Topic description and stories

Screenshot of the BBC News website via Unsplash

Uncertainty about facts can be reported without damaging public trust in news – study

23 Mar 2020

A series of experiments – including one on the BBC News website – finds the use of numerical ranges in news reports helps us grasp the uncertainty of...

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Harry Reasoner introduces the 60 Minutes program featuring ‘Patient Zero’ and the American AIDS crisis, broadcast on CBS in November 1987.

Research reveals accidental making of ‘Patient Zero’ myth during 1980s AIDS crisis

26 Oct 2016

A combination of historical and genetic research reveals the error and hype that led to the coining of the term ‘Patient Zero’ and the blaming of one...

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American toys for American boys and girls

Cold War PR - spinning the ideological battlefront

07 Dec 2011

The persuasive powers of Cold War PR, until now little recognised or discussed, was the subject of a three-day conference at Cambridge University.

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