✍️Science Writing News Roundup #11 (October 14, 2020)
How to talk to the media about science + Learn the fundamentals of audio storytelling + A list of books by women science writers + Remote Science Journalism Fellowship
The National Association of Science Writers (NASW) announced its 2020-2022 Board. Congratulations to the new board members, and thank you to the outgoing board members! Read the announcement by Tinsley Davis, Executive Director of NASW, who expressed her gratitude for the outgoing president, Siri Carpenter, and the other board members.
📡 News
How are journalists around the world coping with the risks associated with Covid-19? The Journalism and the Pandemic Project has published the first large-scale global survey of journalists since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
A new project called Public Editor asks volunteers to work together and vet the credibility of the news. Misinformation from online sources has only gotten worse in recent years. Public Editor is asking volunteers to help flag problems in stories they read.
Women are systematically excluded from global coronavirus coverage, experts say. According to a report by Luba Kassova, “Women were four times less likely to feature as experts and commentators” in stories on the coronavirus. When cited, “women are more likely to be used as sources sharing subjective views than experts sharing authoritative expertise.” Also, “women were nearly five times less likely to feature as protagonists in news coverage headlines than men in the US.”
UNESCO-ICFJ global survey on online harassment of women journalists: A new survey seeks to assess the scale of online violence targeting women journalists around the world, and to help identify solutions to the problem!
Science writers share insights on reporting on the pandemic. Three writers shared insights into their reporting tactics in an October 7 webinar organized by NASW.
💡 Tips
#2 rule of pitching: Respect submission protocols. “It’s your job to find out as much as you can. If there are specific pitching guidelines, follow them. If there is a form, use it,” writes Jacqui Banaszynski, editor of Nieman Storyboard.
How to write an email to a researcher you’ve never spoken to before: Science journalist Dan Garisto shares some tips: “Linking to their relevant research demonstrates that you’ve actually done your homework. It’s an investment of your time into them; it shows you have a genuine interest. They are so much more likely to respond if you do this.”
How to talk to the media about science. Dinsa Sachan explains how scientists can work well with journalists: prepare well, mind the jargon, show your humanity, respect media ethics, and build relationships!
Working at Cell Press: An FAQ for would-be editors. Curious about what an editor does? Cell Reports editors Matt Pavlovich and Cheri Sirois explain: “We do write a lot, but it's mostly communicating with authors, reviewers, advisory board members, and other scientists in addition to commenting on manuscripts. There are plenty more opportunities to write, including editorials and content for our non-journal projects like Cell Mentor, but writing about science for a general audience is a relatively small part of a scientific editor's job.”
The Job Talk blog chats with freelance science writer Moheb Costandi about his path to authoring the Neurophilosophy blog and two popular science books.
🔬 Resources
Want to learn the fundamentals of audio storytelling? Sign up for the Knight Center's free online course, they’ll explore the fundamentals of great audio storytelling, podcasting, voice assistants, how to get audio to your audiences, and more.
Robin Lloyd, an award-winning reporter and editor covering science and social issues, updated a document with media outlets that publish science stories and what they pay!
Joanne Manaster created a list of books by women science writers. Many of the authors have more than one published book and she chose only one representative book. Contact her via twitter (@sciencegoddess) if you know someone left off the list!
Grammarly launches new features to improve your writing: The writing app can help you improve your formatting to make your sentences more readable, suggest changes to your tone, and help you restructure sentences for clarity.
🎉 Opportunities
Introducing the Solutions Journalism Talent Network: Connecting freelance journalists to editors. The network is a digital database through which editors can directly commission solutions story assignments to freelancers. It enables editors to browse the profiles of freelance journalists by their location, their medium, their demographic information, their previous solutions journalism clips, and — if they have one — their pitch.
Apply now for The Open Notebook/Burroughs Wellcome Fund fellowship for early-career science writers. The fellowship will be remote, part-time and each fellow will receive a stipend of $4,200.
🧩 Ideas
There’s no one path to becoming an editor. This week at TON, freelance science writer Carolyn Wilke talks to a number of editors who share how they got started — on purpose and through trial-and-error — and the ways in which they’ve grown in their chosen roles.
In this new episode of The Writers’ Co-op, Jenni Gritters talks to Matt Villano, who has been freelancing for more than two decades. They discuss strategies for finding work, writing for brands, and freelancing while parenting during a pandemic!
Kenna Castleberry interviewed Randy Olson, a scientist-turned-filmmaker and author of Don't Be Such a Scientist, and Houston, We Have a Narrative: Why Science Needs Story. They discuss how Hollywood has a lot to teach scientists about how to tell a story—and, ultimately, how to do science better!
If you are a scientist thinking about writing for non-scientists, Melanie Padalino, a chemistry Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University, has some tips that will make your writing impactful and understandable: know your purpose, know your audience, get the audience to care, make it accessible, make it compelling, and more!
📺 Videos
New York Times science journalist Carl Zimmer talks with SWINY co-chair David Levine about President Trump’s diagnosis of Covid-19, his treatment regimen and prognosis, what superspreader events are, and more.
🗓️ Events
ABSW 2020 Awards Ceremony: A free online event celebrating excellence in science writing (October 14, 2020), part of the UK Conference of Science Journalists (October 13-15, 2020)
Covid-19 Science & Coverage: The pandemic’s impacts on families, kids, and college students (October 14, 2020) A virtual tour of UW Medicine’s Virology Lab (October 14, 2020)
Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade by NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute (October 14, 2020)
Science Writers in New York: Can We Predict the Next Pandemic? (October 14, 2020)
Covering Climate Change: Connecting the Dots (October 15, 2020)
Writing Room Speakers Series: Covering Covid-19 (October 15, 2020)
NEA Big Read Writing Workshop: Storytelling techniques in nature and science writing with Amy Stewart (October 17, 2020)
The business of freelancing: Contracts, rates, platforms and more (October 18, 2020)
Professor Brian Cox introduces the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize (October 19, 2020)
ScienceWriters2020 (October 19-23, 2020)
Advice for Talking Science to Normal People (October 20, 2020)
📖 Internships and jobs
Freelance Writer: Crash Course Outbreak Science, Complexly, Remote
Washington Correspondent, STAT, Washington, DC
Scientific Writers, GenoFAB, Remote
Technology Reporter, New Scientist, London, UK
Science Communications Specialist, California Sea Grant, UC San Diego, CA
Science Reporter, Inverse, Remote
Staff Writer, Gizmodo (Science), New York, NY
Summer Writing Intern, Quanta Magazine, New York City, NY
Spring Writing Intern, Quanta Magazine, New York City, NY
Science Engagement & Communications Intern, Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO
Features Editor, Physics World, Bristol, UK
Associate Science Writer, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA
Staff Writer, Earther, Gizmodo, New York, NY
Senior Media Officer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
Associate News Editor/Science Writer, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA
Senior Staff Editor, Health & Science (Opinion), the New York Times, NY
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