Do You Need a Science Degree to Be a Science Reporter?

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Metadata

Author: Aneri Pattani
Full Title: Do You Need a Science Degree to Be a Science Reporter?
Type: #snippet✂️
Document Tags: #sci_comms
URL: https://www.theopennotebook.com/2018/08/21/do-you-need-a-science-degree-to-be-a-science-reporter/

If a scientist feels a reporter understands the jargon of their field, they may be more tempted to use it during an interview. And jargon doesn’t make for good quotes. (View Highlight)
What too few journalists understand, she says, is that “science journalism can’t be approached the same way an ideological topic is approached.” Reporting on policy-relevant issues such as climate change is not about simply reporting both sides—it’s about understanding what the scientific consensus is and where the evidence is strongest, and then conveying an accurate picture of that to the public. “I see a lot more intricacies in these topics than I did before I went to a science program,” Kiesel says. (View Highlight)