“In this world of ours now, to be an informed participant in the great conversation of mankind is to have an alert awareness and understanding of what’s happening in the world.” In the video below the British philosopher A.C. Grayling reflects on the importance of being literate, and especially scientifically literate, so that people can think critically for themselves.
Science journalists help to empower people to think for themselves by reporting the knowledge and understanding from science about the world we live in, and to be critical of claims that are made in science.
Even though author Malcolm Gladwell seems to be unaware that mostly generalist journalists are surviving at the newspapers that are cutting staff, I hope he will be right when he says that “the role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter.”
On behalf of the science journalism blog I wish our profession and all of us contributing to it a critical and smart 2010!
Frank Nuijens editor of the WFSJ blog
Frank Nuijens is the editor-in-chief of the Dutch independent weekly university newspaper Delta and the quarterly science magazine Delft Integraal/Outlook. Both are publications of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. He was a science journalist and television researcher for popular science programmes on Dutch public television and radio for seven years. His work ranged from children’s science shows to science news programmes and documentaries. Several of the episodes of programmes he worked on have won national awards. He has written news stories for the national science news internet portal Noorderlicht, and wrote a chapter on biometrics for the popular life science book In the Future Everything Will Be Fantastic (2006). He is also a Lecturer in Science Journalism at Delft University of Technology. He served on the executive committee of the World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) 2009 in London, and is currently a member of the program committe of the World Conference of Science Journalists 2011 in Cairo. Frank has a Master’s Degree in Biology from Leiden University.
Post a Comment