Frank's Pandora
Science journalism
Critical and smart 2010
“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 [...]
Balance Special on the WFSJ blog
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 [...]
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 [...]
Science journalism layoffs are on
In a baffling display of mindless management, CNN has decided to sack its seven-person science, environment and technology team. Layoffs at U.S. newspapers are already in full swing (just see the unsettling chart on Paper Cuts), but apparently television news is not immune. The job cuts are not the result of the financial crisis. Curtis Brainard says in his [...]
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 [...]
How would the markets respond to the Science News Index?
“It is not economic prosperity but peace that guarantees press freedom.” That is the main conclusion that Reporters Without Borders draws from its 2008 version of the Press Freedom Index that was published on Wednesday. It is comforting to know that money is not the most important driving force that enables journalists to do their [...]
New science journalism blog
I am the editor of the new science journalism blog on the website of the World Federation of Science Journalists. Below are my words of welcome to readers of this new blog. Please take a visit! Welcome to the Science Journalism Blog. We hope that it will facilitate the debate about the issues that makes [...]
Reporting in the balance
During the AAAS session 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 [...]
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