GE³LS Research into Communicating Controversial Science

Project Website: http://www.sciencejournalism.net

ANNOUNCEMENT

The GE3LS Project is pleased to announce today that it has published the first of its interview results. Please visit the Science Journalism Research Group website for complete details.

Overview

The Pleiades Promoter Project aims to develop genetic tools towards therapeutic interventions for brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, ADHD and autism. Genomics research and gene therapy are among the most controversial areas of science, raising ethical, legal, social and other issues. This GE³LS project will investigate issues related to the public communication of controversial science, with a focus on genomics and gene therapy.

At present, this communication is limited by misinformation, advocacy, poor science communication and inadequate journalism. This research is thus motivated by three basic questions:

• What is the science communication process that produces genomic journalism?
• What roles do the news media play?
• How does the public comprehend and use the information they receive?

Areas of Research

This GE³LS project consists of three main areas of research.

1. Literature review

   Our research will build on existing literature. Therefore, the first step will be to examine what has been written about the journalism done on genomics and gene therapy. This will include articles written in journals, books, Web material, content analyses, research projects and theses. After this initial stage of review, we will expand to include writings on the philosophy and history of science, science journalism in general, journalism ethics and public communication of science.

2. Surveys and interviews

   To gain insight into how newsrooms obtain and handle science news we will perform surveys and interviews with both newsroom editors and journalists who cover science. The first stage of this research will focus on the major broadcasters and major print outlets. We will expand to include Internet media in the second stage of this research.

   Furthermore, we will develop and perform psychological studies on how the public understands complex subject matter such as genomics through focus groups, questionnaires and interviews.

3. Content analysis

   For a period of one month we will monitor major newspapers and broadcasters for news reports on genomics with a goal of being able to illustrate how the science journalism news system operates in Canada. We will analyze for both factual (topic, position in news slot, headline-article tension, origin of story, types of sources, structure) and normative (accuracy, balance, context, critical facts about the science being reported, positive and negative implications, metaphors, types of "frames") variables.

Outcome

Science journalism course at UBC School of Journalism

This GE³LS project will lead to the creation of the first course in science communication/journalism at a Canadian school of journalism. Beginning in January 2007, a credited course at the UBC School of Journalism will be open to both journalism and science students.

Web Site

A Web site for science journalism information will stem from this project (http://www.sciencejournalism.net). Useful to scientists, educators, journalists, and the interested public, this will be a one-stop site for science journalism. It will include the latest information on the Pleiades Promoter Project, the GE³LS project and other related projects. News items, featured invited articles, upcoming events, research news and resources for journalists and others will be included on the site.

Workshops/Conferences

Two workshops on the public communication of science will be held to examine project research and issues in genomic journalism.

Model for science journalism

Theoretically, the project will develop a new and more adequate normative model of the elements of good science journalism and identify fundamental norms and standards. In addition, the project will construct a new model of the role of science journalism in an age of new media.

Publishing

The results of the research will be published widely in all media formats -- from journals and books to Web sites and magazines.

Scholarship

As a direct result of the GE³LS project, a $10,000 science scholarship has been established at the School of Journalism, which in 2006 is being shared equally by second-year journalism students Gwen Preston and Jeffrey Helm.