 .
4.
Danaher, G. , Schirato, T. and Webb, J. (2000) Understanding Foucault. London: SAGE .
5.
de Sousa, S. (2001) “Top Medical Journals Adopt Tough Rules: All Research Data on New Products Must Be Revealed,”University of Toronto Bulletin (September): 3–4 .
6.
Dearing, J. (1995) “Newspaper Coverage of Maverick Science: Creating Controversy through Balancing,”Public Understanding of Science4: 341–361 .
7.
Doll, R. , Peto, R. , Boreham, J. and Sutherland, I. (2000) “Smoking and Dementia in Male British Doctors: Prospective Study,”British Medical Journal320: 1097–1102 .
8.
Donnay, A. , Baker, G. , Fardon, D. , Garfin, S. , Saal, J. , Simon, G. et al. (1997) “The Messenger Under Attack— Intimidation of Researchers by Special-Interest Groups,”The New England Journal of Medicine336: 1176–1180 .
9.
Enstrom, J. and Kabat, G. (2003) “Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Tobacco Related Mortality in a Prospective Study of Californians, 1960–98,”British Medical Journal326: 1057–1100 .
10.
Fessenden, F. (2003) “Studies of Dietary Supplements Come under Growing Scrutiny,”New York Times June, URL: http://www.nytimes.com2003/06/23/national/23DIET.html
11.
Foucault, M. (1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and other Writings. 1972–77. New York: Pantheon .
12.
Glanz, J. (2004) “At the Centre of the Storm over Bush and Science,”New York Times March, URL: http://www.nytimes.com2004/03/30/science/30ADVI.html
13.
Harris, G. (2004a) “Expert Kept from Speaking at Antidepressant Hearing,”New York Times April, URL: http://www.nytimes.com2004/04/16/politics/16DEPR.html
14.
Harris, G. (2004b) “Antidepressants Restudied for Relation to Child Suicide,”New York Times June, URL: http://www.nytimes.com2004/06/20/national/20DEPR.html
15.
Horton, R. (2004) “The Dawn of McScience,”The New York Review of Books51: 7–9 .
16.
Jasanoff, S. and Wynne, B. (1998) “Science and Decisionmaking,” in S. Raynor and E. Malone (eds) Human Choice and Climate Change: Volume 1, The Societal Framework, pp. 244–285. Columbus, OH: Batelle Press .
17.
Martin, B. and Richards, E. (1995) “Scientific Knowledge, Controversy and Public Decision Making,” in S. Jasanoff (ed.) Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, pp. 506–526. London: SAGE .
18.
McQuail, D. (1985) “Sociology of Mass Communication,”Annual Review of Sociology11: 93–111 .
19.
Meier, B. (2004) “Groups Weigh Plan for Full Drug-trial Disclosure,”New York Times June, URL: http://www.nytimes.com2004/06/14/business/15drug.html
20.
Nelkin, D. (1995) “Scientific Controversies. The Dynamics of Public Disputes in the United States,” in S. Jasanoff (ed.) Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, pp. 444–456. London: SAGE .
21.
New Scientist (2004) “Passive Smoking Kills One Bar Worker a Week,”New Scientist 17 May, URL: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994998
22.
Osteen, W. (1998) “Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corporation v. EPA, 1998 U.S. Dist.,”LEXIS 10986 , 17 July.
23.
Rabinow, P. (1991) The Foucault Reader: An Introduction to Foucault’s Thought. London: Penguin .
24.
Ross, A. (1996) Science Wars. Durham, NC: Duke University Press .
25.
Shanahan, J. and Good, J. (2000) “Heat and Hot Air: Influence of Local Temperatures on Journalists’ Coverage of Global Warming,”Public Understanding of Science9: 285–295 .
26.
Smith, G.D. (2003) “Effect of Passive Smoking on Health,”British Medical Journal326: 1048–1049 .
27.
Soyfer, V. (1994) Lysenko and the Tragedy of Soviet Science. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press .
28.
Taylor, C. (1996) Defining Science: A Rhetoric of Demarcation. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press .
29.
Ungar, S. (1996) “Is Global Warming Still Worth a Blip? A Study of Media Coverage in Three Countries,”Delta7: 6–15 .
30.
Ungar, S. (1998) “Hot Crises and Media Reassurance: A Comparison of Emerging Diseases and Ebola Zaire,”British Journal of Sociology49: 36–56 .
31.
Webb, B. and Stimson, G. (1976) “People’s Accounts of Medical Encounters,” in M. Wadsworth and G. Stimson (eds) Studies in Everyday Medical Life, pp. 87–103. London: Martin Robinson .
32.
Ziman, J. (1968) Public Knowledge: An Essay Concerning the Social Dimension of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
