Challenges in communicating science to Canadians

Abstract

"Knowledge of science, the scientific process and the issues surrounding scientific achievements is essential because it allows for informed public participation in a democratic society. A science communication shortage in society leads to low public understanding of science. However, media coverage of science remains sparse. Newspapers rarely hire staff science reporters and, apart from specialty programming, science news on television is scarce. We categorized the challenges science journalists face into two major groups: individual and systematic. By „individual challenges‟ we mean the personal abilities, skills and qualifications of the individual journalists interviewed, such as their level of scientific knowledge. By systematic challenges we mean the challenges created by the science journalism „system‟ such as how newsrooms gather and edit science stories. Often, journalists have limited or no control over systematic factors yet these factors still significantly affect how they do their job. Although individual and systematic challenges are related, for purposes of analysis we place them in separate categories."