A recent report from The Technical University in Dortmund shows that there has been a huge boom in science reporting in the mass media in Germany. And interestingly the reporting has not been limited to the Science sections.
An analysis of three nationwide German newspapers has shown an increase of a whopping 48% between 2003-4 and 2006-7. Outside the science sections, the number of articles about science medicince and technology have more than doubled in this period.
There was a particularly high increase in the number of environmental stories, but of course the most popular subject is medicine.
The study also reveals that the ”trigger” for 40% of science stories were not science journals or conferences, but non-scientific events such as political debates or natural disasters.
And as if this wasn´t enough good news, the study also says that most reporting about scientific issues was positive and often uncritical, although different subjects – for instance science politics or the environment – get treated differently.
What can we learn from the Germans on this? Perhaps just to believe like these editors at these three important broadsheets that science can and does sell newspapers!
· Reference:
Christina Elmer, Franziska Badenschier, Holger Wormer, ”Science for Everybody? How the Coverage of Research Issues in German Newspapers Has Increased Dramatically,” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Vol. 85, No.4, 878-893.
