This May in the print edition of the journal Public Understanding of Science, research has been published carried out at the Department of Communication at UPF concerning the perception and attitudes of Spanish science journalists regarding the proliferation of pseudoscience in the media.

The work was directed by Sergi Cortiñas, director of the Observatory of Scientific Communication (OCC),  with members of the Scientific Communication Research Group (GRECC) of the Department of Communication at UPF.

As Felipe Alonso, co-author of the study and deputy director of the OCC comments, "we refer to pseudoscience as all of the practices, methods, and theories that, without providing evidence or following any scientific method, try to achieve scientific status to gain benefit from it".

Since concern over this issue has grown in Spain in recent years, the work aimed to evaluate how pseudoscience operates in journalistic practice in the Spanish media, for which the researchers held interviews and collected data through specially compiled specific questionnaires from total of 49 science journalism professionals in Spain.

Controversy surrounding an issue that poses a risk for society

By pseudoscience the authors refer to certain practices that are indeed present in our society and that include many manifestations recognized in the work, "healers, homoeopathy, miracle diets, astrology, the occult, clairvoyants, tarot", which some of the interviewees perceive with benevolence leaving the final decision as to whether to accept these practices or not with the public.

The results of the study reveal that science communication professionals who are most sensitized against such practices warn of the threat of the proliferation of pseudoscience in the mass media in our country. Its presence is on the increase quite possibly due to the lack of editorial policies concerning this subject, as well as a lack of scientific training of editors and media managers.

To this end, journalists are urging a more proactive attitude of the media and call the attention of educational institutions (universities, primary and secondary schools) and governments, through legislative power.

As its authors state, "by pseudoscience we mean false knowledge that tries to pass for a science" and they add, "it is a controversial and complex issue that is a potential risk to society".

Reference work:

Sergi Cortiñas-Rovira, Felipe Alonso-Marcos, Carles Pont-Sorribes, Eudald Escribà-Sales (2015), " Science journalists' perceptions and attitudes to pseudoscience in Spain ",  Public Understanding of Science, May 2015 vol. 24 no. 4 450-465.