Science Journalism :: Article :: Online science community reacts to Obama's victory

At time when newspapers are shutting down and citizen journalism is taking over, the future of journalism is bleak.   Not to mention the added pressure for young journalists to establish brand identities and effective marketing strategies early in their careers.

As difficult as it is to survive in journalism right now, it seems especially hard to be a science journalist.

Keynote speaker Erica Check Hayden addressed some of these issues at the Health and Environment in a Connected World dinner reception on November 6.

One major change that Check Hayden noted was that emerging technologies eliminated journalists as the “gatekeepers” of science news.   Instead, scientists could take matters into their own hands and write about their work in their own words.

“There is a tremendous opportunity for scientists to do communication direct to the public,” she said.

Check Hayden mentioned scienceblogs.com, which features pieces written directly by scientists, as one example of this emergence of scientist-citizen journalism

Also, the disconnect between science journalists and scientists may be another driving force in this phenomenon.

“I think there is a misunderstanding among journalists about what scientists do and among scientists about what journalists do,” she said.   “I’ve just noticed from first hand experience…I have friends who are scientists and still tell me they have no idea what I do all day.”

Regardless of what the future of science journalism looks like, science needs to be discussed in a clearer, more engaging manner. This means that scientists need to become better trained at communicating and journalists better equipped for interpreting science.

This conference was a good start.