Coffee causes cancer – no wait, it prevents it. Early detection is always better – but maybe screening is not always a good idea after all. There is a constant barrage of this kind of message about cancer in research, the media and awareness campaigns. Those messages often conflict. It’s no wonder people get confused, or become totally fatalistic and dismiss the important cancer-related messages along with the less valuable. How can science writers and scientists cover research on cancer causes, prevention and screening without increasing fear, false hope or confusion?
Questions:
- Cancer prevention, the worried well and fatalistic high-risk groups: what is the role of the science writer?
- How do you balance science’s dynamic process with engaging the public about diseases as complex and highly feared as cancer?
- What role for cancer awareness-raising in communities that already overestimate their risk?
- How can journalists and scientists improve news coverage about cancer causes and prevention?