The tightrope between drawing media attention and exaggeration

To draw media attention, it is not sufficient to present your research in a simple and understandable way. The message should also be news-worthy, controversial or surprising. Unfortunately well-balanced, well-founded and considerate statements are seldom attractive to the media. The media want something that creates commotion. This may tempt one to overstate the impact of research results, or to exaggerate its relevance. But this is dangerous, because if you do manage to draw the attention of the media, then the headline maker will surely make your claim bolder then you intended it to be. I had to learn this the hard way. I’ll illustrate this with a few examples from my own media experience.