Is the mass media able to contribute to a clearer understanding of
difficult scientific issues to the general public? What forms of media
can be the most helpful and how might changes in the media affect the
general understanding of scientific issues?

please could u provide any relavent references or quotes

please write in the style of an essay so with an introduction and a conclusion
if possible could this be answered as soon as possible!

thanks

I think the mass media has considerable potential for doing this, but
they are not, with the exception of a few green topics where they have
convinced the general public of perhaps wrong conclusions. Top science
experts are divided on many of these issues; Greenhouse warming or new
ice age; new nuclear power plant construction in the USA, gun control,
freedom or government solutions.   Neil