The Role of Journalism in the Scientific Method

We usually think of journalists as bringing us news about politics and world events. Analyzing a presidential election or an ongoing scandal helps inform us and holds powerful figures accountable on behalf of the public. For this reason, journalism has been called the “fourth branch of government.”

The same duty and impact also manifest in science journalism. Science journalism plays an underappreciated role in the scientific process.

Scientific Literacy

Consider climate change. Most of us are familiar with the scientific concepts that explain how human activity has affected the planet from the ozone layer, greenhouse gasses, fossil fuels, global warming, and methane emissions to ocean acidification and the rise of sea levels.

Half a century ago, the general public, along with many scientists, were not fluent in the language of environmental chemistry. It was through news and investigative reporting that these scientific terms became part of the cultural lexicon, from television documentaries to dinner conversations. This new terminology expanded how people understood the world. 

Similar changes swept the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, around-the-clock reporting introduced the public to ideas once relegated to biology textbooks and doctoral dissertations. Within months, we forged relationships with our antibodies, discussed spike proteins, grimaced at warnings about new variants, and rejoiced about mRNA vaccines. The COVID pandemic no longer makes daily news, but the boost in public health literacy stuck like glue.

Popularizing Advances

Climate change and global pandemics are extreme examples of how science intersects with society. Journalists also popularize the small advances from across the scientific world.

Academic research articles often contain jargon, math, and procedures that may make sense to experts in a field, but not necessarily to the public. That means it’s hard for stories of even the most exciting developments to translate from the lab to society. But science derives its value from its impact on society.

While science journalists are often not researchers themselves, they are trained to ask the right questions on behalf of the public. They distill academic papers for readers without a science background and call attention to exciting new ideas and technologies. A revolutionary drug cannot help patients if nobody other than the scientists who developed it know about it. 

Science news stories explain why a new observation about black holes is so exciting, why a discovery about mosquito evolution matters for human health, and why the results of a clinical trial should stoke optimism— or pessimism—in patients coping with a rare disease.

Science journalists know how the research process works, from funding sources to how advances get published. And that makes journalists an indispensable bridge between the researchers and the public.

But, because experiments test narrow hypotheses, drawing practical conclusions in health and science articles requires careful nuance.

Questioning Science

Let’s suppose machine learning engineers spend years developing an algorithm that distinguishes between human faces, eventually proving that their system can accurately recognize 99.9% of people. Questions about the ethics of implementing such a system—and details about its failures—often fall outside the purview of the original research project. The researchers who developed the algorithm are more focused on “can we do this,” not “should we do this."

In addition to raising ethical questions, science journalism provides a forum to publicly weigh competing ideas. A science journalist’s job is to engage a diverse array of subject matter experts. By doing so, they strive to ensure neither the hype, nor the scrutiny of important research, strays from the facts.

As with politics, science journalists can hold powerful scientific figures and institutions accountable. Journalists investigate allegations of research misconduct, such as manipulating data, and highlight when independent research teams fail to reproduce the same results. Challenging accepted science is an essential step in the scientific method.

But journalistic work is also crucial for the brighter side of science. Media attention has the power to popularize technologies, recognize scientists who overcome adversity, and humanize research to inspire the next generation of scientists. These stories allow us to appreciate that science is for all of us.

What do you think? Is science journalism in your future? It’s Open for Discussion!