Science journalism Blog
Science journalism is a wonderful profession, and also a unique one compared to other specialities in journalism. Science journalists usually write about science, but in this blog they reflect on the trade itself.Would you like to discuss your opinion with fellow science journalists from around the globe, get in touch with the editor Frank Nuijens.
Subscribe in a readerCuba restricts international journalistic coverage on the Island
November 12, 2009
by Lucy Calderon
Cuban authorities prohibited the arrival to the Island of a group of journalists who have been selected to participate in a training workshop to cover the Global Forum for Health that will be held from 16-20 of November.
Details >>
Details >>
People I met at the World Conference of Science Journalists
I wondered what I was going to do with the stack of business cards I gathered from the World Conference of Science Journalists in London. Then a friend of mine, Coturnix from A Blog Around the Clock gave me the idea of interviewing partcipants. So kicking starting off, what I hope will be a series of posts, is Deborah Blum, a fellow WFSJ blog member, and one heck of a writer.
Details >>
Details >>
Does science sell?
Time to take a deep breath – this is going to be hard. As a journalist, I’m about to do the unthinkable and praise a rival newspaper.
Details >>
Details >>
Science journalism in the Entertainment Age
In his essay ‘Science journalism: Too close for comfort’ (Nature, 25 June 2009) the American science reporter Boyce Rensberger analyzes the history of science journalism and distinguishes three ages: the ‘Gee-Whiz Age’, the ‘Watchdog Age’ and the ‘Digital Age’. About the first two there can be little disagreement. However, to call the third age – our present time – the ‘Digital Age’, tells only something about the technology used to convey science journalism, but nothing about its character. I would call our age the ‘Entertainment Age’.
Details >>
Details >>
Science journalists on science journalism
Scientists often blame science journalists for being superficial and being sensationalists. But how do science journalists themselves look at their jobs, and at science journalism in general? Is it true that the main thing they want is to score with their stories? Or do they prefer balanced, in-depth reporting, that can arguably be more boring for the general public? And what’s the judgement of science information officers, who’s job it is to try and make sure information about their university or institution reaches the media as much as possible?
Details >>
Details >>
Dutch fact checking project offers valuable tips for journalists
September 30, 2009
by Frank Nuijens
Journalism and New Media students at Leiden University and Fontys School of Journalism in Tilburg, both in the Netherlands, scrutinised media reports last year, functioning as fact checkers. Their supervisors Alexander Pleijter, Peter Burger and Theo Dersjant wrote a contribution for the recently published anthology 'Journalism brought into discredit' produced by the Catholic Institute for Mass Media (KIM, University of Nijmegen) in which they described what the students had discovered. The part of that chapter that looks at causes and offers suggestions is reproduced below.
Details >>
Details >>
Crossing over
September 10, 2009
by Leonie Joubert
CAPE TOWN: Bill McKibben looked tired. Tired, but intense. The 350.org organiser-activist sat opposite me at the table of a curb-side café, punch drunk from crossing time zones. South Africa today, Israel tonight, who-knows-where tomorrow. His stare fixed on the brick paving somewhere to my left as our conversation lumbered slowly to a start.
Details >>
Details >>
Russian Youth in Search for Science
August 24, 2009
by Karina Nazaretyan
“I read your article and I didn’t quite understand what ‘star density’ means”, a good friend of mine, Sasha, told me last week. She’s a very intelligent girl, we studied together at the Moscow State Linguistic University. But linguistic education in no way provides you with scientific insight, and, unfortunately, in most cases neither does secondary school in Russia.
Details >>
Details >>
The promise of entrepreneurial journalism
Philadelphia Magazine recently named Jim MacMillan Philly's best "Nuevo Journalist". In other circles he is known as Philly's best unemployed journalist. MacMillan, a veteran of the Philadelphia Daily News and a Pulitzer Prize winning AP photographer, has recently finished a model that he hesitatingly calls “entrepreneurial journalism".
Details >>
Details >>
Where does science end and business begin?
Where does science end and business begin? That’s a question I ask myself on a daily basis in my role as a business reporter at The Scotsman, Scotland’s national newspaper. While my day-to-day work involves writing news stories and features for the business pages in the paper, I also contribute to Saturday’s science and environment pages – so I always keep an eye out for tales that could perhaps work in both contexts.
Details >>
Details >>
Handling the climate deniers
It was one of those bombshells that sucks the conversation from the room. “But now new studies say that climate change is part of a natural phenomenon,” a financial journalist hammered out in an email to me recently. There was a hint of a question mark at the end of the statement. “Oh? Um… could you point me to the report you’re referring to, please?” I shot back, curious.
