Science, the news media and the public

1. Science, the news media and the public Thomas Abraham

2. http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/05/chris-hadfield-space-david-bowie/http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/05/chris-hadfield-space-david-bowie/

3. What we will do today • Examine the gap between science, the media and the public • What is the role of a science journalist?

5. Scientists complain that the public and the media is unaware of basic science • Also that news does not distinguish between well-founded findings and those that are not • News media oversimplify scientific findings • Public expect solutions to problems too quickly (Results of a Pew Centre survey in the US in 2009)

8. “Almost every American newspaper has an astrology column. Very few have a weekly science column. Today, half the American public doesn’t know that it takes a year for the Earth to rotate around the sun. Meanwhile, within two short generations, 50 percent of U.S. citizens will depend on science and technology for their living” Worlds Apart

11. Science and the media • Often a troubled relationship; • Journalists are not usually trained or prepared to write on science and scientists • Editors are often unaware of science, and tend to look for stories that are sensational • Scientists have no idea how journalists work and distrust the media • Cannot communicate in simple language

12. Problems in science journalism and communication • Science and journalism have different methods, different aims: “The scientist and the journalist are two species that inhabit the same ecosystem” Miriam Goldstein Deep Sea News blog • When the two meet, there is often confusion in the public, and and unhappiness between journalists and scientists

13. “Scientists don’t speak English and journalists do not speak science” Worlds Apart • “Science is slow, patient, precise, careful, conservative and complicated. Journalism is hungry for headlines and drama, fast, short, very imprecise at times.” Kathy Sawyer, The Washington Post

14. What is the role of the science journalist ? • To convey the latest scientific developments to the public?

15. What scientists would like to see

16. Perhaps the most important source of strain between scientists and journalists lies in their differing views about the appropriate role of the press. Scientists often talk about the press as a conduit or pipeline, responsible simply for transmitting science to the public in a way that it can be easily understood. They expect to control this flow of information to the public as they do within their own domain. Confusing their special interests with general questions about the responsibility of the press, they are reluctant to tolerate independent analysis of the limits or flaws of science.” Dorothy Nelkin in Selling Science. How the press covers science and technology

17. What the role of science journalism could be? • Serving the public by accurately reporting on the latest scientific developments • Providing informed scrutiny of scientists and scientific establishments, especially publicly funded science • Creating space for informed public debate about scientific developments and controversies- egcloning, GM food etc

19. L’Aquila, Italy Credit: Cristina Deidda. Dreamstime.com

21. Credit: Franco Volpatto. Shutterstock

22. The toll • 309 died • 20,000 homeless • A historic, beautiful medieval town damaged

23. Could scientists have warned the public better? • The public prosecutor in L’Aquila charged 7 members of a disaster warning committee with man slaughter for failing to warn adequately • Six of the foremost experts in Italy were charged • The charge: "negligence and imprudence... of having provided an approximate, generic and ineffective assessment of seismic activity risks as well as incomplete, imprecise and contradictory information"

24. Scientists were angry and outraged • “Science itself is being put on trial” • 5,000 scientists from all over the world signed an open letter to the Italian president saying it was wrong to put them on trial • “The charges against the scientists are both naïve and unfair…” • “There is no accepted scientific method for earthquake prediction that can reliably used to warn citizens of an impending disaster.”

25. Why were the people of L’Aquila angry? • Since October 2008, there had been lots of low magnitude earth tremors • Could this not have been used to predict the earthquake? • A local resident, GiampaoloGiuliana, a lab technician, had been taking samples of radon in the atmosphere- showed rising signs of radon • He felt that this was a sign that a major earthquake was imminent and warned people • The local authorities told him to stop.

27. People were getting anxious • On March 31, the national disaster commission brought its experts to L’Aquila for a meeting to evaluate situation • The scientists felt that it was “unlikely that a major quake could occur in the short term, but cannot totally be excluded.” • After, some members of the commission held a press conference along with local authorities where they said there was “no danger”.

28. What was the science behind this? • Increases in radon gas: sometimes happens, before a major earthquake, but sometimes not; therefore not seen as a reliable predictor • Seismic swarms: this is a reliable indicator of a major earthquake only 2% of the time. • Scientists said L’Aquila is in a high earthquake zone- always a danger • The events before the earthquake did not significantly increase the risk of a major earthquake

29. What the public said • The were reassured by what the experts said • “A sigh of relief went through the town” • Residents who would normally have left their houses if there was a tremor, stayed indoors because they felt reassured. • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9593191.stm • “We are not stupid…we know earthquakes cannot be predicted. We just want clear advice on what to do...”

30. Prediction: a statement that an event will occur in a particular time and place • Forecast: a probabilistic statement on whether an event will occur. • “Large earthquakes cannot be reliably predicted for specific regions over time scales less than decades” • “Short term forecasts of such events never project high probabilities”

33. GM crops in the developing world • Where science, scepticism, ethical and moral concerns and big business collide

34. The voice of science • “Food and water shortages that already ravage the continent will only get worse, and GM technology offers a promising way to tackle poverty and poor agricultural productivity. The question is not whether countries there should adopt GM crops, but how quickly.” Editorial in Nature

36. http://www.gmwatch.org/

38. http://www.isaaa.org/

39. Cultivation of GM Crops 1996-2009 (ISAAA)

40. GM Crop cultivation (in millions of hectares) S= Soya, M= Maize, C= cotton SB= sugar beet

41. Proportion of GM crops cultivated globally

42. GM Food : the case of Bt Brinjal in India Brinjal= aubergine

43. The story • Brinjals are widely eaten in India, and has been part of the traditional diet for centuries • An Indian company, Mahyco, in which Monsanto has a minority stake, developed a brinjal genetically modified with the addition of a gene from bacillus thurigiensis, a soil bacteria. • Why? The gene protects it from a pest called the fruit and shoot borer. Reduces use of pesticide

44. Developed and tested over nine years • Food safety tests were conducted on rats • Enormous public controversy which saw NGOs, activists and farmers protesting the new crop • Most agricultural scientists and the industry supporting it • Government has asked for further studies

49. How do you cover an issue like this? • General news reporters: By quoting people from both sides, but leaving the reader no wiser • A business reporter: what does this means for the bio-tech industry in India, for Monsanto etc • A science reporter?

50. Show me the evidence… • If you say it is safe, show me the tests you have done • If you say it is unsafe, what evidence do you have to back this up? • What evidence is there from other countries? • What is the science behind gene modification? • Can the modified gene affect human beings? • Can it affect other plants and animals?