Based on the Decalogue of recommendations for climate change communication signed in 2018 by more than 80 media outlets, environmental communication professionals from all over Spain, together with the scientific team of the Climate Change Communication Observatory, have drawn up the new Decalogue 2022, a guide for the social communication of the climate crisis. A summarised version is reproduced below.
When science hits the headlines, there are controversial issues that generate criticism of scientists. If they become attacks, they should be reported to the research centre and to the authorities. We summarise and adapt the UK SMC's recommendations in these situations.
"According to a study" is a phrase that is as used as it is inaccurate: not everything that journals publish is a study, nor have all their articles been peer-reviewed. As in traditional media, there are different genres ranging from Letters to Editorials. Here are some of the most important ones.
The publications in which scientific results are made public, known as papers in the jargon, are sometimes newsworthy, that is, what they report can be narrated to a wider - non-scientific - audience as journalistic news. But in the paper-news transition the message is formatted very differently.
A journalistic article follows an inverted pyramid structure in which the most important things are at the beginning. A paper does not present its results and conclusions until the end. This is a suggested reading order, depending on the level of depth we want to reach.
Scientific studies are regularly published in various scientific journals. Science journalists who have contacted the journal and registered have prior access to them under an embargo that they undertake to respect. This is an advantageous system, but it is not without its critics.
Not all studies are revolutionary and not all researchers are free of conflicts of interest. This Decalogue of common mistakes aims to help you write about science with rigour and, above all, putting the public first.
Journalists are not the only generators of information content, but they certainly are the ones who are trained to select, channel, and amplify truthful information and combat misinformation. In crisis situations, where scientific evidence guides decision-making, science communication to society takes on an almost strategic role. Here are some key points for scientists talking to journalists at such times.
Every day, all over the world, hundreds of press releases about scientific studies travel from the communication offices of research centres to the computers of journalists. Their mission is to attract the attention of their recipients and eventually get their stories published by the media. Here are some tips on this process.
Arriving at an interview without nerves helps to convey messages clearly and, if the topic calls for it, with some emotion. Communication is human: the warmer it is, the more powerful. It is worth taking a moment to prepare.