Details >>
Details >>
Journalists Who Change the World
Science is a human enterprise, which means that it’s subject to the usual human failings. Researchers are not always honest. Money can skew the process. So can politics. We need good, well-trained, curious and skeptical journalists to explore science in all its dimensions. It’s only by finding and highlighting flaws in the system, that they are corrected.
Details >>
Details >>
The future of Science Journalism
It was one of the big issues at the 6th World Conference of Science Journalists: where is science journalism heading?
Details >>
Details >>
It is almost time for WCSJ 2009
June 25, 2009
by Horacio Salazar
An old saying states that birds of a feather flock together, but the science journalists' fauna, at least the one I'm more familiar with, tends to be made up of individualists rather than of team workers (with the exception of a few groups, such as the one in the Science Divulgation General Direction, at the UNAM).
Details >>
Details >>
Science in society: reporting on emerging diseases
What a dramatic time for science journalists from developing countries! The first epidemic of dengue fever hit Argentina in March. Then, the new flu virus, called A H1N1, was detected on April 24th in the country. I think these emerging diseases are a big challenge for journalists.
Details >>
Details >>
Fight for it
Standing firm for science journalism is not an easy task. But some of the seasoned and upcoming environment and science journalists in Kenya believe it is something worth doing - and they are doing it with the help of the Kenya Environment and Science Journalists Association.
Details >>
Details >>
The quick and the dead
About 180 writers, scholars, legislators and journalists involved in science and technology communication gathered on 22 May in the Pacific resort of Acapulco to discuss for a whole day the challenges of our trade, and try to find mechanisms to convey our society the knowledge of science's benefits.
Details >>
Details >>
Scientific controversies and the media, part 2
The May issue of the journal Public Understanding of Science carries two articles on the role of the media in scientific controversies. The second article argues that media controversies can actually sometimes be beneficial for the scientific community.
Details >>
Details >>
Scientific controversies and the media, part 1
May 24, 2009
by Nadine Boke
The May issue of the journal Public Understanding of Science carries two articles on the role of the media in scientific controversies. The first shows that creating such a controversy is not necessarily a simple, linear process in which media misinterpret or bend scientific publications.
Details >>
Details >>
Fantasy is cheap, facts are expensive
May 17, 2009
by Bennie Mols
“By the end of 2013, 100.000 Europeans have died of starvation.” "One solar storm could destroy power grids all over the world…” Sometimes I wonder why I don’t change my profession from being a science journalist to being a fantasy writer. Just writing whatever sells. It would save days of checking facts.
Details >>
Details >>
Science, Technology and Innovation National Week in Guatemala
May 8, 2009
by Lucy Calderon
Every year since 2004, Guatemalan scientists get together at the Science, Technology and Innovation National Week, that aims to spread amongst the target audience (high school students, university students, businessmen, as well as the general public) the latest research done by local investigators.
Details >>
Details >>
News that is fit to tweet
May 4, 2009
by Mohammed Yahia
Ever since the scare of swine flu hit the world, it has been the most talked about word on Twitter, becoming what is called there a Trending Topic. And the potential for us science journalists has been huge as well.
Details >>
Details >>
The image of science
April 28, 2009
by Lucy Calderon
When you write for a daily newspaper in a city like Guatemala, where the illiteracy is about 40 percent, journalists must make not only attractive articles, but creative illustrations or photos to catch their audience attention.
Details >>
Details >>
What do they know?
April 14, 2009
by Nadine Boke
One of the most important things of being a journalist is knowing your audience. Especially so if you are a science reporter. Do the people you’re addressing, for instance, know what chromosomes are?
Details >>
Details >>
What scientists think about you
April 10, 2009
by Ochieng’ Ogodo
Recently, I attended a workshop in Nairobi on Making an Impact: Research and Communication. It dealt with communicating more effectively with policy-makers and key audiences, engaging with the media, innovative communication tools one can use, impact making and why research communication is important.
Details >>
Details >>
Questioning the Methods; Questioning the Results
April 6, 2009
by Russ Campbell
The headlines tend to be sexy, eye-catching, definitive, and nearly always misleading. Some statisticians claim that observational studies are unreliable and not supported by replicable data.
Details >>
Details >>
The inflationary news universe
We are living in an inflationary news universe. Our modern information world provides an overload of so called news, and a lack of context. Too much published science news is trash news. Science journalism should not be guided by the narrow notion of news that ordinary journalism seems to demand from us.
