Last fall, CJR’s Curtis Brainard discussed the state of science journalism in the Arab world with Nadia El-Awady and Zainab Ghosn, the president and a board member, respectively, of the nascent Arab Science Journalists Association (ASJA).

What kind of science stories do you find in the Arab world?

Nadia El-Awady: There are science topics that we all have in common—global warming, for instance. We cover a lot of the science that’s happening in the West. Part of the reason for that is it’s so much easier to get information on that kind of science than it is to get information on what’s happening in our part of the world.

Have Arab governments made it difficult for scientists to speak with the media?

El-Awady: No. It’s more that we lack the mechanism for communicating such information. The public-information officers we have in our scientific institutions are not well equipped to do their job, and we as it should.

What are the Arab world’s scientific strengths?

El-Awady: Desalination is big in the gulf. The oil industry and energy sector, even alternative energy sources—there is a lot of research being done.

Zainab Ghosn: It can be hard to find scientists who are researching problems related to society. For example, there is a lot of research about the health effects of smoking in Western countries, but there is another problem in Arab countries, which is the nargila [a water pipe]. At the American University of Beirut, they started doing research about shisha [flavored tobacco], and how it affects health, and what are the differences between shisha and cigarettes. But this is an exception.

How does Islam relate to or affect science journalism in the Arab world?

El-Awady: I don’t see conflict between the two in...

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