If scientists refuse to cooperate with journalists who fail to produce copy acceptable to the scientists, the latter run the risk of being boycotted by the wider journalistic community. That will impact negatively on their ability to disseminate research results to the world beyond their immediate peers, which could in turn have negative consequences when it comes to research funding.

Science journalists do not exist to do PR for science or scientists, just as political journalists are not there to act as mouthpieces for the state. Science journalists have a duty to report on failures and malpractice in science, as well as its triumphs.

Francis

-- 
Dr Francis Sedgemore
journalist and science writer
www.sedgemore.com

On 25 Jul 11, at 17:53, David Waldock wrote:

But are crime reporters dependent, in the same way as science journalists, on the producers for success in their field?

If a science journalist bucks a trend or doesn't present a subject in a way acceptable to the researchers in the field or criticises something, they won't get information from those researchers in the future. Does this happen to any other form of journalism in the same way?

Sent from my iPhone

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