Such trends explain why, in a series of recent posts at The Observatory, Ohio State’s Holland and Matthew Nisbet, a science communications expert at American University, have vigorously debated the evolving roles of scientists, university press offices, and journalists when it comes to explaining important research to the public. With climate change, biotechnology, and personalized medicine at the forefront of domestic and international policy right now, such dialogues are crucially important to the wellbeing of journalists and lay citizens alike.
The Observatory
04:52 PM - September 17, 2009
Is Futurity the Future?
Citing a lack of science coverage, universities launch their own “newswire”
‘See you on the other side’ - Meet Jessica Lum, a terminally ill 25-year-old who chose to spend what little time she had practicing journalism
#Realtalk: This is the best moment to be in journalism - The old stuff isn’t coming back, but that’s okay
Streams of consciousness - Millennials expect a steady diet of quick-hit, social-media-mediated bits and bytes. What does that mean for journalism?
Sticking with the truth - How ‘balanced’ coverage helped sustain the bogus claim that childhood vaccines can cause autism
An ink-stained stretch - Can Aaron Kushner save the Orange County Register—and the newspaper industry?
This is the best moment to be in journalism (25)
The WSJ editorial page hits rock bottom (19)
In AP, Rosen investigations, government makes criminals of reporters
“[A]s flagrant an assault on civil liberties as anything done by George W. Bush’s administration”
Jay Carney press briefing blues
“Reporters are increasingly skeptical about Carney’s demeanor and the veracity of some answers”
Jaron Lanier wants to build a new middle class on micropayments
A future where writers can gain wealth through a “freelance economy”
Public television’s attempts to placate David Koch
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
Uptown Messenger – Hyperlocal news for a neighborhood in New Orleans
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
"Founded by the senior communications officers at Standard, Duke, and the University of Rochester....
Where's "Standard"?
#1 Posted by Thomason, CJR on Fri 18 Sep 2009 at 11:03 AM
Sounds like EurekAlert for civilians; I wonder if AAAS has considered opening that press released databank to non-journalists? I'm biased, of course, because as a science writer I think my reported stories are more useful to readers than a press release created by an institution to promote its own work. But maybe interently biased science news is better than no science news. DIsclosure: I used to edit the science coverage for US News & World Report. Now the magazine has no original science coverage. Instead, the website runs feeds from NSF and Imaginova.
#2 Posted by Nancy Shute, CJR on Fri 18 Sep 2009 at 01:09 PM
Nancy: The massive content of Eurekalert has always been available to the public. The only thing that reporters get that the public doesn't is the advance look at those release prior to the embargo. Post-embargo, it's all available to anyone. Also, Google News has been including in their routine searches all Eurekalert content from the beginning.
#3 Posted by Earle Holland, CJR on Fri 18 Sep 2009 at 01:33 PM
Thomason -- Sharp eye; thanks for catching that typo. It should, of course, say 'Stanford,' which it now does.
#4 Posted by Curtis Brainard, CJR on Fri 18 Sep 2009 at 01:58 PM
> "Murphy emphasized the Futurity puts a lot of work into “presentation”"
> "...not linking to the original press releases upon which its stories are based and for not including a clear byline that explains the “provenance” of each article."
Grrrr. Sounds like the "presentation" was not crafted with the reader's best interests in mind. This needs to be fixed.
#5 Posted by Anna Haynes, CJR on Sun 20 Sep 2009 at 04:28 PM