An international mail survey of 1,354 biomedical researchers in five countries has revealed that interaction with the media is widespread among this group and that this interaction is largely perceived in a positive light. Possible reasons are offered as to why the perception persists that the scientist-journalist relationship remains troubled, despite the apparent reality. This reality may have negative as well as positive implications; the potential for too much control by the scientific community of media coverage about it, as well as that for too much media influence on inner-scientific processes, are also addressed.
Hartz, J., & Chappell, R. (1997). Worlds apart: How the distance between science and journalism threatens America's future. Nashville, TN : First Amendment Center. Retrieved August 28, 2008, from http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/pdf/worldsapart.pdf
2.
Peters, H.P., Brossard, D., de Cheveigné, S., Dunwoody, S., Kallfass, M., Miller, S., et al. (2008). Interactions with the mass media. Science, 321, 204-205.
3.
Weingart, P. (2001). Die Stunde der Wahrheit? Zum Verhältnis der Wissenschaft zu Politik, Wirtschaft und Medien in der Wissensgesellschaft [The hour of truth? On the relationship of science with politics, the economic system and mass media in the knowledge society]. Weilerswist, Germany: Velbrück.
