PA11J:
Science in the News: Innovative Research and Programs to Improve the Quality and Quantity of Science Journalism Posters


Submit an Abstract to this Session


Session ID#: 49023

Session Description:
The media plays a key role in society by explaining scientific issues—and associated causes, effects, and solutions—that are difficult to understand through direct experience, such as global climate change, air quality, or natural disasters, such as hurricanes and landslides. However, science reporting—especially at the local level—has been challenged by the growing pressures of consolidation, changing revenue models, the internet and the 24/7 news cycle, the increase of misinformation, and other pressures. We invite presentations about journalism and audience research, innovative partnerships, and other programmatic efforts to understand and overcome the barriers to high-quality science reporting. We are particularly interested in the perspectives of journalists, practitioners, and communication scientists who are trying to increase science reporting at local and regional scales, building preparedness for extreme events, improving the number and diversity of journalists reporting about science, and reporting on complex scientific issues, in a rapid-paced news environment.
Primary Convener:  Kristin Timm, George Mason University, Department of Communication, Fairfax, United States
Conveners:  Heidi A Roop, University of Washington, Climate Impacts Group, Seattle, United States, Jennifer Weeks, The Conversation US, Boston, MA, United States and Joe Witte, Aquent/JPL-NASA, Washington, DC, United States
Primary Liaison:  Kristin Timm, George Mason University, Department of Communication, Fairfax, United States
Chairs:  Joe Witte, Aquent/JPL-NASA, Washington, DC, United States, Kristin Timm, University of Alaska Fairbanks, International Arctic Research Center, Fairbanks, AK, United States, Heidi A Roop, University of Minnesota, St Paul, United States and Jennifer Weeks, The Conversation US, Boston, MA, United States
OSPA Liaison:  Joe Witte, Aquent/JPL-NASA, Washington, DC, United States

Cross-Listed:
  • ED - Education
  • GC - Global Environmental Change
  • SI - Societal Impacts and Policy Sciences
Index Terms:

6620 Science policy [PUBLIC ISSUES]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

University of Oregon's Media Center for Science and Technology: Reflections on and opportunities for interdisciplinary science journalism training in higher education (418802)
Hollie M Smith, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States and Mark Blaine, University of Oregon, Eugene, United States
Journalism collaborations and climate science (379895)
John Upton, Climate Central, Princeton, NJ, United States
A Study of the Geographic Variances in Water Salience using Local Newspapers (387777)
Allison Witte, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States, George M Hornberger, Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment, Nashville, TN, United States, Thushara Gunda, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, United States and Jonathan Magnolia M Gilligan, Vanderbilt University, Earth and Environmental Science, Nashville, TN, United States
RIS4E Science Journalism Program (449799)
Nicole Whelley, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, Lora Bleacher, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Education and Public Outreach, Solar System Exploration Division, Greenbelt, MD, United States, Andrea P Jones, Goddard Flight Research Center, Greenbelt, United States, Jacob E Bleacher, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, Timothy D Glotch, Stony Brook University, Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook, NY, United States and Kelsey Young, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, United States
“I didn’t know how much I didn’t know”: Training journalists to cover scientific complexities yields positive changes in news coverage and multiplier effects (Invited) (454937)
Sunshine Menezes, PhD, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, United States and Hollie M Smith, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States

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