journalism

 

Bringing Academia into the Newsroom: An Interview with Akshat Rathi

Posted 16 May 2013 by Matt Shipman

Despite the repeated claims that journalism is dying, we’re seeing a lot of news outlets spring into being. One of those new outlets, The Conversation, is taking a fairly interesting approach – marrying academia and journalism under one banner. The Conversation, which is based in the U.K., launched May 16. It is a free news site that (according to a teaser it posted online) is “produced by academics and journalists” and aims to “source news, commentary and the latest research... Read more

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What to Expect from Nautilus: an Interview with Amos Zeeberg

Posted 29 April 2013 by Matt Shipman

The new science magazine Nautilus is rolling out its first issue today, April 29. All I knew about the magazine was that each monthly issue would focus on one specific topic. To learn more, I picked the brain of Amos Zeeberg, digital editor of Nautilus. And, yes, he has some tips for freelancers. Communication Breakdown: Did you come up with the idea for Nautilus? Why choose to focus an entire issue each month on a single topic? Amos Zeeberg: It... Read more

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Why Journalism Matters

Posted 22 April 2013 by Matt Shipman

I can explain why journalism matters in two words: human nature. It’s human nature to be curious about the world around us. We want to know about people, places and events that affect our lives. Hell, we often want to know about things that have nothing to do with us. Humans are insatiable consumers of information. But we’re also unreliable sources of information. When I tell you a story about myself, it’s human nature for me to portray myself in... Read more

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The Pros and Cons of Embargoes

Posted 26 February 2013 by Matt Shipman

Embargoes are a fact of life for many people in the science communication field. But a lot of people don’t know what they are, why some institutions require them and/or why some people don’t like them. In a scicomm context, an embargo is when a journal, researcher or public information officer (PIO) gives reporters a copy of a journal article before the article is published – but bars those reporters from releasing any stories about the journal article until it... Read more

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Will the U.S. Get a Science Media Center? Maybe.

Posted 19 February 2013 by Matt Shipman

When a big news event happens, reporters are left scrambling to cover it. And when the big news event raises significant science questions, reporters are scrambling to find scientists who can answer them. For example, in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, reporters with little or no previous experience covering science stories found themselves searching for experts on earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear power and the health effects of radiation exposure, among much else. There’s a concerted effort under... Read more

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A Practical Step to Bridge the Divide Between Scientists and Journalists

Posted 28 January 2013 by Matt Shipman

[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Frank Swain, a freelance science writer who has written for Wired, the Guardian and New Scientist, among other outlets. He also runs the SciencePunk blog. Since October 2011, Swain has also served as national coordinator (in the UK) for the BenchPress Project – which was established to provide reporters with training in science and statistics. I asked him to write this post, in part, because I think the BenchPress Project is very... Read more

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Should PIOs Sit In On Interviews?

Posted 24 January 2013 by Matt Shipman

I recently had an interesting Twitter “conversation” about whether public information officers (PIOs) should be allowed to sit in on interviews between reporters and researchers. Some good points were raised, and I thought I’d talk about it a little here. In my opinion, there is no need for me to sit in on an interview between a reporter and a researcher. The researchers I work with are all grown men and women who are quite capable of handling themselves. Furthermore,... Read more

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What the Rosy Hare Told Me about Writing for Kids

Posted 16 January 2013 by Matt Shipman

[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Elizabeth Preston, editor of the children’s science magazine Muse. Preston will be co-moderating a session on science writing for kids at ScienceOnline 2013. She writes about science for grown-ups on her blog, Inkfish.] In 2011 I received a strange email about a bunny. “We have a presenter here who is telling kids about the discovery of pink bunnies,” a woman working at a science museum wrote. “He said he read an article... Read more

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Preparing For an Interview, Part One: Reporters

Posted 9 January 2013 by Matt Shipman

Interviews between reporters and scientists are an essential aspect of science communication. But they are also a frequent cause of anxiety for both parties. Scientists sometimes find interviews nerve-racking, and fear that their work may be misrepresented. And reporters may be unsure of where to begin their line of questioning, and possibly find themselves frustrated by a researcher’s reliance on technical jargon. As with most things, preparation can be the difference between a good experience and a bad one. So... Read more

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Don’t Panic: Challenges Regarding Science, News and Comments Online

Posted 7 January 2013 by Matt Shipman

A recent “Perspectives” commentary in Science on the importance of online science news – and associated challenges – has (unsurprisingly) gotten a fair amount of attention in the science communication community. Not all of it good. But I think that, at the very least, it presents a good opportunity to lay out some of those challenges and, hopefully, spark a productive discussion about how to address them. The commentary also refers to a forthcoming paper on the impact of online... Read more

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