Your New Science Journalism Project sounds terrific. I wonder if it’s something we can integrate somehow at the next world conference in Cairo.

... it’s brilliant.

And I also wanted to ask on behalf of my own science writing students here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, what is involved in working/doing a story for the site? Do students simply post or is there an approval and editing process. I’d love to get us involved so all information is welcome.

I just want to respond to give you (emotional) support. I think that your project sounds great, and can fill a need.

The connection between Science, Journalism, and Education are sometimes too subtle. The goal of Science must be ultimately to share discoveries with the World. Education makes this into a select process, but Science knowledge must not be limited to the small group of people who attend a college or university, and have the correct curriculum. The leaves the media with a big responsibility! As you mentioned though, this is typically “dumbed down” to a potentially damaging level. This has had a rather subliminal effect over many generations now, and misconceptions/myths are often passed along inadvertently by the media, to the point that these ideas are subtly injected into (undergrad) classrooms and textbooks, simply because they are “well known”.

Best of luck to you, and I will visit your site to see how it`s going.

I am not a student, but a science journalist working with a national news daily in India. I would like to contribute in any way I can to your new venture as you seem genuinely concerned about the environment.
 

This is fabulous idea. And like you mentioned about the editors forum, it is true that science being in the mainstream media is so low.

I freelance for many media publications but that too does not guarantee me space for some of my articles. So the idea of a ‘unified’ publishing outlet is great. I think for all the questions you have paused the answer can best be answered by giving it a try and am positive it will work.

So I would be interested in being one of your reporters and I am going to forward this to some good science journalists I know

... congratulations on getting such a forward thinking idea off the ground!

... I am a biomedical research scientist in the U.S. with over twenty years experience working in both academia and industry…

I think that it [the NSJ Project] is a fantastic endeavor…

I share your concerns over the state of science communication. As a scientist, I have long been frustrated by the unacceptable volume of reporting inaccuracies and misrepresentations that appear in science and medial news stories.

The loss of science correspondent jobs due to shrinking news budgets is not helping things.  I do not believe that the fault lies only with journalists. Scientists and media liaisons from universities, hospitals, industry, etc. all bear the burden of responsibility for providing accurate, balanced and useful news. I feel that the determining factors influencing that quality and content of a story are whether the goal is to increase circulation or ratings or to educate the public in order to facilitate informed decision making. 

A second area of concern for me is science literacy and I believe that there is a symbiotic relationship between science journalism and the general public’s aptitude for science…

I just discovered your NSJ project. Very interesting. I’m a french canadian freelance science journalist working mainly for french written magazines.

I will start a master in scientific journalism at Laval University, Québec, this fall…

I wish you good luck with the launch of NSJ and will keep an eye on it’s development. It’s a very nice initiative and I think it has a lot potential.

I just came across your science journalism group and wondered if we could join forces? I work for the European Journalism Centre, a non-profit institute based in Maastricht. One of my new projects involves sending 80 journalism students to labs to interview researchers and report first-hand on a wide range of subjects, starting this autumn.

My name is Andrew Wight and I’m a Brisbane-based science reporter intrigued to hear more about your plans for newsciencejournalism.net

Although I officially graduated with my molecular biology and online journalism degrees last year from the University of Queensland, most recently I worked for 14 months at Brisbanetimes.com.au, a Fairfax online news service.

Your idea to help students launch themselves is one that I could have used years ago!

I was very fortunate to have scored a reporting job where both the managing editor and chief of staff were very keen about science and were happy for me to take on that beat, but that’s not the experience of scores of others.

As I’m sure you are aware, the problem is heightened in Australia where science journalists are few and far between (there were four of us graduating with that dual degree in my year) and funding for specialists is shrinking across the board.

I am very interested in your project. I am responsible of a Science journalism Master in the University Paris Diderot in France and I really would like to contribute some way or another to the multiplication of good science journalists all over the world.

Your project is something I am really interested in.Essentially I am a journalist working as information Officer for a Biotechnology Agency in Nigeria but my passion is in writing well researched and professionally written Science articles. I have always desired to do a course in science journalism but have not had the opportunity yet.An opportunity to partner with other professionals in the field to produce and publish science news and events in the most professional way is also a great idea and I wish to be part of NSJ project.

Though we haven’t met, but we think alike. I am a firm believer of universal values of science and - accordingly - universal values of science journalism as well.

I am running a monthly science magazine, Global Science, in Pakistan since 1998 - in Urdu language. And, as an individual, I have spent 22 years in this discipline. Now I feel what exactly you realize: if we ‘really’ want to raise the standards of science journalism in developing countries, we need more collaborative project - sort of media outlets on which journalists from developing nations can showcase their work and correct the misconception that they are less competent than their counterparts from developed world.

At this point, I must say that - in face of all the claims regarding the ‘oneness’ of science journalism/ science journalists worldwide - potential of science journalism in developing countries is greatly underestimated, and compartmentalized, in the eyes of ‘top-notches’ from developed countries. Shouldn’t a science journlist from a developing country - like Pakistan - report about Large Hadron Collider (LHC)? Why he/ she can’t report about the recent progress made in nanotechnology in West? Does it mean that we - science journalists from the developing world - have the ability to report on the issues that demand much lesser competency? If the answers to these, and other questions like these are ‘yes,’ then I disagree.

Not amazingly, while planning for WCSJ2009, I was already thinking to discuss an idea - very much similar to the New Science Journalism Project (NSJP) - with friends in other developing countries. As of now, Global Science is fighting for its survival. Yet I assure you all my cooperation and moral support for NSJP. Please include my name in your maling list and, if you like, list of your advisors.

I think that this science journalism project could be of interest, certainly for some PhD students of our graduate school. We are currently in a phase during which the PhD students are identifying areas, in which they would like to obtain more information or training.