The New Precision Journalism

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The New Precision Journalism Preface The original Precision Journalism was written in the 1969-1970 academic year while I was the happy guest of the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City. It was updated only once, in 1978. The principles of social science research have not changed very much since then, but the technology has. And so this book is an attempt at a new start. It has a new title because 90 percent of the material is new. Only one chapter, the present chapter 6, has been retained in anything like the original form. A number of the original anecdotes and examples have been preserved, but the overall approach has been made kinder, gentler, and, I hope, more logical, informed by sixteen semesters of teaching this material to journalism students. The concept of precision journalism is, as often happens in social science, much older than the term itself. For a long time, those of us working with the concept struggled over what to call it. My involvement began in 1966-1967 when I used my Nieman year at Harvard University to study social science research methods. In the summer of 1967, I applied those methods to coverage of the Detroit riot for the Detroit Free Press. The Russell Sage grant followed. It was to produce a manuscript with the working title "The Application of Social and Behavioral Science Research Methods to the Practice of Journalism." A proper title had still not been found when the manuscript saw its first classroom use: Ted Frederickson and Herbert Strentz produced photocopies with my blessing for students at the University of North Dakota. In the winter of 1971, Everette E. Dennis took a leave from Kansas State University to teach a seminar on "The New Journalism" at the University of Oregon. He included what I had done in Detroit as an example of one rather exotic species of new journalism, and he called it "precision journalism" to contrast its scientific method with the artsy approach of those like Tom Wolfe and Jimmy Breslin who used short-story techniques to illuminate nonfiction. I first heard the term at K-State from Dennis himself while we were strolling from the old part of Kedzie Hall to the new. Its earliest uses in print that I know about date from 1971. Neil Felgenhauer wrote a chapter on precision journalism in The Magic Writing Machine, a book produced by Dennis's seminar and published by the University of Oregon School of Journalism. In that same year, Michael 1 L. Johnson used the term in The New Journalism, published by the University Press of Kansas, in a footnote to describe the work of Ben Wattenburg. In 1972, when John Gallman of Indiana University Press broke my string of rejections and accepted the manuscript for publication, we decided that Dennis's descriptive term had the right ring, and so we adopted it. The choice proved to be correct. In the information age, an idea that won't fit in a sound bite or on a bumper sticker has a poor chance of survival. The current volume was made possible by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professorship, which provided the funding for a leave of absence. Consulting assignments with USA Today and CBS News gave me the opportunity to test the ideas on real journalists. Portions of the manuscript were commented on by Carol Knopes, Shawn McIntosh, Jim Norman, Larry Sanders, Julia D. Wallace, G. Cleveland Wilhoit, and Frances Wilhoit. Gordon Black, Robert Hurd, Kathy Frankovic, and Warren Mitofsky helped me stay current on the art and science of election polling. The founders of the Carolina Poll, Richard Cole, Robert L. Stevenson, and Jane Brown, welcomed me into their midst in 1981 and kept my skills from getting rusty. Robert R. Berry, Pama, Mitchell and Timothy Rogers were energetic research assistants. Errors are, of course, my own, and if I didn't get it right this time, I'll try again. 2 Chapter 1 - Journalism and the Scientific Tradition If you are a journalist, or thinking of becoming one, you may have already noticed this: They are raising the ante on what it takes to be a journalist. There was a time when all it took was a dedication to truth, plenty of energy, and some talent for writing. You still need those things, but they are no longer sufficient. The world has become so complicated, the growth of available information so explosive, that the journalist needs to be a filter as well as a transmitter, an organizer and interpreter as well as one who gathers and delivers facts. In addition to knowing how to get information into print or on the air, he or she also must know how to get it into the receiver's head. In short, a journalist has to be a database manager, a data processor, and a data analyst. It takes special training. In the good old days, there was serious doubt in professional circles about whether journalism, as a discipline, included any body of knowledge at all. Journalism, in this view, is all procedure, not substance.1 When James Bryant Conant had to deal with a windfall bequest to Harvard to “improve the standards of journalism,” he chose substantive training for mid-career journalists. “Mr. Conant felt that there was not a sufficient knowledge base to justify a journalism school . this conclusion led to a remarkably successful program which we have no desire to alter,” Harvard president Derek Bok recalled fifty years later.2 In a simpler world, journalism programs that ignored journalism might have been justified. In the information society, the needs are more complex. Read any of the popular journals of media criticism and you will find a long litany of repeated complaints about modern journalism. It misses important stories, is too dependent on press releases, is easily manipulated by politicians and special interests, and does not communicate what it does know