Misinformation in the Media: Global Coverage of GMOs 2019-2021

Overview

Journal GM Crops Food

Specialties Biology
Biotechnology
Molecular Biology

Date 2022 Nov 17

PMID 36384421

Authors

Mark Lynas

Jordan Adams

Joan Conrow

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

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.

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