Sound-Bite Science: On the Brevity of Science and Scientific Experts in Western European Television News

Abstract

Science forms an integral part of our daily lives and plays an important role in democratic deliberation and decision making. One would expect this omnipresence of science to be reflected in television news programs in public broadcasting because of its responsibility to preserve the diversity and openness of the media. For this study, a representative sample of six Western European news programs was analyzed. The results show that science has a marginal presence and that "science news" is about technology or the natural sciences. In national, foreign, or economic news items, "embedded" scientists rarely comment on the issue at hand.

Radio Sensors and Electric Storms: Scientific Metaphors in Media Talks

“…The applicability of a term and familiarity with the experiences it indexes are not given but rather produced intalks between scientists and journalists. The prevalence of interviewing practices in news gathering and presentation (Ekström & Lundell, 2011, Verhoeven, 2010 gives scientists a voice and opportunity to explain research in their own words. At the same time, they need to consider the interactional context in which their metaphors and their explanations take shape.…”

“…The expert interview is a key resource for eliciting background information or independent comment on the events of the day or to introduce new research to the general public (Montgomery, 2008, Albaek, 2011, Armon & Baram-Tsabari, 2016. Along with live broadcasts, interviews are important tools for news gathering, and are used for eliciting information, quotes and soundbites (Ekström & Lundell, 2011, Verhoeven, 2010. Despite their prominent role in presenting science, metaphors have only been examined in edited reports which show that journalists often borrow the metaphors that experts use to frame their research or their advice that appeared in previous publications or interviews (Nerlich & Halliday, 2007, Stelmach & Nerlich, 2015.…”

Our findings, my method: Framing science in televised interviews

“…Although scientists have been identified as privileged sources (Allan et al, 2010, Nielsen andAutzen, 2011) who influence story selection and framing (Anderson et al, 2005, Albaek, 2011, science reporting is considered to be shaped by what journalists perceive as newsworthy (Ruhrmann et al, 2015, Verhoeven, 2010 and thus can override scientific expectations of what should be covered and how (Claessens, 2008). Scientists are advised to frame their messages in ways that can elicit participation from wide and diverse publics (Nisbet, 2009), but framing research has focused on journalistic storylines, rather than the stories that researchers tell (Gamson and Modigliani, 1989, Maeseele, 2011, Allan et al, 2010, Nisbet et al, 2003.…”

“…TV programs have primarily been examined for coverage levels (Willems and Göpfert, 2006, Lehmkuhl et al, 2012, criteria of newsworthiness (León, 2008), and the journalistic frames typical of representing scientific topics (Feldman et al, 2011, Barel et al, 2015, Ruhrmann et al, 2015. Attention to expert sources has dealt mainly with who and how are they selected and cited by journalists (Verhoeven, 2010) or film makers (Kirby, 2011, Gouyon, 2016. Detailed case studies have documented scientists' involvement in media productions in a variety of ways but have centered primarily on their incorporation into preconfigured media accounts (Collins, 1987, Bourdaa et al, 2015Van Dijk, 2006, Potter et al, 1991.…”

A cobertura de ciência em telejornais do Brasil e da Colômbia: um estudo comparativo das construções midiáticas

“…Alguns trabalhos abordam a questão de forma comparativa entre países (Lehmkuhl et al, 2012;Verhoeven, 2010;León, 2008;Göpfert, 1996). Na América Latina, no entanto, são menos frequentes os estudos que se debruçam sobre a ciência e tecnologia nos meios de comunicação (Arboleda, Hermelin, Pérez-Bustos, 2011;Medeiros, Ramalho, Massarani, 2010;Takahashi, Meisner, 2013;Polino, Fazio, Chiappe, 2006).…”