Hello,
Am 01.09.2010 16:37, schrieb Zoe Corbyn:
> Here is a feature article on science reporting published in the current
> issue of the Times Higher Education that I hope will interest you:
> http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=413129
Thanks for sharing this, this is a really interesting article and
hopefully will lead to some discussions and ideas to improve the situation.
You do a good job in explaining how the agenda of scientists and the
media differ. However, I feel that the agenda of other stakeholders
could have been included more.
What about the readers? What do they expect? Do they really want
sensationalist reporting, or would they rather prefer to have more
accurate information? Given that the industry has a lot of open or
hidden monopolies, the fact that they are economically successful
doesn't really mean that they produce what readers want. I know many
people who just have stopped following the mainstream media (or buy the
papers only for the sports pages) simply because they don't think they
get a good deal - and that applies to all papers, not only to tabloids.
And I don't know anybody who is actually satisfied with the quality of
the mainstream media.
Another stakeholder is society as a whole. Journalism has a special role
in a democracy, and it is almost a taboo to criticise the structure of
the media or suggest that reporting (even in the "quality" papers) could
be much better. However, if, as you show in your article, the media's
own agenda is not focussed on their democratic role, then they lose the
justification for their special protected role. If this is so, there
would be a very good case for much stricter controls and regulations as
in any other big industry. Is this what we want? If not, does journalism
need siginifcant reforms to justify their special role in society?
As you also point out, the blogosphere now takes over some of the
societal aspects of journalism, and perhaps it is much better placed to
do this exactly because blogs are not driven by money, but by some
individuals or groups who want to share what they think. A much more
democratic approach than the classical media!
Cheers
Stephan
--
Stephan Matthiesen
http://www.stephan-matthiesen.de
Neu auf www.science-texts.de: Oben und unten - Muster des Monats 9/2010
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