I agree with Oli completely and add the question: what happens when
experts disagree? (e.g. who wants to set up a behind the headlines on
badger culling? From my perspective, that'd be enourmous fun to
watch).
I think "behind the headlines" projects can work really well, but they
maybe are best when they are quite focused in scope - e.g. I like the
CRUK science blog, which can do a fair bit of this, but seems to come
from a position of "well, this is what the CRUK scientists and their
colleagues would say, you make up your own mind".
I'd second Jenny's point about http://journalisted.com/ and also
re-post Zoe's link to her piece in Times Higher last week -
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=413129 -
with an emphasis on the points Mark Henderson makes about scientists
working productively with the media.
On a related note, I psci-commers might be interested by this piece by
Samira Ahmed, if they haven't seen it already:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/samira-ahmed-targeted-by-the-ruthless-twittermob-2056110.html
- Ignore the reference to twitter, the issues are much less parochial
than that small bit of the internet.
Alice
On 2 September 2010 14:51, Oli Usher <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have a couple of misgivings about this.
>
> One is that the 'experts' are of course experts in their field, but their
> field is not journalism. Say this service decides to look into a story about
> swine flu. An epidemiologist would seem a logical expert to pick.
>
> Is an epidemiologist an expert in whether the journalist has a conflict of
> interest? Is s/he an expert at deducing whether the journalist wrote the
> headline? In whether the article was edited/cut? Is the epidemiologist a
> good judge of what level a story should be pitched at for that publication's
> readers? In the same way that a lot of hacks are ignorant about science,
> plenty of scientists do not really understand the media. If we're talking
> about complete nonsense or particularly egregious misrepresentation, then
> that's one thing (but it doesn't necessarily take an expert to notice
> that!). But a lot of the inaccuracies in news stories are smaller things
> which are down to simplification, editing, short deadlines etc, that are an
> inevitable part of the news creation process, and aren't necessarily even
> down to the reporter.
>
> Another (more general) concern is that it risks being perceived as being
> quite confrontational, especially if it's structured as a series of
> pass/fail criteria like most of those listed below. I know I wouldn't be
> impressed if a complete stranger took it upon themselves to publicly sit in
> judgment of my work for conflicts of interest. It's not that I'm
> particularly worried about hurting people's feelings, but if we're
> interested in improving communication between scientists and the media,
> wouldn't this risk being counterproductive?
>
> Just my two penn'orth - I'm interested to hear if anyone else has an
> opinion!
>
> Oli
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Jacinta LEGG wrote:
>>
>> Dear Martyn and All,
>>
>> I don't post to this list often (I do lurk though) but felt compelled to
>> respond. Your question about a 'Behind the headlines' service for the rest
>> of science and engineering is very timely. I have been developing an idea
>> something like this and am currently putting a proposal together.
>> The basics: experts review media stories related to their area of
>> expertise. There would be a rating system, based on criteria (e.g. Is it
>> accurate? Have the findings been exaggerated? Are there any conflicts of
>> interest? Where has it been published? - you get the idea). The reviews
>> highlight the good and the bad aspects of a story. The reviews would also be
>> linked to the journalist and the media outlet (mostly newspapers and online
>> sources) - so you can see not just who is doing sloppy journalism, but also
>> who is doing great journalism. Of course such a service would need to be
>> careful not to write anything libellous.
>>
>> Once I have something coherent I will send it to this list as I would be
>> interested in finding out what others think. (Of course, if anyone has any
>> comments or ideas now I'd be happy to hear them.)
>>
>> Jacinta
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________________________
>> Jacinta Legg | Science Communications Officer
>> International Council for Science (ICSU)
>> 5 rue Auguste Vacquerie, 75116 Paris, France Tel. +33 1 45 25 57 77 |
>> Fax. +33 1 42 88 94 31 | [log in to unmask] | www.icsu.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: psci-com: on public engagement with science
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martyn Bull
>> Sent: 02 September 2010 10:53
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Journalism Warning Labels
>>
>> I love the Journalism Warning Labels, but it's disappointing there isn't a
>> 'Big Tick' sticker for impeccable science reporting and factual accuracy.
>>
>> Of course these stickers are a good bit of fun, but impossible to deploy
>> at all reliably.
>>
>> However, the NHS runs the fabulous 'Behind the headlines' site for medical
>> related news (see http://www.nhs.uk/news/Pages/NewsIndex.aspx) and I'd love
>> to see a service for the rest of science and engineering.
>> Martyn
>>
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>
> --
> Oli Usher
> Junior ESA/Hubble Public Information Officer
> Education and Public Outreach Department
>
> European Southern Observatory
> Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei München, Germany
>
> Telephone: +49 89 3200 6855
> Mobile (Germany): +49 176 7648 2193
> Mobile (UK): +44 7754 130 109
>
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Web: www.spacetelescope.org, www.eso.org
>
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--
--
Alice R Bell
http://alicerosebell.wordpress.com/
http://slippedstitch.blogspot.com
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