Details >>
Details >>
Biased for Science
President Obama was characteristically adroit with language when he declared on March 9th that he would “restore science to its rightful place.” The decision was to undo some of the restrictions on federal funding to stem cell research imposed by Obama’s predecessor in 2001. To that, half a dozen editorials responded with praise -- as did, of course, most in the science community. But science is only part of the story.
Details >>
Details >>
Why you should attend the World Conference of Science Journalists 2009
Still haven't registered for the World Conference of Science Journalists 2009? Co-director Julie Clayton tells the Science Journalism blog why you should join her and many other science journalists this summer in London.
Details >>
Details >>
How to best report on global warming
March 10, 2009
by Nadine Boke
Global warming is one of today’s most important scientific issues. Of course there are still those who think it doesn't exist, or that there are too many uncertainties around the subject. But if you are a concerned science journalist: what’s the best way to report about it? The March issue of the scientific journal Science Communication offers some clues. The editors of the journal's special issue about global warming claim it is high time for science communicators to take their responsibility and try and make a contribution to solving the problems around climate change through their work. The journal contains four papers about issues concerning communicating global warming.
Details >>
Details >>
New Media and Science Journalism
Of all the terms coined by journalists, New Media has to be the worst. The problem with the naming is that what was new 10 years ago is not new today. And it won’t be new in a couple of years. Regardless of the definition, new media is here to stay. And in these turbulent times for science journalism around the world, it may very well be a savior.
Details >>
Details >>
So what is next?
March 2, 2009
by Horacio Salazar
Science journalists, or at least many of the ones I've known, may at some times build relations and connections, but in a day to day basis they act as lone wolves. It's understandable: hunting spaces are scarce and competition is hard; collaboration seems a recipe for disaster, a threat. So in a way I imagine each science journalist, each lone wolf, as a micro-business, a minority of one (remember George Orwell). But this is the time to abandon our sad and dark crevices, our hard-earned little niches, to seek intelligent ways to collaborate and evolve.
Details >>
Details >>
Science Journalism Crisis: It Was Bound to Happen
Why do things seem to be going so well for science journalists in the Arab world and Africa, while they seem to be deteriorating for science journalists in the US and the UK? Are we becoming too hyperspecialized as science journalists?
Details >>
Details >>
Establishing space for science journalism
One of the potentially off-putting experiences for a science journalist is establishing space for science journalism. This, in most circumstances, is more discouraging to those budding as freelancers and folks in mainstream non-specialised media. Often it requires one to be an intelligent, tough go-getter.
Details >>
Details >>
When in Doubt, Ask Questions (Balance Special, 4/4)
January 30, 2009
by Frank Nuijens
Balance, i.e. juxtaposing different opinions on a topic with equal weight in a journalistic article, is a hot topic in science journalism. Balance is a golden rule in journalism, but it's validity in science journalism is debatable. Four Master students in my science journalism course at Delft University of Technology have written an opinion article about this topic. These students were inspired by (scientific) literature they gathered on the use and validity of balance, and its consequences. I hope their fresh take inspires you.
Marc Pagen (The Netherlands) argues that balance is not the problem, but lazy reporting is.
Details >>
Marc Pagen (The Netherlands) argues that balance is not the problem, but lazy reporting is.
Details >>
Accuracy Trumps Balance in Science Journalism (Balance Special, 3/4)
January 30, 2009
by Frank Nuijens
Balance, i.e. juxtaposing different opinions on a topic with equal weight in a journalistic article, is a hot topic in science journalism. Balance is a golden rule in journalism, but it's validity in science journalism is debatable. Four Master students in my science journalism course at Delft University of Technology have written an opinion article about this topic. These students were inspired by (scientific) literature they gathered on the use and validity of balance, and its consequences. I hope their fresh take inspires you.
Kurian Joseph Kattukaren (India) argues that accuracy is more capable of filtering out the scientific fringe than balance.
Details >>
Kurian Joseph Kattukaren (India) argues that accuracy is more capable of filtering out the scientific fringe than balance.
Details >>
Science Needs No Balance (Balance Special, 2/4)
January 30, 2009
by Frank Nuijens
Balance, i.e. juxtaposing different opinions on a topic with equal weight in a journalistic article, is a hot topic in science journalism. Balance is a golden rule in journalism, but it's validity in science journalism is debatable. Four Master students in my science journalism course at Delft University of Technology have written an opinion article about this topic. These students were inspired by (scientific) literature they gathered on the use and validity of balance, and its consequences. I hope their fresh take inspires you.