in an effective manner. All of these complaints are justified. Their cause is not so much a lack of energy or talent or dedication to truth, as the critics sometimes imply, but a simple lag in the application of information science–a body of knowledge–to the daunting problems of reporting the news in a time of information overload. Harvard's Nieman program, which gives selected mid-career journalists an academic year to repair whatever educational gaps they perceive, is used by some to broaden their scope as generalists. But more and more are using it to adapt to the new demands by becoming more specialized. In a world where the amount of information is 1 doubling every five years,3 it takes a specialist to understand, let alone communicate, very much of it. The journalistic body of knowledge, therefore, must include these elements: 1. How to find information; 2. How to evaluate and analyze it; 3. How to communicate it in a way that will pierce the babble of information overload and reach the people who need and want it. To the extent that journalists learn how to do these things, they are meeting one of the elements of a profession: access to an esoteric body of knowledge. We are learning, and journalism is becoming more professionalized, but, as with any sweeping change, it is proceeding unsteadily and at different rates in different places. Where craft meets theory In journalism schools, the concept of precision journalism–the application of social and behavioral science research methods to the practice of journalism–found a ready market. The ready acceptance of this concept in academe was due in part to its contribution to the healing of the breach between the green eyeshade and chi-square factions. It demonstrated the applicability of social science research methods to the very real problems of newsgathering in an increasingly complex society. It produced work that both the researchers and the craft people could appreciate. The tools of sampling, computer analysis, and statistical inference increased the traditional power of the reporter without changing the nature of his or her mission–to find the facts, to understand them, and to explain them without wasting time. In the profession, however, the barriers were greater. Precision journalism threatened the twin traditions of journalistic passivity and journalistic innocence. The former tradition holds that media should report news, not make news. Media involvement in public opinion polling has been criticized on the ground that the media should not do polls but should wait passively until other people do them and then report on them.4 Media polls also violate the innocence rule. A reporter should be a person who casts a fresh eye on everything, something that he or she cannot do if burdened by too much specialized knowledge. A journalist, Vermont Royster told the 1967 class of Nieman 2 Fellows, should be “a professional amateur.” The extreme case is a foreign correspondent I once knew who laughed when I asked him if he was learning the language of the country to which he was assigned. In his view it was not necessary, might even be a hindrance. His readers did not know the language, and his job was merely to observe what they would observe if they were there and report on what he saw. If he learned a foreign language he might start to think like a foreigner and lose touch with those readers. The trouble with being a passive and innocent journalist is that, like any passive and innocent person, one can be too easily taken advantage of. The underlying theme in most modern criticism of journalism is that the media are too easily dominated by powerful politicians and their skillful “spin doctors” whose desires too easily determine what is defined as news and what is not.
Recommended publications
  • Promoting Diversity and Reducing Racial Isolation in Ohio
    Poverty & Race PRRAC POVERTY & RACE RESEARCH ACTION COUNCIL July/August 2012 Volume 21: Number 4 Promoting Diversity and Reducing Racial Isolation in Ohio by Stephen Menendian Last May, the State Board of Edu- sweeping guide for school districts found them constitutionally infirm in cation of Ohio adopted a new, for- designed both to promote diversity and Parents Involved in Community ward-looking Diversity Policy that reduce racial isolation throughout Schools v. Seattle School District No. will improve student performance and Ohio. The Policy emphatically reaf- 1. For that reason, even though the potentially affect the lives of every firmed the state goal of promoting di- policy did not clearly violate the Par- child in the state. Over the last three versity and alleviating racial isolation ents Involved ruling, the State Board years, staff from the Kirwan Institute in Ohio schools. This impressive of Education of Ohio suspended the for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Policy touched on virtually every rel- 1980 Policy following the Supreme Ohio State worked very closely with evant educational issue, from curricu- Court’s decisions in those cases, pend- the Board and Ohio Department of lum and instruction to test-taking and ing the development of a new Policy. Education (ODE) staff to develop this transportation. The State Board of Education asked Policy. In this article, I will share the The core element of the Policy was the then-Executive Director of the positive results and key elements of the a monitoring mechanism designed to Kirwan Institute, Prof. john powell, new Policy, but more importantly, I ensure that no school population var- to present to the Board on the Parents will discuss the process of developing ied more than 15% from the demo- Involved decision, and to highlight na- this Policy in order to offer valuable graphics of the respective school dis- tional best practices on student assign- lessons for advocates and researchers trict as a whole.
