✍️Science Writing News Roundup #228
Don’t leave AI reporting to the experts + Six tools to elevate your data storytelling + Nuclear expert source list.
Fabiana Cambricoli on Navigating the Highs and Lows of Health Journalism: The Knight Science Journalism fellow is dedicating her year in Cambridge to learning new media skills, expanding her knowledge of the human brain, and finding a work-life balance. (Image via Knight Science Journalism @ MIT)
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🧭Resources
Nuclear Expert Source List: This resource is designed for journalists, students, and academics wanting to connect with experts on nuclear weapons, policy, history, and science. This list concentrates on nuclear weaponry and conflict-related topics, not nuclear power.
Six tools to elevate your data storytelling: Create visually striking charts and graphs that take your data-led reporting to the next level.
🌎Opportunities
Climate at the Border is a free, comprehensive training and reporting collaborative initiative to strengthen climate journalism along the US-Mexico border starting in March 2025. This program will equip journalists from the US and Mexico with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to cover the most pressing climate issues affecting border communities. Apply by February 28.
More opportunities and calls for pitches 👉 Bonus content for monthly supporters.
👩🔬Articles
How to inoculate yourself (and others) against viral misinformation: Sander van der Linden, professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge and director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab, wrote the book FOOLPROOF: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity; in it, he explains that there are ways to build immunity against falsehoods, much as vaccines that protect against pathogens.
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Elizabeth Kolbert Is Cataloging the Climate Crisis: State of the Planet spoke with Kolbert about her upcoming talk, how she views her role as a science reporter and the shifts Kolbert has seen in public perception of climate science since she began her career.
Key Questions for Journalists to Consider Before Using Generative AI: This tip sheet, based on conversations with media professionals and journalists who have carefully considered the use of AI in our industry and, for some, in their own work, lays out key questions to consider as you weigh giving AI a try.
Maryn McKenna talks bird flu, Covid, and cycles of ‘panic and neglect’ in our public health system. With the Trump administration in control of the levers of government, and intent on reducing its size, concerns over the nation’s readiness for the spread of disease from animals are rising.
Reporting on a burning world: Clear, thoughtful, and specific climate change reporting that highlights the wide-ranging impacts can provide clarity about how to navigate extreme weather events, disasters, and gradual changes brought on by climate change — without propelling people into hopelessness.
Exposing Industrial Pollution and Creating the ‘Forever Chemicals’ Beat. French investigative journalist Stéphane Horel, who works for the newspaper Le Monde, was already interested in exposure to pollution, pesticides, and toxic products when these subjects were not considered sufficiently “noble” material for investigation.
More articles 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
📢Videos & Podcasts
Don’t leave AI reporting to the experts: You don’t have to be a tech reporter to cover AI.
Talking Shop: Covering Trump’s Climate Blitzkrieg. In this Talking Shop, CCNow spoke to an expert panel on how journalists in the US and around the world can stay focused on informing the public and holding power to account.
Finding Scientific Angles on Any Story with The Open Notebook’s Editor Siri Carpenter. Siri Carpenter is an award-winning journalist and is co-founder, executive director, and editor-in-chief of The Open Notebook, a non-profit organization widely regarded as a leading source of training and educational materials for journalists who cover science.
Vaccines and public health: Development, regulation, and safety. SciLine’s media briefing highlighted research on diseases that have been curbed by vaccines, the causes and effects of declining vaccination rates, and vaccine development and the role of the federal government in the process.
How Worried Should We Be About Drones? Peter Asaro, associate professor at The New School’s School of Media Studies and vice chair of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, talks with Science Writers in New York chair David Levine about the history of drone warfare and the troubling proliferation of new technologies that can surveil and kill from a distance.
More videos👉 Bonus content for monthly supporters.
🗓Events
Queer Science Writers NYC Meetup (February 27, 2025)
More events 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
🔗Jobs
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