For this week’s assignment, my class was told to find a science or health article within a mainstream online newspaper and examine it. I chose an article from the USA Today titled, “Census of world’s sea life tallies up tentacles of surprises,” by Dan Vergano. The science article gives an overview of an ongoing marine project in which scientists plan to have complete a census of the marine biology population by 2010. Although the story shows flashes of sensationalism from the start, it provides valid facts and sources that left me satisfied with information.
In his opening sentence, Dan Vergano tries to hook the reader by making an exiting and colorful image. Referring to a shark playground and a mountain of sea stars, the author attempts to drag in any marine-biology lover by capitalizing on the mysterious and mind-blowing vastness of the ocean. It is evident here that Vergano draws the reader in by using colorful images rather than basic facts.
After the opening paragraph, Vergano does start to get down to the facts. He writes that over 2,000 scientists from over 80 countries are working together to provide a complete census of marine life population by the year 2010. This sentence is the basic message of Vergano’s article: that something big is happening in marine biology.
Vergano goes onto to use a quote from a senior project scientist who claims that the operation of the census is entering its final stretch and believes the world will have a very good census by the year 2010. This a very credible source because of the fact that its coming from one of the top researchers of the census operation. Vergano goes on to mention that since the year 2000, scientists have already discovered 5,300 new species.
After listing a few other specific findings, the author ends with a quote from another project scientist who believes we are in the second Golden Age of marine biology and compares today’s scientific efforts to those of Charles Darwin. While this source may be overdramatizing the operation by comparing it to the scientific breakthroughs of Darwin, I believe Vergano provides valid facts that suggest this may be true.
It is relevant to analyze and interpret articles such as this one because it has been a growing concern in the media that mainstream news sources such as USA Today use sensationalism to attract viewers and bring in more revenue. Media outlets need to stray away from the story telling role and move more into the custodian effect role because the latter allows people to make informed decisions about their personal health and public policy.
It is also crucial to realize that scientists have ambivalent attitudes about sensationalized media coverage. They want to draw interest and spark funding for their research, but at the same time they do not want to misinform their audiences. This contradictory attitude can be seen in the article above because it provides basic facts for the reader but also overdramatizes the scientist’s research a bit by comparing it to the findings of Darwin.
All in all, I believe the story I read about the marine life census provides both a custodian of fact role as well as a story telling role. In the end it left me with valid facts about the census and its possible impact on the world. After analyzing this story by Dan Vergano, I can spot sensationalism in an article. Certainly, the custodian of fact role should be increased in mainstream media by hiring more experts and making more time to provide factual stories that inform people.
Images such as this one have been portrayed in many mainstream media to grab the reader and draw in more revenue. (Photo courtesy of hoax-slayer.com)
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