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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 415 549 CS 509 674 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (80th, Chicago, Illinois, July 30-August 2, 1997): Science Communication. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE 1997-07-00 NOTE 206p.; For other sections of these Proceedings, see CS 509 657-676. PUB TYPE Collected Works Proceedings (021) Reports - Research (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Higher Education; *Mass Media Role; Media Research; *Newspapers; Pollution; Population Growth; Risk; *Scientific Enterprise; Sex Stereotypes; Theory Practice Relationship IDENTIFIERS *Media Coverage; *Science Journalism ABSTRACT The Science Communication section of the Proceedings contains the following seven papers: "Getting an Advance Look: Controversies over Embargoes in Science Journalism" (Vincent Kiernan); "Perceptions of Newspaper Bias in a Local Environmental Controversy" (Katherine A. McComas; Clifford W. Scherer; Cynthia Heffelfinger); "Newspaper Economic Coverage of Motor Vehicle Emissions Standards" (David C. Coulson and Stephen Lacy); "Connecting Theory and Practice: Are Counterstereotypes Effective in Changing Girls' Perceptions of Science and Scientists?" (Jocelyn Steinke); "Does Media Framing Keep Population Off the Public Agenda?" (T. Michael Maher); "An Elite Scientist at the Boundary: The Power of Evidence and the Evidence of Power in Media Coverage of Science" (Linda Billings); and "Community Structure and Mass Media Accounts of Risk" (Sharon Dunwoody and Robert J. Griffin). Individual papers contain references. (RS) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATION IN JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION (80th, Chicago, Illinois, July 30-August 2, 1997): SCIENCE COMMUNICATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization yf igi n at ing it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) official OERI position or policy. 1 BEST COPYiWAU -ADL Getting an Advance Look 1 I Getting an Advance Look: Controversies over Embargoes in Science Journalism Vincent Kiernan Doctoral student, College of Journalism University of Maryland, College Park 509 Crestwood Drive Alexandria VA 22302 703-838-8081 [email protected] July 5, 1997 A paper presented to the Science Communication Interest Group at the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, Illinois, July 1997 Getting an Advance Look 2 Abstract A key feature of modern science reporting is the embargo that controls the timing of reporting of findings from many journals and conferences. Using primarysource material, this paper traces the evolution of science journalists' views on this controversial practice from the 1920s to the present. Despite complaints by journalists that the embargo gives scientistsa high degree of control over journalists, the embargo system developed at the active instigation of journalists and persists because of the continuing support of journalists. Getting an Advance Look 3 Getting an Advance Look: Controversies over Embargoes in Science Journalism Every week, from Tuesday night through Friday, newspapers and television news reports usually include a burst of news stories about the latest findings in science being published in scientific journals. Almost always, these include a few stories about the latest medical research. Often there also are stories about new discoveries in non-medical fields such as astronomy, chemistry and physics. The regularity of these news reports and their consistent timing from week to week is easy to explain: Several major weekly scientific and medical journals provide copies of their issues to science journalists under what is known as an "embargo." The journalists are granted advance access to the papers in the journal so long as they agree not to publish the information until a preset time. The arrangement is intended to give science journalists extra time to research and prepare stories on complex technical topics, but it also appears to draw media attention to the journals that provide embargoed materials. The journals that are most frequently quoted in the general press -- such as Science, Nature, the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine-- all provide embargoed materials to extensive numbers of science journalists. Scientific societies also provide embargoed copies of papers to be presented at scientific meetings; frequently, these papers are not made available to paying attendees. What is less easy to explain is the durability of the embargo system among journalists for whom competition with other journalists is a stated norm of professional behavior. This paper seeks insights into this issue by tracing the historical development of journalists' attitudes toward the embargo system from its genesis in the 1920s to the present. Historians of mass communication have devoted little attention to embargoes in science news. In his history of the Getting an Advance Look 4 origins of science journalism in the United States, Krieghbaum' describes earlyattempts by science writers to obtain advance copies ofpapers to be presented at conferences in the 1920s and 1930s, but he does not address embargoes on journals. Similarly, in her history of theNational Association of Science Writers, Hay' touches brieflyon conference embargoes but does not address journal embargoes. The present study is a first step toward an examination of science journalists'attitudes toward the embargo system. The research question for thispaper is to examine the historical development of journalists' attitudes toward embargoeson science news from the inception of the embargo system to the present. Such an historical understandingmay provide insights into why the embargo system came into existence, why it persists, and whether it will survive inan era of new forms of mass communication. Methods and Data The principal set of primary source materials used in this projectare the archives of the National Association of Science Writers, a professional society of science journaliststhat was formed in 1934. The archives, held at Cornell University, includecorrespondence, minutes of meetings, and texts of speeches delivered by members. Most notably, the archives includea complete set of the association's newsletter, whichwas started in 1952 and which, often included discussions of professional issues including embargoeson science news. Two other sets of primary materials were used to shed insightson specific historical eras. One was the archives of Science Service,a not-for-profit organization founded in 1921 to disseminate science news to news media anda major force in shaping science journalism in the ensuing decades. These archives, held at the Smithsonian Institution, includecorrespondence Getting an Advance Look 5 between journalists at Science Service and scientists as the journalists sought embargoedaccess to scientific material. These materials were used to shed light on the attitudes of science journalists in the 1920s and 1930s, prior to the formation of the National Association of Science Writers. The second auxiliary set of primary materials was the archives of Samuel Goudsmit, editor of the scientific journal Physical Review Letters from 1958 to 1974. This archive, held at the American Institute of Physics in College Park, Maryland, includes memorandums and correspondence with scientists and journalists on the issue of publicizing scientific research in mass media prior to publication in a scientific journal. Materials used in this study from this archive dealt with a rule imposed by that journal from 1960 through 1976 that prohibited scientists from publishing a paper in the journal if it had already been publicized innews media. These primary materials were supplemented by other published materials that would provide insight into the attitudes and professional values of science journalists, including opinion pieces, texts of speeches, autobiographies and texts on science writing. First Attempts: The1920s The origins of the embargo system are unclear, but it appears that the first journal embargo was a cooperative arrangement in the1910sor1920sbetween Morris Fishbein, the flamboyant and politically powerful editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and Howard W. Blakeslee, a Chicago-based reporter for the Associated Press. 3 Blakeslee, who later would be AP's first science editor, visited the AMA's Chicago headquarters each weekto read page proofs of the impending issue of the journal; it is unclear when the practice started, but some bounds can be placed from the fact that Blakeslee had left Chicago by1928.Fishbein's autobiography suggests that Blakeslee instigated the arrangement: "When Howard Blakesleewas Getting an Advance Look 6 assigned to Chicago by the Associated Press, he had arranged