IMPEDIMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION

Scientific and technical communication to the public suffers not from problems of magnitude but from impediments to its production and consu mption, especially inaccuracy, distortion, and deception. The author d escribes how ambiguity self-interest, and exaggeration, for example, i nfluence production quality, and how such factors as existing audience bias lack of trust in scientific evidence, and resistance to change f urther complicate assimilation of messages about science.