News feeds

One of the problems for journalists and news editors is the long lag time between what scientists are doing at the bench or in the field and a good news story. Current reports about global warming are mostly based on decades of routine measurements and most upcoming drugs are probably based on conceptual developments years old. So the announcement that potentially interesting work on allergies presented to an audience of public and media that could lead to cures within a few years attracted great attention. Professor Ronald van Rae, of the University of Amsterdam, told the British Association for the Advancement of Science last month of his work on developing potential vaccines for common allergies. " A vaccine will soon end the misery of millions of allergy sufferers, scientists said yesterday, " claimed the Daily Express. " Patients will be able to take a simple course of drops or tablets to immunise their body against potentially fatal allergic reactions, " it claimed. The paper's main competitor, the Daily Mail, went further in its headline " Cure for allergies in three years ". Rae told the spellbound audience that " researchers were close to perfecting the treatment which could be ready for use by hay fever and asthma sufferers within three years and that similar remedies for those with allergies to foods such as nuts, shellfish and dairy products should be developed within a decade, " the Daily Express said. " Regular use of the drugs would make a sufferer's body learn gradually to tolerate allergens and no longer trigger immune responses. " Other tabloids were equally upbeat. " This is not science fiction — it is realistic, " reported the Sun. All the papers were keen to point out that a large part of their readerships — some 18 million Britons — suffer from allergies, costing the NHS an estimated £1 billion a year, and that the UK already has the highest prevalence of allergies in Europe. But the excitement and timeline presented by Dr. Rae failed to entice some news desks. Mediawatch: The tantalising promise of new allergy treatments excited some news editors but not others. Nigel Williams reports. The broadsheet newspapers — although now mostly 'compact' they don't like to be called tabloids — were much cooler on the story. The Times carried a short piece well inside its home news section as did the Telegraph. The BBC …