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February’s edition of “RTD info" published by the European Commission has
just arrived. The main theme is “Science and Society: A European Debate” and
a first glance it looks quite interesting.
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It has, indeed, just arrived. I have yet to read the whole thing, but it
gets off to a bad start in the bit "The media and their audience".
This says: "We know that science sells, Science supplements can boost the
sales of European dailies by 20,000 or more." Apart from the meaningless
number -- 20,000 on what? 20,000? 2 million? -- the evidence for this
assertion is a survey "carried in 1991".
Can you remember who was at the top of the hit parade in 1991?
Media science is a fashion thing. It was, indeed, popular back then, but in
the mid 1990s the floor fell out of the market. Science sections dwindled,
especially in the USA, or turned into medical sections.
This had a lot to do with the state of the advertising market at the time.
No one was recruiting. They even felt the squeeze on publications like New
Scientist.
Science is now back in favour. Perhaps because the business community has
suddenly twigged that technology makes money. But blanket statements that
"science sells" do more harm than good.
MK
PS Nice to see the plug for AlphaGalileo. (Although the facts are a bit
muddled.) Now, where is the EU's money for the venture?
_______________________________________________________________________
Michael Kenward OBE / Phone: +44 (0)1444 400568 Fax: 401064
/
Science Writer & Stuff / For light relief visit http://www.absw.org.uk
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