<aside> <img src="/icons/map-pin_gray.svg" alt="/icons/map-pin_gray.svg" width="40px" /> People who want to discredit or deny science use various methods to manipulate the media and the public, like viral sloganeering, evidence, collages, leaked or forged documents, and more. This section is currently under development.
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These are tactics that research has found private industries have used to cast doubt on potential harm from industry activity. This gives lawmakers plausible deniability. It creates an environment that allows them not to act in response to the potential harm. ϕ “A” refers to information generated to combat scientific evidence and facts. Δ “B” refers to information generated to promote narratives that are favorable to the industry.
| Strategy | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Attack Study Design | To emphasize study design flaws in Aϕ that have minimal effects on outcomes. Flaws include issues related to bias, confounding, or sample size. |
| Gain Support from Reputable Individuals | Recruit experts or influential people in certain fields (politicians, industry, journals, doctors, scientists, health officials) to defend BΔ to gain broader support. |
| Misrepresent Data | Cherry-pick data, design studies to fail, or conduct meta-analyses to dilute the work of A |
| Suppress Incriminating Information | Hide information that runs counter to B |
| Contribute Misleading Literature | Use literature published in journals or the media to disinform pro-B, anti-A, or distract with peripheral topics. |
| Host Conferences or Seminars | Organize conferences for scientists or relevant stakeholders to provide a space for the dissemination of only pro-B information. |
| Avoid/Abuse Peer-Review | Avoid the peer-review process to publish poor literature without revealing funding sources, use the journal name to add weight to claims, or minimize the need for peer review among lay audiences. |
| Employ Hyperbolic or Absolutist Language | Discuss scientific findings in absolutist terms or with hyperbole, use buzzwords to differentiate between “strong” and “poor” science (i.e., sound science, junk science, etc.), |
| Blame Other Causes | Find related, alternative causes for negative effects that are reported or observed. |
| Invoke Liberties, | |
| Censorship, Overregulation | Invoke laws to emphasize equality and rights for expression of B, despite differences in evidence quality. |
| Define How to Measure Outcome/ Exposure | Attempt to set guidelines for ‘proper’ measurement of exposures or outcomes while undermining guidelines used in A. |
| Take Advantage of Scientific Illiteracy | Emphasize scientific obscurity to confuse lay audiences or deliberately disseminate unscientific or false but digestible information. |
| Pose as a Defender of Health or Truth | Represent the goals of B as health-conscious or dedicated to truth |
| Obscure Involvement | Ghostwrite, create shell companies and use attorney-client privilege to hide the association. |
| Develop a PR Strategy | Devise methods for specifically reaching public audiences to spread B messages. |
| Appeal to Mass Media | Appealing to journalistic balance, developing relationships with media personnel, preparing information for media personnel, and invoking the Fairness Doctrine. |
| Take Advantage of Victim’s Lack of Money/Influence | Silence or abuse individuals by outspending or exploiting a power imbalance |
| Normalize Negative Outcomes | Normalize the presence of negative effects to reduce their importance and make them seem inevitable. |
| Impede Government Regulation | Overwhelm governmental regulatory agencies to slow or stop their function |
| Alter Product to Seem Healthier | Modify harmful products to reduce their apparent negative effects |
| Influence Government/Laws | Gain inappropriate proximity to regulatory bodies and encourage pro-B policy. |
| Attack Opponents Personally | Conduct targeted attacks on opponents by undermining their professional or personal reputations. |
| Appeal to Emotion | Manipulate an audience’s emotions to draw support for claims in the absence of facts. |
| Inappropriately Question Causality | Argue that correlation does not equal causation despite the presence of strong evidence |
| Make Straw Man Arguments | Publicly refute an argument that was not made by the opposition |
| Abuse Credentials | Use qualifications in one discipline to assume authority in another discipline. |
| Abuse Data Access Requests | Requesting access to data to misrepresent and attack, employing the Shelby Amendment, Freedom of Information Act, etc. |
| Claim Slippery Slope | Illogically or falsely claiming that there will be disastrous consequences if B ideology is not supported. |
Goldberg, R.F., Vandenberg, L.N. The science of spin: targeted strategies to manufacture doubt with detrimental environmental and public health effects. Environ Health 20, 33 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-021-00723-0
Distributed Amplification: The Plandemic Documentary
Cloaked Science: The Yan Reports
Understanding how media manipulation works