Totally agree – it takes a minute to correctly attribute the authors in the story, provide the citation and a journal link. The BBC are dreadful for giving a column of related links but not linking to the journal or institution.
As a medical news writer, I would also strongly recommend reading the research article from scratch – including a careful look at any stats - and never presume the press release is truly accurate, or that the figures given it in are the most up to date.
L
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul G Raven
Sent: 03 March 2016 16:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Reporting from journals/reports
The one thing that should go without saying is "include the full bibliographical details of the paper(s) on which you're reporting, and ideally a link to such". Even the Graun, which likes to wring its hands self-reflexively over the state of science reporting every six months or so, is terrible about doing this... and fixing this issue would be beneficial not just for the researchers whose work is thus publicised (much nicer for your impact statements, right?), but for the public discourse on science, and academic research in general.
(And yes, sure, not all papers are actually accessible at the end of those links, especially to the public... but that is starting to change, so why not establish a good habit ahead of time?)
PGR
On 3 March 2016 at 16:37, Mike Shanahan <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Hi Juan
Thomas Hayden wrote up some tips for reporting on journal papers here.
http://pitchpublishprosper.com/reading-the-journals-from-new-science-to-science-news/
Best wishes
Mike
Mike Shanahan
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From: Catarina Amorim <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, 3 March 2016, 16:18
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Reporting from journals/reports
Hi Juan, one of the things I always pass when teaching journalists - because their lack of scientific knowledge is such an issue - is specialist websites that review the science making the news - things like http://geneticexperts.org<http://geneticexperts.org/> or science media centres like http://www.sciencemediacentre.org<http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/>
Let s know when you have that list of advice, sounds very useful
Best
Catarina
________________________________
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2016 15:54:09 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [PSCI-COM] Reporting from journals/reports
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Hi all,
We’re putting together a piece for journalists on how to report effectively from journal articles and reports. I was wondering if any of you have any advice in this respect (that you wouldn’t mind me incorporating). For example, on how to enrich a piece beyond a press release or how to bring it to life through commentary from authors (and independent voices). I’m trying to compile the best advice possible from a range of people and thought this list would be a great place to ask. Any nuggets of advice for budding journalists would be much appreciated.
Best,
Juan
Juan Casasbuenas | Training Coordinator
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