THE VIEW FROM THE NEWSROOM: SCIENCE JOURNALISM IN A CHANGING WORLD

The landscape of journalism is shifting. From Twitter to blogging to the 24/7 news cycle, reporters are adapting to a world in which social media supplements traditional sources of newsgathering. Even so, the fundamental principles of journalism remain the same as they were a century ago: the gathering of timely, reliable, well-sourced information. I will discuss how science journalists go about their business of selecting and reporting stories, and how the public in turn receives and interprets that information. A key point to remember is that science journalism is not science education, and that its purpose is to report the news about science rather than advance any educational or communications agenda.