The media is its own worst enemy in the fight against confusion. They have left the average person so confused on so many topics they have rendered people impotent and confused. If this is by design or by laziness or even ignorance on the reporters part is too be determined. Personally, I think it is a little bit of columns A, B, and C. Whatever the root cause, the result is the same people who are trying to say informed are left confused or worse misled against their core beliefs.
The chief instigators are the so called science reporters who, more often or not, are journalists who took intro to "Blank" courses and were drafted to report on science issues. They have just enough knowledge to confuse themselves but not enough to write a good article on the topic, and usually rely on what the source uses in terminology and definition. Thus they generally parrot information with out clarifying the usage. This causes problems with topics such as stem cells. Did the source mean adult, embryonic, or all the above? They compound the issue by regularly resorting to shorthand in order to meet space requirements leaving people even more confused. I am not even going to take into account the purposeful political rhetoric designed to mislead. But in their rush to get the story out in as concise a format as possible they are confusing people.
If I did not have the background I have I would be one of them. Thankfully, I do have that background, but I have to admit I am getting tired of having to mend the damage their inept articles are producing. Whatever you do don't get me started on the topic of them referring to the ELCA as the Lutherans.
Examples
Poorly researched/biased
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/11/stemcells.debate/index.html
confusing terminology
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,284712,00.html?sPage=fnc.science/humanbody
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