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
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Web: www.spacetelescope.org, www.eso.org
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