Third installment of the intervention on the relationship between science and journalism at the meeting to be held in a couple of days in Ferrara in the International Festival. The first episode is here , the second here.
The lineup is as follows:
1. Science journalism is in crisis? And his difficulties are due to the network?
2. Rules and conventions of traditional scientific journalism
3. Difficulty of science journalism in new and old media
4. Innovative initiatives
5. Science journalism in the coming years between the "new journalism" and evolution of the relationship between science and society.
Step 3. Difficulty of science journalism in new and old media
The debate on the crisis in science journalism, attributed by many to the Internet, has allowed highlight some limitations of traditional science journalism independent from the network. To these are added to other difficulties due to the actual movement, diffusion and appropriation of knowledge in medicine, science and technology resulting from the use of digital technologies.
a) Problems related to the professional development of independent science journalism on the web:
-cover too wide a range of topics (from anthropology to astrophysics all'alterosclerosi) on which it is impossible for a single individual has the skills and the time needed for the study;
-specialization of scientific disciplines makes it difficult to understand What is really important and what is not from the perspective of research;
-commercialization of research and resulting conflicts of interest;
-Science embargo. The embargo system, namely the fact that some journals send in advance the details and materials of scientific research on the condition that reporters not be published before a certain date, it creates several problems: the almost exclusive monopoly of information from a few journals such as Nature, Science, The Lancet, for which the embargo is essentially a marketing tool. The embargo also depresses original investigative journalistic activities;
-increasing role of PR. Science journalism, in line with a trend that concerns the entire journalism, has gradually weakened in favor of press offices and offices of public relations. To produce the news, journalists are badly paid and poorly equipped rely on press releases or materials placed in the "information kit" well packaged, perhaps enriched by multimedia formats. Those with little time, few resources and often little preparation to study and to compare the official version with independent sources, difficult to place a qualified and credible journalism and a niche in the information world as science journalism suffers from insecurity especially professional who is sweeping the world of communications.
b) Difficulty piattafrome attributed to the spread of multimedia and the growth of scientific information in the network.
-Increased workload to cover the increasing number of output does not match that required a commensurate increase in the recruitment of specialized professionals;
-Pack Journalism. As a result of increased work load and the system of the embargo, the journalists do not have time and are not stimulated to an independent journalistic work. This leads to un'omogenizzazione coverage of scientific information generated primarily through activity-based centralized news desk made from press releases
-Checking facts. The increase in workload due to the spread of multimedia platforms makes it very difficult to verify the reliability of sources and comparing information from various sources;
c) Difficulties associated with the emergence of participatory initiatives of science journalism.
-The health and medicine are the areas in which both academics and politicians are questioning more to understand the use and effects of the Internet as a source of information and scientific communication. Every day millions of people come online to search for topics related to diseases and therapies. Conscious use of the World Wide Web is expected the formation of citizens and patients can be more responsible their own health. The dimensions in which we can articulate the training of medical and scientific citizenship and democratization of scientific communication through the use of the network and its development is a complex issue.
regard to the specific science journalism on the phenomena under discussion are more blogs and corporate communication initiatives that seem to journalistic activities in all respects.
many points of view, the dispute between blogger-scientists and information professionals has been reproduced in terms similar to those in other areas of journalism. This in depth on the next point, which concerns the innovative work of science journalism.
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