The interaction of journalists and scientific experts: co-operation and conflict between two professional cultures

Peters, Hans Peter

doi:10.1177/016344395017001003

Cited by 123 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In the five-country study, there was almost unanimous agreement with the item that "journalists should permit scientists to check stories in which they are quoted prior to publication" (68). Interestingly, in two surveys in which scientists and journalists were asked to respond to the same set of items, that item was the one on which the two groups disagreed most (17,21).…”

Section: Science Journalism and Response Of Scientific Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They studied incompatibilities between the professional cultures of scientists and journalists, as well as mutual prejudices and negative perceptions (1,16,17), and investigated differences in the way scientists and journalists observe and describe the world (18,19). Empirical data from surveys even in the 1980s to 1990s would have allowed a more nuanced picture, but these data have frequently been overlooked or downplayed because of the dominant perceptions of an unsatisfactory science-media relationship.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Empirical data from surveys even in the 1980s to 1990s would have allowed a more nuanced picture, but these data have frequently been overlooked or downplayed because of the dominant perceptions of an unsatisfactory science-media relationship. Besides evidence of a critical assessment of the media coverage on science and technology in general (1,16), some studies show a strong motivation on the part of scientists to interact with the media (16,20,21) and a high degree of co-orientation of scientists and journalists (17,22,23). Furthermore, a large proportion of scientists were actually interacting with journalists.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Gap between science and media revisited: Scientists as public communicators

Peters

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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271

261

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The present article presents an up-to-date account of the current media relations of scientists, based on a comprehensive analysis of relevant surveys. The evidence suggests that most scientists consider visibility in the media important and responding to journalists a professional duty—an attitude that is reinforced by universities and other science organizations. Scientific communities continue to regulate media contacts with their members by certain norms that compete with the motivating and regulating influences of public information departments. Most scientists assume a two-arena model with a gap between the arenas of internal scientific and public communication. They want to meet the public in the public arena, not in the arena of internal scientific communication. Despite obvious changes in science and in the media system, the orientations of scientists toward the media, as well as the patterns of interaction with journalists, have their roots in the early 1980s. Although there is more influence on public communication from the science organizations and more emphasis on strategic considerations today, the available data do not indicate abrupt changes in communication practices or in the relevant beliefs and attitudes of scientists in the past 30 y. Changes in the science–media interface may be expected from the ongoing structural transformation of the public communication system. However, as yet, there is little evidence of an erosion of the dominant orientation toward the public and public communication within the younger generation of scientists.

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Section: Science Journalism and Response Of Scientific Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gap between science and media revisited: Scientists as public communicators

Peters

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

271

261

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show abstract

“…Therefore, there could be a discrepancy between scientists and the media in problem framing. The cultural gap between journalists and scientists seems to be especially evident in communication on risk and uncertainty (Peters 1995).…”

Section: News Media Risks and Issues Of Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

Framing Environmental Risks in the Baltic Sea: A News Media Analysis

Jönsson

2011

AMBIO

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Scientific complexity and uncertainty is a key challenge for environmental risk governance and to understand how risks are framed and communicated is of utmost importance. The Baltic Sea ecosystem is stressed and exposed to different risks like eutrophication, overfishing, and hazardous chemicals. Based on an analysis of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, this study discusses media representations of these risks. The results show that the reporting on the Baltic Sea has been fairly stable since the beginning of the 1990s. Many articles acknowledge several risks, but eutrophication receives the most attention and is also considered the biggest threat. Authorities, experts, organizations, and politicians are the dominating actors, while citizens and industry representatives are more or less invisible. Eutrophication is not framed in terms of uncertainty concerning the risk and consequences, but rather in terms of main causes.

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“…In the international context, various studies are identified on the coverage of matters of science and technology in daily newspapers (see, for example: [17], [5], [16], [4] in the United States, [7], [22] in Canada; [18] in Germany, [10], [2], [11] in the United Kingdom, [3] in Italy, [6] in India, only to cite a few).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%