ABSTRACT

Misinformation is a serious problem in scientific debates ranging from climate change to vaccines to nuclear power. In this study we quantitatively assess the phenomenon of misinformation – defined as information which is at variance with widely-accepted scientific consensus – on genetically modified crops and food (“GMOs”) in the mainstream and online news media over a two-year period. We found an overall falsehood rate of 9% with a potential readership of 256 million. None of the misinformation was positive in sentiment; most was negative. About a fifth of Africa’s media coverage on GMOs contained misinformation, a worrying finding given the potential for genetic engineering to deliver improved nutrition and food security in the continent. We conclude that misinformation about GMOs in the mainstream media is still a significant problem, and outranks the proportion of misinformation in other comparable debates such as COVID-19 and vaccines.

 抽象的

错误信息是从气候变化到疫苗再到核能等科学辩论中的一个严重问题。在这项研究中，我们定量评估了两年内主流和在线新闻媒体中有关转基因作物和食品（“GMO”）的错误信息现象（定义为与广泛接受的科学共识不一致的信息）。我们发现，潜在读者数量为 2.56 亿，总体虚假率为 9%。这些错误信息都没有带来积极的情绪；大多数是负面的。非洲媒体关于转基因生物的报道中约有五分之一包含错误信息，鉴于基因工程有可能改善非洲大陆的营养和粮食安全，这一发现令人担忧。我们的结论是，主流媒体中有关转基因生物的错误信息仍然是一个重大问题，并且超过了其他类似辩论（例如 COVID-19 和疫苗）中错误信息的比例。