    [Show full text]
  • AJVR Instructions for Authors
    June 2021 AJVR Instructions for Authors he American Journal of Veterinary Research is a were involved in drafting or revising the manuscript criti- monthly, peer-reviewed, veterinary medical journal cally for important intellectual content; and (3) approved Towned by the American Veterinary Medical Asso- the submitted version of the manuscript and will have an ciation that publishes reports of original research and re- opportunity to approve subsequent revisions of the man- view articles in the general area of veterinary medical uscript, including the version to be published. All 3 condi- research. tions must be met. Each individual listed as an author must have participated sufficiently to take public responsibility MISSION for the work. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or The mission of the American Journal of Veterinary Re- general supervision of the research team does not, alone, search is to publish, in a timely manner, peer-reviewed re- justify authorship. Requests to list a working group or ports of the highest quality research that has the clear po- study group in the byline will be handled on a case-by-case tential to enhance the health, welfare, and performance of basis. All authors must complete and submit the Copy- animals and humans. The journal will maintain the highest right Assignment Agreement and Authorship Form ethical standards of scientific journalism and promote (jav.ma/CAA-AF), confirming that they meet the criteria such standards among its contributors. In addition, the for authorship. If a manuscript describes clinical treat- journal will foster global interdisciplinary cooperation in ments or clinical interpretations, at least 1 author must be veterinary medical research.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fair Housing Act:Enacted Despite the Mainstream Media,Neutered By
    THE FAIR HOUSING ACT: ENACTED DESPITE THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA, NEUTERED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S UNWILLINGNESS TO ENFORCE IT Craig Flournoy† “We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream1 This Article examines the 1968 Fair Housing Act from two perspectives. The first Part discusses the urban riots of the mid-1960s; the failure of the white press to examine the connection between the riots and systemic social problems, particularly segregation; and the Kerner Commission’s devastating indictment of mainstream media coverage of the riots, the Black ghetto, and African Americans. I argue the mainstream media’s poor coverage of the problems caused by inner-city ghettos made it more difficult to win popular and political support for the Fair Housing Act. The second Part examines the creation of a separate and unequal system of federally-subsidized housing in the two decades following enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. I argue erecting and maintaining a national system of taxpayer-assisted housing that blatantly violated federal fair housing laws, demonstrates the unwillingness of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and five presidential administrations to enforce the Fair Housing Act. † Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, University of Cincinnati. I thank the Dallas Morning News for allowing me to focus on low-income housing and race. I thank Michael Daniel and Laura Beshara for their thoughtful comments on earlier drafts. I also thank Elizabeth Fuzaylova, Jesse Kitnick, Jennifer Pierce, Alexander Still, and the editors at the Cardozo Law Review for their commitment to strengthen this Article’s substance and sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Underneath the Autocrats South East Asia Media Freedom Report 2018
    UNDERNEATH THE AUTOCRATS SOUTH EAST ASIA MEDIA FREEDOM REPORT 2018 A REPORT INTO IMPUNITY, JOURNALIST SAFETY AND WORKING CONDITIONS 2 3 IFJ SOUTH EAST ASIA MEDIA FREEDOM REPORT IFJ SOUTH EAST ASIA MEDIA FREEDOM REPORT IFJ-SEAJU SOUTH EAST ASIA MEDIA SPECIAL THANKS TO: EDITOR: Paul Ruffini FREEDOM REPORT Ratna Ariyanti Ye Min Oo December 2018 Jose Belo Chiranuch Premchaiporn DESIGNED BY: LX9 Design Oki Raimundos Mark Davis This document has been produced by the International Jason Sanjeev Inday Espina-Varona Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on behalf of the South East Asia Um Sarin IMAGES: With special thanks Nonoy Espina Journalist Unions (SEAJU) Latt Latt Soe to Agence France-Presse for the Alexandra Hearne Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) Sumeth Somankae use of images throughout the Cambodia Association for Protection of Journalists (CAPJ) Luke Hunt Eih Eih Tin report. Additional photographs are Myanmar Journalists Association (MJA) Chorrng Longheng Jane Worthington contributed by IFJ affiliates and also National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP) Farah Marshita Thanida Tansubhapoi accessed under a Creative Commons National Union of Journalists, Peninsular Malaysia (NUJM) Alycia McCarthy Phil Thornton Attribution Non-Commercial Licence National Union of Journalists, Thailand (NUJT) U Kyaw Swar Min Steve Tickner and are acknowledged as such Timor Leste Press Union (TLPU) Myo Myo through this report. 2 3 CONTENTS IFJ SOUTH EAST ASIA MEDIA FREEDOM REPORT 2018 IMPUNITY, JOURNALIST SAFETY AND WORKING CONDITIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
