Our society must make difficult policy decisions about complex biomedical research and treatment issues without the scientific understanding or expertise to critically evaluate these issues. So, while scientists understanding of the effects of addictive drugs has been increasing rapidly, a generally uninformed public allows policy decisions to be made on political rather than scientific bases. Most Americans learn about science from the mass media. Because most editors and journalists have had little or no science education, however, coverage of the scientific aspects of drug issues often fails the tests of accuracy, clarity, and completeness. Moreover, powerful economic forces are driving the news business to the Internet, where millions more people, lacking any training in science or journalism, post information about addictive drugs strictly from political and ideological standpoints. During the past nine years we have developed an integrative approach to help journalists improve their reporting about addiction. We have trained more that 250 journalists in the science of addiction through targeted workshops and a Website. These working journalists come from an array of print and broadcast media and have produced two books, a movie script, and some 350 stories about addiction (230 stories in the past four years alone) in numerous newspapers, magazines, public radio and television stations, and network and cable news shows. This application proposes to 1) continue the workshops, 2) expand our audience by recruiting Internet-dedicated journalists, and 3) evaluate our efforts. Public Health Relevance: This project is designed to make scientifically accurate and up-to-date information about substance abuse and addiction readily available to the public by educating the journalists who communicate science to the public. This will improve our ability to make public policy based on sound science
This project represents an opportunity to translate up-to-date scientific information about addiction for the general public. It will improve the public's ability to understand the biological and behavioral bases of addiction, how to understand and evaluate the value of treatment, how to recognize sound prevention programs, and other topics. The benefit will be in improved public health policy, and, ultimately, improved public health.
