Engineers and the Media

If so, what do you think accounts for these tendencies?

Ignorance.

Not in all countries in UN. In some countries only persons belonging to a certain race/religion will be honoured.

please elaborate...examples, perhaps.

Consider troubled countries like USA,Russia,Ruwanda,India,Pakistan,Srilanka,Myanmar etc where a certain community gets ill treated.

The Chilean miner's rescue is a perfect case study. After the successful rescue, a reporter asked the engineer in charge what made the operation successful. I distinctly recall the engineer saying, in portuguese with subtitles, that it was "75% Engineering and 25% luck." I thought that was a great answer. A true testament of the power of technical innovation under the immense pressure of saving lives under the watchful eye of the whole world.

I was later disappointed that ALL the major international newspapers had converted her quote to "75% Science and 25% Luck." Here's a link to the Wall Street Journal's story:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550521510542814.htm

The mainstream seems not to distinguish science and engineering and this ignorance is further propagated by the media. As engineering professionals, I think it is our duty to educate the masses, one by one.