    [Show full text]
  • Craig Flournoy CV
    Craig Flournoy 3446 Brookline Ave., #1 Cincinnati, OH 45220 (469) 585-4422 [email protected] Academic and Professional Experience Assistant Professor, Journalism, University of Cincinnati. 2014 to present. Courses taught: JOUR 1020: Topics in Journalism JOUR 3000: Journalism Research JOUR 1030: Principles of Am. Journalism JOUR 4050: Investigative Journalism JOUR 2020: Media, Law & Ethics JOUR 5155: Journalism Seminar Department Head: Jeff Blevins, Ph.D. Research Associate Professor, Journalism, Southern Methodist University. 2002 to 2014. Courses taught: CCJN 3313: Reporting II CCJN 4306: Business and Journalism CCJN 3360: Computer-Assisted Reporting CCJN 4316: Communication Law CCJN 3365: Investigative Reporting CCJN 5304: Mass Media in the UK CCJN 3396: Journalism History (SMU-in-London) Division Head: Tony Pederson CCJN 5305: Journalism & Pop Culture Instructor, Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University. 2000-2002. Courses taught: MC 3202: Newsgathering II MC 4141: Investigative Reporting Dean: John Maxwell Hamilton, Ph.D. Philip Warner Chair, Communications Department, Sam Houston State University. 1997-1998. Courses taught: JRN 262: Advanced Reporting JRN 264: News Editing Also served as advisor to The Houstonian, the student newspaper Department Head: Don Richardson, Ph.D. Investigative Reporter, Dallas Morning News, 1979-2000. Specialized in reporting on race and housing locally (see “Rewarding Neglect” and “Race and Risk”) and nationally (see “Separate and Unequal”). Each series prompted unprecedented federal action. Reporting honored with more than 50 state and national awards including the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Political columnist and city hall reporter, Shreveport Journal, 1977-1978. Education Ph.D. Louisiana State University, August 2003 Mass Communication and Public Affairs, Area: 20th-century Journalism History Dissertation examined how the black and white press covered the 1955 Emmett Till lynching and 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott.
    [Show full text]
  • ONLINE HARASSMENT of JOURNALISTS Attack of the Trolls
    ONLINE HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS Attack of the trolls 1 SOMMAIREI Introduction 3 1. Online harassment, a disinformation strategy 5 Mexico: “troll gangs” seize control of the news 5 In India, Narendra Modi’s “yoddhas” attack journalists online 6 Targeting investigative reporters and women 7 Censorship, self-censorship, disconnecting and exile 10 2. Hate amplified by the Internet’s virality 13 Censorship bots like “synchronized censorship” 13 Troll behaviour facilitated by filter bubbles 14 3. Harassment in full force 19 Crowd psychology 3.0: “Anyone can be a troll” 19 Companies behind the attacks 20 Terrorist groups conducting online harassment 20 The World Press Freedom Index’s best-ranked countries hit by online harassment 20 Journalists: victims of social network polarization 21 4. Troll armies: threats and propaganda 22 Russia: troll factory web brigades 22 China: “little pink thumbs,” the new Red Guards 24 Turkey: “AK trolls” continue the purge online 25 Algeria: online mercenaries dominate popular Facebook pages 26 Iran: the Islamic Republic’s virtual militias 27 Egypt: “Sisified” media attack online journalists 28 Vietnam: 10,000 “cyber-inspectors” to hunt down dissidents 28 Thailand: jobs for students as government “cyber scouts” 29 Sub-Saharan Africa: persecution moves online 29 5. RSF’s 25 recommendations 30 Tutorial 33 Glossary 35 NINTRODUCTIONN In a new report entitled “Online harassment of journalists: the trolls attack,” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sheds light on the latest danger for journalists – threats and insults on social networks that are designed to intimidate them into silence. The sources of these threats and insults may be ordinary “trolls” (individuals or communities of individuals hiding behind their screens) or armies of online mercenaries.
