Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@AOL.COM>]

 

 

 

The New Partisan Divide in Public Opinion about Stem Cell Research

 

Matthew C. Nisbet

 

January 11, 2006

 

It is still too early to gauge any public opinion fallout from the Korean stem cell scandal.  The event is potentially important since the most extreme research opponents have long claimed that scientists can't be trusted, that they are driven by profit motive and fame, and that they violate basic ethical rules to advance their own agendas.  Some critics have even alleged that embryonic stem cell research is “junk science”.

 

Before last month, it was easy to dismiss these critics, with their claims argued almost exclusively at conservative outlets like the Weekly Standard, National Review, and Fox News.  However, the Korean scandal provides for the first time real-life fodder for the grist mill of stem cell opponents.  No matter how isolated and unrepresentative, the events lend momentum to a re-framing of stem cell research into a debate about scientific fraud and untrustworthy scientists. 

 

One of the key variables to watch in understanding the public impact of the Korean stem cell scandal will be the amount of media attention the controversy generates beyond just the elite news organizations.  According to Lexis-Nexis archives, in the month of December, the Korean scandal was featured in 15 articles (3 on the front page) at the New York Times, and 6 articles (3 on the front page) at the Washington Post.   At National Public Radio, 7 stories appeared on either Morning Edition or All Things Considered, and the scandal was a topic of discussion on three consecutive weeks of NPR’s Science Friday. 

 

Despite this attention at the elite national outlets, in my search of Lexis-Nexis and various Web sites I find that smaller regional and local papers devoted only an average of 3-5 stories to the topic.  At the TV news networks, the scandal was barely mentioned.  At CBS, there was one story on the Early Show, but no coverage on CBS Evening News.  At ABC, there was one story carried by Good Morning America, but no reporting on the topic on World News Tonight. At NBC, there was one report at the Today Show and one report on NBC Nightly News.

 

Though it may be too early to measure the impact of the Korean events, accumulated poll data from 2005 reveals a new troubling dimension to public opinion.  Last year, in the weeks following the Presidential election, I detailed an apparent paradox: In a campaign that was allegedly defined by voter preference for “moral values,” aggregate public opinion had shifted to slight majority support for embryonic stem cell research.

 

 

To Read More of This Column Visit:  http://www.csicop.org/scienceandmedia/partisan-divide/

 

 

Matthew C. Nisbet (Ph.D., Cornell University) is Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. His research on the interplay between science, media, and politics appears in the journals Communication Research, the Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Science Communication. From 1997 to 1999, he worked as Public Relations Director for CSICOP.  Nisbet maintains the blog FRAMING SCIENCE, which tracks news coverage of technical controversies. 

 

 

To Read More Columns By Matt Nisbet Visit: http://www.csicop.org/scienceandmedia/

Comments on the column should be address to Matt Nisbet at nisbetmc@gmail.com

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