He noted that while “science blogs are booming,” there is a lot of competition in the blogosphere from commentators who promote the anti-evolution, anti-global warming, anti-vaccine mindset. “Polemics are more important than accuracy,” said Mooney, and the biggest problem is that people tend to go online looking for things that reinforce their own point of view. “There is a lot of back scratching,” said Mooney, who will spend the next year in Cambridge as part of the new crop of MIT Knight Science Journalism fellows announced this week. Alas, he added, there is also “no money in blogging” at present.

Discussions about the future of journalism will doubtlessly continue, and more cutbacks are undoubtedly in store. But amidst the current round of hand-wringing, there is hope that, as the new world of journalism shakes out in the years to come, there will still be a need for good science reporters to help explain the novel influenzas of the future. While the bells and whistles of the online journalism environment—the interactive maps, the videos from the field, the participatory conversations—will hopefully draw the attention of a new audience hungry for science information, they will still need the traditional content provided by knowledgeable science journalists to keep them there.

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