    [Show full text]
  • Scientific Journalism: the Dangers of Misinformation
    Commentary CONTROVERSIES IN PSYCHIATRY Scientific journalism: The dangers of misinformation Journalists can mislead when they interpret medical data instead of just reporting it he 2011 movie Contagion portrays chaos resulting from the emergence of a highly lethal, rapidly pro- T gressing virus threatening to end civilization. One of the characters, a freelance journalist with a blog followed by 15 million people, directs his readers to ignore an effec- tive vaccine the CDC has developed, assigning conspirato- rial motives to the CDC’s efforts. During a nationally televised 2011 presidential candidate debate, Representative Michele Bachmann created a con- troversy when she stated fellow candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry’s policy requiring sixth-grade girls to get vac- cinated against the human papillomavirus exposed them to potential dangers. © IMAGEZOO/CORBIS Much has been written about the potential influence poli- ticians and mass media have on the public’s understanding William Glazer, MD President of scientific knowledge. Carvalho wrote, “The media have a Glazer Medical Solutions crucial responsibility as a source of information and opinions Key West, FL about science and technology for citizens. Public perception Menemsha, MA and attitudes with regard to those domains are significantly influenced by representations of scientific knowledge con- veyed by the press and other mass means of communication.”1 Recently, media attention generated by some critics—eg, professional journalists, nonmedical academics, and non- psychiatric physicians—has questioned the effectiveness of antidepressants. These individuals are affecting public understanding of the issue. Scientific journalism vs scientific discovery Journalism exists in many forms—eg, advocacy, scientific, Current Psychiatry investigative—and has led to positive and negative social Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Defining Objectivity Within Journalism an Overview
    10.1515/nor-2017-0255 Defining Objectivity within Journalism An Overview CHARLOTTE WIEN Abstract The article seeks the roots of the journalistic concept of objectivity in various theoreti- cal schools. It argues that the concept of objectivity in journalism originates in the positivistic tradition and, furthermore, that it is strongly related to tan earlier theoretical school within historiography. Journalism has made several attempts have been made by journalism to break free of the positivistic objectivity paradigm, none of them very suc- cessful, however. The paper discusses each of these attempts. Finally, using the concept of objectivity as a prism, the paper sketches out what might be termed a landscape of jour- nalism theory. Key Words: objectivity, positivism, journalism, history Introduction Journalism derives a great deal of its legitimacy from the postulate that it is able to present true pictures of reality. No one would have use for journalism if the journalists themselves asserted that the dissemination of news consisted of false pictures of unre- ality. Concepts such as ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ cannot be separated from the concept of objectivity. Hence, if one can speak of a paradigm within journalism, we might see such a paradigm in the requirement for objectivity in disseminating news. But it is one thing to operate with objectivity as a beacon, and something else to operationalise objectiv- ity in the everyday task of journalism. Within journalism, there exist several schools which have attempted to operationalise the concept of objectivity: e.g. Mainstream Journalism, Scientific Journalism, New Journalism and Precision Journalism (including Computer-Assisted Reporting). To operationalise concepts demands either that one thinks for oneself or that one borrows the ideas of others.
    [Show full text]
  • Comment Science Journalism and Fact Checking
    SISSA – International School for Advanced Studies Journal of Science Communication ISSN 1824 – 2049 http://jcom.sissa.it/ Comment SCIENCE JOURNALISM AND DIGITAL STORYTELLING Science journalism and fact checking Maximilian Schäfer ABSTRACT: At first glance it all seems so easy – scientists create new knowledge, and through their work they show which statements about the world are true and which are false. Science journalists pass these new discoveries on so that as many people as possible can learn about them and understand them. Prior to publication, it is the job of "fact checkers" to examine the journalists' texts to ensure that all the facts are correctly represented. In reality, however, the relationship between the actors is by far more complicated. Using my experience as fact checker of scientific texts for the news magazine "DER SPIEGEL", I would like to comment in this essay on where I see the main problems of fact checking in scientific journalism to be, and on the changes that have come about through the use of the Internet and the availability of smartphones and tablet computers. 1. Science and science journalism The obvious objective of science journalism is to convey the results of scientific research to the general public. This includes presenting the results in such a way that they can be understood even by a non- scientist, and to classify them in such a way that their meaning in a scientific debate becomes evident to society and each individual. Science journalism also has a host of other functions – in a debate, for example, it conveys which research work a society supports on the basis of ethical, economic or other reasons and where it would like to draw boundaries; research conducted into embryonic stem cells and manned space travel are some of the well-known examples here.
