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Abstract:
Whenever there is a story in the media that gets a researcher's paper
horribly wrong, scientists are quick to blame the journalist. And it's
true that journalists make mistakes: science is hard, and even a
science journalist won't be an expert in all areas of science, let
alone a regular reporter who covers politics today, sports tomorrow
and science on the weekend. But when your research is misinterpreted
all over the internet, it's not good for your reputation - and just as
bad for the reputation of the journalist; believe it or not, most
journalists actually do care about getting facts right. Some mistakes
are due to press offices overhyping the research, some - to
journalists not checking their facts properly, and some - to the
scientists themselves who fail to work with the media in the right
way. So how can we all work together to improve the quality of science
journalism? Because at the end of the day, it's not just about the
scientists and the media, but also about the public that often gets
terribly misinformed. And it's not that difficult to make it
better. This talk, hopefully, will lead to a lively discussion, so
that collaboratively we can find ways of improving the quality of
science journalism.
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