Views Afield by Judith McIntosh White

Hotz RL. The difficulty of find- Starr D. Teaching Harvard’s ing impartial sources in . students to report on science. Nieman Rep 2002;56(3):6-7. Nieman Rep 2002;56(3):36-8. Nieman Reports Although science writers are increasingly A key lesson for science writers, both better educated about their subjects and students and seasoned , is to Looks at about itself, it has present science stories in context. Doing become harder and harder for them to this includes weighing evidence and link- Science Journalism find sources with unbiased viewpoints on ing the science it supports to economic, scientific issues. Furthermore, the media political, and other factors that help give marketplace often places science writers the story meaning for readers. Editors in the ranks of either the freelance or the should accept the complexities of science overworked, making them more dependent stories and recognize that the time-hon- on “cooperative” sources with an ax to ored advice to “boil it down” often leads to grind or a stake to uphold and less able to omitting crucial details. undertake investigative science reporting. Thomas P. Meshing science, Rensberger B. What every jour- money and politics in a book nalist should know about science about AIDS vaccines. Nieman Rep and science journalism, and Books 2002;56(3):38-9. every science writer should read. Narrative is a powerful tool in telling sci- Nieman Rep 2002;56(3):11, 12. ence stories and helps to bring context and These pieces are sidebars to Rensberger’s the human element into the picture. article “Reporting Science Means Looking for Cautionary Signals”. The former sidebar Reed R, Walker G. Listening to includes the points that “some forms of and journalists. Nieman evidence are worth more than others”, that Rep 2002;56(3):45-6. is an integral part of science, Scientists, journalists, and science writ- and that principled professional autonomy is ers involved in focus groups conducted the prerogative not only of the but by Australian communication researchers also of the science writer. The latter sidebar share concern about accurately informing lists 41 books that can serve as background the public. However, their occupational reading for the serious science . cultures sometimes interfere with useful Suggestions range from Darwin’s Origin of discussion. Public-relations personnel, par- Species and Einstein’s Relativity to Diamond’s ticularly those at universities, may facilitate more recent Guns, Germs, and Steel. communication by giving journalists more explanatory help and by coaching scientists Frankel F. Technology enables in how to talk effectively to the media. As regular Views Afield Lynn new scientific images to emerge. However, such PR practitioners must Dirk has observed, “Articles on the por- Nieman Rep 2002;56(3):29-31. understand both science and journalism if trayal of science in the popular media “Image-thinking writers and editors” have at they are to serve as effective links between are numerous and varied.” Now Nieman their disposal new technologies with which the two. Stories could benefit from expand- Reports, published by The Nieman images can be constructed to allow humans ed journalistic research, better use of meta- Foundation for Journalism at Harvard to see beyond their naked eyes—and beyond phors, and “creative ‘layering’ techniques University, has dedicated half its fall 2002 the limits of visual instrumentation. Such with text, pictures, and graphics”. issue to science journalism. The issue, images allow “the creative process of telling available at www.Nieman.Harvard.edu, scientific stories [to] become a collaboration JUDITH MCINTOSH WHITE prepared this col- includes 18 articles on science journalism among writers, editors and picture makers.” umn while a Science Editor fellow. spanning 40-plus pages. Among articles (The article includes examples of scientific that may especially interest science editors images by Frankel, who was keynote speaker are the following. at the 2002 CSE annual meeting.)

Science Editor • May - June 2003 • Vol 26 • No 3 • 99