    [Show full text]
  • Allen Parkway Village Politicians Plot to Raze Public Housing in Houston
    INCOME TEXAS page 4 A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES JULY 12, 1991 • $1.50 Allen Parkway Village Politicians Plot to Raze Public Housing in Houston BY SCOT,' HENSON Houston N MAY 18, FRESHMAN HOUSTON Congressman Craig Washington held a public hearing in Houston to discuss the fate of Allen Parkway Village (APV), Houston's first and old- est public housing development. Washington has suggested repealing the Frost-Leland amendment established by his deceased predecessor, Rep. Mickey Leland, barring the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from approving demolition plans for the 1,000 units sprawled across a 37-acre tract within walking distance of Houston's central business district (CBD). Despite the fact that 94 Houston-area churches and community groups have approved resolutions opposing such a measure, for more than 10 Continued on page 6 Top: Fourth Ward buildings contrasted with Houston skyscrapers Right: APV Residents Council President Lenwood Johnson protests a steering committee meeting for the Founders Park development Photos by Patricia Moore DIALOGUE Debating Public Education less, standardized tests, or whether teachers' salaries and professional status should be raised bTEH TEXAS The Observer is very savvy when it comes to begs the question. All these "reforms" are only analyzing the political economy of war or the designed to feed the dinosaur called school. machinations by those in power behind the Sav- And finally, giving more money to poor dis- server ings & Loan debacle, but your articles on edu- tricts without the poor having the power to de- cation have been disappointing in their lack of cide what kind of education they want is a cruel analysis of the political economy of schools and hoax to both the poor and those who sincerely the concomitant machinations in the military- want to help them.
    [Show full text]
  • 2005 Learning and Teaching
    wstuf0405.qxp 21.4.2005 1:29 Page 1 The Write Stuff The Journal of the European Medical Writers Association Learning and Teaching www.emwa.org Vol. 14, No.2, 2005 wstuf0405.qxp 21.4.2005 1:29 Page 2 The Write Stuff EMWA 14th Annual Conference 17-21 May 2005, Malta The Executive Committee would like to remind members that EMWA's 14th annual conference will be held from 17 to 21 May 2005 at The Westin Dragonara Resort in the St Julian's region of Malta. Further details are available on the website www.emwa.org. This conference will see the launch of our advanced curricu- lum, so it's definitely not one to miss. Looking forward to seeing you there! Michelle Derbyshire EMWA Vice President and Conference Manager The Journal of the European Medical Writers Association 31 wstuf0405.qxp 21.4.2005 1:29 Page 3 The Write Stuff Learning and Teaching Vol. 14, No. 2, 2005 Sixth annual EMWA autumn meeting, 18–20 November 2004, Munich, Germany 41 Wolfgang Thielen A brand new EMWA member offers his observations of the recent autumn meeting in Bavaria, which was great fun even if we did just miss Oktoberfest. Training a team of medical writers with diverse backgrounds 42 Heather Bishop No one trains at university to be a medical writer, so exactly how do you train medical writers? In other words, find out how to make a silk purse from…many different types of silk. Foundation and advanced levels for the EMWA Professional Development Programme 45 Stephen de Looze and Beate Wieseler Everything you need to know about the changes and expansion in the EPDP.
    [Show full text]
  • Hooke-Issue48.Pdf
    Hooke 2017 Editors’ Note Science is inexorably marching forward. The past year has seen us dig ever-deeper into natural phenomena, almost as far as we have pushed the boundaries in manipulating them. Groundbreaking new immunological cancer treatments have been discovered, the quantum Internet of the future seems to be a real possibility, and fossils are rapidly being unearthed that overhaul what we thought we knew about who we are and where we came from. It appears that there’s no shortage of discovery nowadays to excite and humble us. Yet the uncertainty of post-truth politics hangs over science. Donald Trump’s recently published R&D priorities co-opt scientific research into an insular, retrospective vision to “make America great again”, describing it as playing a key role in the development of American military superiority, security, prosperity, energy dominance, and health. The environment, of course, is not mentioned. Trump thus sets a dangerous precedent for other countries by lauding “beautiful, clean coal” instead – sidestepping questions about the link between climate change and the devastating Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, from which around 200 people are thought to have been killed. So, as global warming paces onwards, the possibility of not exceeding the 1.5°C increase limit set in the Paris Agreement seems to wane. UK science is similarly under threat from Brexit. While it would seem fortunate for both sides to maintain a positive working relationship, leaving the EU will inevitably mean that the UK will have to sacrifice some of its power in important EU projects such as Horizon 2020, the European Defence Research Programme, and nuclear R&D.
    [Show full text]