Roelof van den Berg (The Netherlands) argues that science journalists need to use online media to share sources and make conflicting interests of scientists public.
Details >>
Roelof van den Berg (The Netherlands) argues that science journalists need to use online media to share sources and make conflicting interests of scientists public.
Details >>
Journalism in Transition: Accuracy Tips the Scale over Balance (Balance Special, 1/4)
January 30, 2009
by Frank Nuijens
Balance, i.e. juxtaposing different opinions on a topic with equal weight in a journalistic article, is a hot topic in science journalism. Balance is a golden rule in journalism, but it's validity in science journalism is debatable. Four Master students in my science journalism course at Delft University of Technology have written an opinion article about this topic. These students were inspired by (scientific) literature they gathered on the use and validity of balance, and its consequences. I hope their fresh take inspires you.
Katherine Celler (Canada) argues that accuracy trumps balance in science journalism.
Details >>
Katherine Celler (Canada) argues that accuracy trumps balance in science journalism.
Details >>
Fuming with anger
One of the best science journalists from Uruguay, Cristina Canoura, had very good and bad news recently. She won the prize Bartolomé Hidalgo, by the Cámara Uruguaya del Libro (Uruguayan Chamber of Book), for her beatiful book Los invencibles, which was published last year. The same prize in another category was won by the famous writer and journalist Eduardo Galeano at the same time. But the happiness of Canoura was short.
Details >>
Details >>
Go to the lab and your mind can be read
January 25, 2009
by Bennie Mols
Science is what scientists do. But what scientists really do, only partly appears in their scientific publications. In the publications we read what went well, not what went wrong; we read the results, not the struggle to find the results. When I was doing science myself – as a PhD student in physics – I have seen colleagues struggling for four or five years to build an experiment and get it to work. When the experiment finally worked, the data were sometimes collected in a month. From their scientific publications you would guess that the research had gone smoothly and logically, but the reality had been the opposite.
Details >>
Details >>
Taming the embargo beast
Embargoes are "strange beasts", noted ITN's health and science editor Lawrence McGinty at the annual general meeting of the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) in London earlier this week. Few branches of journalism are so familiar with, or shackled by, embargoes as science journalism. Every self-respecting journal appears to implement them, and most science journalists adhere to them. Most, but not all. Or so it seemed.
Details >>
Details >>
Have PIOs Killed the Science Beat?
January 14, 2009
by Russ Campbell
There’s been a lot written about the decline of science journalism. For example, in the Research Triangle Park-area where there are 119 research and development organizations and three major research institutions, there is no longer a full-time science journalist working in the media. The institutions in the area have begun pushing their own news, becoming media outlets themselves. By utilizing cheap and effective new technologies to market, promote, and inform audiences without having to buy ads or pitch local science reporters, has this resulted in killing off the science beat?
Details >>
Details >>
Being mistrusted by scientists
January 7, 2009
by Lucy Calderon
The other day I asked for an interview to a well known doctor who is an expert on HIV. I wanted information about a specific study he did. Without shame he told me that he didn’t want to give me information. He told me that Guatemalan journalists do not understand about science or statistics and that is a big problem.
Details >>
Details >>
Hypothesis God and Ockham’s razor
In 2009 it will be 150 years ago that Charles Darwin published his evolution theory. It will also be 400 years ago that Galileo Galilei was the first to discover the heavens by looking through a telescope. So, we are soon to celebrate both the International Darwin Year and the International Year of Astronomy.
Apart from celebrating these events and explaining to the public the powerful insights that evolution theory and astronomy have given us, science journalists will have an extra job to do. We can be sure that creationists, intelligent-design-dreamers and religious believers will do their utmost to cast doubt on the theory of evolution. And it will be our job to counteract.
Details >>
Apart from celebrating these events and explaining to the public the powerful insights that evolution theory and astronomy have given us, science journalists will have an extra job to do. We can be sure that creationists, intelligent-design-dreamers and religious believers will do their utmost to cast doubt on the theory of evolution. And it will be our job to counteract.
Details >>
The P-Word, Thomas Kuhn, and I
In a way, you can blame it on Thomas Kuhn. It was he who introduced too beautiful and brilliant a term in the early 1960s: paradigm shift. A term that writers of all sorts, particularly about business and information technology, have had no shame abusing since. Myself included.
