The Challenges ofCommunicating Science: A
Journalist’s Perspective
Otula Owuor

ATPS SPECIAL PAPER SERIES No. 37

Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network, P.O. Box 10081, 00100
General Post Office, Nairobi, Kenya.

© 2008 African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS)

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ABOUT THE AFRICAN TECHNOLOGY POLICY STUDIES NETWORKThe African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a multi-disciplinary network of researchers,
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Table of Contents

1.

Introduction and background

12.

Social responsibility

43.

Coping with newsroom competition

54.

Remember the basics

61.

Introduction and Background

Although the trend is changing, science reporting is not a daily routine in most media houses
worldwide. Science reporting - unlike sports, politics, business, arts and culture – is generally placedon the fringes of mainstream journalism.
Close analysis shows that there are various deep-rooted factors that tend to keep science at thebottom of newsgathering, packing and dissemination. It begins with journalism schools thattraditionally avoided admitting students with science backgrounds or strong interest in sciencereporting, preferring those excelling in literature, languages, history and others. The courses offeredhardly mentioned the coverage of science.
Today, the few journalism schools that design courses on science journalism are considered“special or unique.” This means that the coverage of science is yet to be integrated into the core or
the basics of overall journalism training.
Journalism schools, with newspapers or FM radio stations within universities, hardly encourage
their students to cover, for example, departments of engineering, medical schools, and colleges ofbiological and physical sciences. Still those who are chosen to learn the art of reporting in-house orgiven on- the- job training are not introduced into the world of science journalism.
However, to be fair, there were some early indicators that the mass media was bound to pay attention
to the coverage of science. These included giving mostly health and agricultural experts space orairtime to answer specific questions and focus on common or unique problems affecting somereaders and listeners.
Like other professions worldwide, journalism is evolving. There is need to cope with new socioeconomic, cultural and political developments including those based on research findings andinnovations within scientific fields.
There are also challenges posed by an increasingly enlightened audience –including policy makers
and scientists - in the need of credible, interesting and well-researched stories with updated facts
and data to inform and educate appropriately.

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ATPS SPECIAL PAPER SERIES NO. 37

Some of the most difficult challenges facing science reporters are linked to stereotypes and myths –associated with the work of journalists and scientists - that have yet to be overcome.
It is still assumed that when dealing with serious academic, professional and research issues,scientists have their own communication outlets especially peer-reviewed journals that areinaccessible to the general public. Serious scientists, therefore, have no business dealing with themass media as an important outlet. Science writers have to routinely examine and extract informationconsidered important to the public from journals dealing with various aspects of science andtechnology.
Journalists are suspicious of scientists, who seek to disseminate or channel information on important
findings through mass media unless they could be linked to ongoing emergencies and thegovernment. The challenges seem to multiply because scientific experiments and findings tend to
take a long time when the media seems to seek instant answers. Thus innovations – new products,services, theories and other findings – derived from prolonged research activities initially sound‘distant or remote’ while the mass media business thrives on the ‘immediate and is highly perishable.’
The above serves as inbuilt sources of conflict between the mass media and researchers. Few
journalists are prepared to wait until research results are published in some peer reviewed quarterlyor annual science journal.
When journalists push for timeliness and proximity, researchers feel harassed and pushed beyond
ethical limits. However, there are emerging trends in which the mass media carries stories about theinitiation of research, the aims, possible results, impact and public good.
Scientific research remains an endless source of new and old terminologies that drive journalists
mad. Mountains of raw data contained in research papers worsen it. It is a major professional
challenge for even those with the best mass communications skills when one is to reduce piles ofjargon and statistics into short, simple and clear message sentences and paragraphs which, forexample, reduce 15-page research paper into quarter page news story.
All these tend to push journalists to depict scientists as poor communicators. Even worse researchers
may be depicted as experts who hide their failures in complex data and terminologies. This in turnleads to scientists being wrongly branded as poor sources of information.
Equally, scientists see journalists as poorly- trained or lazy professionals who want everything chewed
for them. They are incapable or unwilling to extract important information beneath piles of vital dataand terminologies.
For both the researcher and science reporter, things get worse when dealing with editors whobelieve that science only makes news whenever new – products or services- discoveries emerge. InTHE CHALLENGES OF COMMUNICATING SCIENCE: A JOURNALIST’S PERSPECTIVE

3such cases generating news and features based on the “scientific process” remains an uphill battle
for most science communicators.
The challenges are enormous. It is a bigger burden in Africa, stereotyped as a continent that has
been left behind in scientific research and development. The continent is depicted as generating
minimal scientific information that can be packaged as news for local, regional and globalconsumption.
However, science reporters in Africa are well-placed to generate stories with impact because it is aregion where the role of science and technology can be easily linked to solving various devastatingproblems. These problems are caused by diseases, food shortages, poor housing, lack of cleanwater, power or energy shortages, poor sanitation, and decaying transport and communication
infrastructure.
Science journalism in Africa is still seen as journalism of basic human needs. It is interwoven withbasic human needs and rights and is well placed to positively or negatively initiate positive changes
in policy including budget allocations. Science writers are best placed to expose the availability or
unavailability of important services needed for survival and development.

