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January 30, 1998:
Science News in the News
Why doesn't the media cover science more? Why is coverage
often so limited, so dry, so... wrong? And why is the public
understanding of science so limited? Researchers at the
First Amendment Center, a media analysis group, have
recently released a study that offers some suggestions.
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Jim Hartz and Rick Chappell surveyed over 1,400
scientists and journalists for the study, entitled
"Worlds
Apart: How the Distance Between Science and
Journalism Threatens America's Future."
They found that scientists largely distrust the
media, and are afraid of being publicly embarassed
or discredited by sensatioalized media reports. At
the same time, while the media is not beyond hope
in understanding science news, reporters and
editors have a lot to learn about science.
The report recommends that the scientific
community train communicators to speak for
different disciplines, that they publicize their
work in standardized locations on the World Wide
Web so that journalists can find them, and that
they provide plain-English summaries of research
that put their work in context. The media is
encouraged to pay closer attention to the peer
review process, and to generally increase their
understanding of and training in science.
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Report authors Hartz and Chappell.
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To learn more about the report,
visit the Freedom
Forum and
check
out this report.
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