Details >>
Details >>
Why science journalism is challenging yet thrilling
Hard and uninteresting stuff! Not really. Quite often a science journalist comes across research papers couched in difficult boring language - the sort of an essay you are tempted to only see as meant for the converted. But a keen look at the topic, even from a short abstract presentation, gives you an idea into the importance of the subject matter to the ordinary folks. Researchers may not have any problems with the dull and jargon-laden work but for a journalist that is your enemy. Writing an interesting story means humanizing the research project, showing clearly what it means to the public in a carefully and accurately written piece. These are some of the things that make covering research in science thrilling.
Details >>
Details >>
Why My Dog (And I) No Longer Watch CNN
In my home office we are boycotting CNN. Of course, my home office is a room at the back of my house occupied by myself and the family dog, a boxer named Dodger, who contributes by snoring musically while I work.
Details >>
Details >>
Science journalism layoffs are on
December 5, 2008
by Frank Nuijens
In a baffling display of mindless management, CNN has decided to sack its seven-person science, environment and technology team. Tell us how the situation is in your area?
Details >>
Details >>
How to freshen up science stories
If you are like me, then every year on the 1st of December you are wondering how you will cover HIV/AIDS this year on World AIDS Day. And if you are like me, then you will know that this task gets harder and harder every year. I believe that the best and most tried and true way is to give your story a human angle.
Details >>
Details >>
How to carry a science journalistic tune in Fez
This October, in a small restaurant, hazed with the smoke of roasting meat, I learned that American science writers cannot carry a tune. This is in contrast to Arab science journalists who can sing so well that other diners tend to bust into spontaneous applause. The first and best lesson of the partnership between the American and Arab science writers has not been that we are different but that we are alike; that we share the same sense of mission, the wish to illuminate science for those who turn away from it as baffling or unnecessary
Details >>
Details >>
The tricky business of reporting breaking science
November 26, 2008
by Mohammed Yahia
With thousands of studies taking place every month all over the world, a science reporter can find ample material to cover. But how can a science journalist report on new research and not lose credibility when it is disproven?
Details >>
Details >>
Science journalism in Africa
Many a times I have been asked about the viability of science journalism in Kenya and Africa at large from both journalists - the ones practicing it and journalists in other areas like business and politics - and folks outside the profession.
Details >>
Details >>
A lack of investigative science journalism?
The latest issue of Research*EU, the European Union's research magazine, contains a special report on science journalism. In his editorial, Michel Claessens states that when it comes to reporting on science, the conditions are not present to encourage investigative journalism. Read his full editorial below and tell us: is investigative journalism underdeveloped in the field of science journalism? And if so, what could and/or should be done to encourage its development?
Details >>
Details >>
The Problem with Science Writers
The problem with science writers is that they are losing their jobs, according to Chris Mooney.
Details >>
Details >>
How would the markets respond to the Science News Index?
Science is a driving force for technological innovations that can lead to economic growth. But does that mean that economic prosperity has a positive correlation to science coverage in the national media? It might turn out that science journalism is considered a luxury article.
Details >>
Details >>
E-volution of science journalism
While the names are familiar, the formats for science journalism have evolved for electronic media and are focused more on breaking news. How do you think reporting for new media changes the way science journalists do their job?
Details >>
Details >>
A counter-productive association: science journalism in the developing world
In the developed world the notion is that science journalism is only interested in reporting about the products of science (research, inventions, patents, etc.). If science journalism is restricted to covering products of science, that would pretty much exclude most of Asia and Latin America and almost all of Africa. Waleed's understanding of science journalism, for better or worse, is that it is a much broader umbrella (particularly in countries where science products are nearly as rare as the freelancer's paychecks).
Details >>
Details >>
The engineering journalist
Science journalists – as the name suggests – concentrate mostly on science. But they should pay much more attention to the engineering side in their science reporting. It would prevent misunderstanding on the side of the public.
Details >>
Details >>
Welcome
Welcome to the Science Journalism Blog. We hope that it will facilitate the debate about the issues that makes science journalism a trade in its own right.
Details >>
Details >>
Reporting in the balance
September 22, 2008
by Frank Nuijens
During the AAAS session earlier this year on reporting on climate change, an interesting point popped up that is often forgotten about in science reporting: balance. The practise of balance is a very important one in any field of journalism. If you report on position A, you must also report on position B in an equal manner as to allow the reader to make up his or her own mind. This golden rule prevents propaganda and showing a single side to a story.
Details >>
Details >>
Can science blogs save science journalism?
For most scientists and journalists alike, the process of communication about science to a wider audience is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
Details >>
Details >>