2.

Social Responsibility

Sustainable coverage of science remains elusive for many media houses. To cope with what may
seem as unlimited challenges, even skilled science reporters first need to develop at least somestrong interest in the coverage of science issues. They also need to believe that they have aprofessional, ethical and social responsibility to effectively cover various aspects of science andtechnology, especially the people impact or improvements in their lives.
Science journalists, like others in the fourth estate are the people’s watchdogs. They serve as ‘theeyes of the unseen and ears of the unheard’ in all their professional activities. Despite being sciencejournalists they are always bound to ask, ‘What is the people impact and is it for the common orpublic good?’
Some journalists are bound to generate stories on various aspects of science and technology. Thus
what scientific researchers see as noble efforts to expand the frontiers of knowledge and civilization
may generate negative mass media coverage when journalists consult various sources or inject
other socio-economic, political and cultural dimensions.
One of the professional challenges facing science writers is linked to ‘balancing’ stories that may be
scientifically deficient. One does not always balance science stories the way political writers do bysimply getting opponents’ views that may be based on propaganda. When sources seem blindly
opposed to some scientific products, services and research activities without credible proof orexplanation they often resort to propaganda that the media is expected to carry as facts in ‘balanced’stories. This is particularly common when dealing with certain activists including anti-geneticallymodified (GM) crops, traditional healers, and even top professors ranging from those with fake HIV/AIDS cures to those saying HIV does not cause AIDS with no scientific proof.
A final major challenge is linked to the fact that science issues tend to be diverse ranging from spacescience and engineering to the alarming evolution of highly drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) andmalaria germs apart from genetically engineered crops and microbes. Thus apart from handlingvarious science stories, there is also need to specialize and cope with rapid changes in the world ofscience and technology. In Africa health, environment, agriculture and emerging world ofbiotechnology are at the core of science reporting.

43.

Coping with Newsroom Competition

Despite the increasing realization by media houses that there is need to improve the quality andquantity of science coverage, science writers have to be more competitive and innovative in thegathering and packaging of their stories in an environment that seems to regard them as outsiders.
Science stories have to compete for space and airtime against others from the world of business, art,
music, sports, politics, education, conflicts, crime and accidents. In cases, for example, where a
media house has a weekly science page or programme, there is need for integrating science into
every section of the newspaper apart from being included in the news editor’s list of the daily items.
Issues on diet and athletics or a focus on various aspects of sports medicine could appear in thesports pages. A science writer could, for example, target the features section with a profile of aleading scientist thus creating room to highlight important science activities linked to the expert.
Similarly, science stories can be given business angles. Editorials focusing on specific issues credibly
can also be generated.
To survive in newsrooms one has to come up with innovative strategies of making science stories
earn space and airtime. Science journalists should be prepared to generate stories that are ‘complete’meaning informative, timely, interesting, credible, effective and with appropriate backgroundinformation.
A good science journalist needs to have a list of story ideas or issues to cover without waiting for theusual assignments from the news desks. This helps to ensure sustainability and initiation of routine
beats. It is important for one to try and run a series of stories when dealing with important issues. It
creates some impact if effectively handled. One must have a list of various important sources of
information including their phone numbers and e-mail. A science writer needs to follow up issues.
The tendency to forget to updates issues is a widespread weakness.

5

4.

Remember the Basics

Science stories have to be interesting, easy to read and must meet the same standards like allothers. There should be no favours. The basics including the five Ws and H - What, Who, Where,When, Why and How - have to be appropriately included.
Each word, sentence and paragraph must earn its place. Thus the need for short and clear sentences.
Stories should have a clear message or make a point. Avoid technical jargons or terminologies.
Know your audience or target. Give local examples even if it means appropriately using a common
local word to improve clarity. Unlike a decade ago and with the era of Internet, those journalists whowait to do feature stories will soon be extinct.
The trend is to have news stories with full background thus providing the ‘whole’ story and leaving thereaders or audience satisfied. Having a personal resource center is a must for science journalists.

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Special Paper Series 3: Biotechnology in sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a Policy Research Agenda by John Mugabe(2000)
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Special Paper Series 5: A Blueprint for Developing National ICT Policy in Africa by Clement Dzidonu(2002)
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Special Paper Series 10: ICT Human Resource Development in Africa: Challenges, Strategies and Options byT.M. Waema (2002).
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Ndung’uAcknowledgement

This paper is based on research carried out under the auspices of the African Technology Policy
Studies Network’s (ATPS), Water and Environment Programme funded by the Royal Dutch Government– Activity no: 10385-DCO0020791. The authors thank Dr. Kevin Chika Urama of the Macaulay
Institute, Aberdeen, UK for his contributions to the study in his capacity as the ATPS Lead Resource
Person for the W&E programme. The authors also thank the ATPS Communications and Outreach
Department for their editorial support.

Otula Owuor is a veteran science reporter and a former health editor for the Nation Newspaper.
Mr Owuor is currently a consutlant based in Nairobi.

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