✍️Science Writing News Roundup #233

Should I be concerned about AI transcription tools? + An Editor’s Eye View to Successful Pitching.

Welcome! You are reading the Science Writing News Roundup, a newsletter for science writers. You can also read this edition online. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here. (Photo by ActionVance on Unsplash)

🌎Articles

• Opinion | Will the future of fact-checking flourish or founder? 2025 marks a new turning point. Now is the time for action to protect the work that holds the line on reality.

• AI and the Future of News 2025: what we learnt about how its impact on coverage, newsrooms and society. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism conference looked at how technology is reshaping the news ecosystem. Here’s a summary of the panels and a few figures from their research.

• 5 ways science journalists can leverage AI in their work: Vita Rastegaeva offers insights to help media professionals who cover science-related topics understand how they can leverage AI to enhance their work.

• Yarden Michaeli on Covering Crises in the Digital Age: Yarden Michaeli explores how journalists can harness emerging technology and science to overcome reporting challenges.

• Keep things simple and cut the blame: five lessons from Christiana Figueres on covering climate change. The Costa Rican diplomat, who helped craft the Paris Agreement, answered questions from The Oxford Climate Journalism Network. Here are a few takeaways from her talk.

🐙Jobs

• YouTube Script Writer - Oceans Channel at Life & The Oceans (Remote, worldwide)

• More jobs, opportunities and calls for pitches 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.

🔭Resources

• An Editor’s Eye View to Successful Pitching: Many environmental publications depend on freelance content, but contributors can find it hard to know what editors want — or don’t want — in story pitches. In Freelance Files, four top editors share their insights.

• How to Combat Misinformation: The emergence of artificial intelligence makes it more difficult for social media users to separate fact from fiction. Here’s some advice on how to identify bogus posts and factual distortions.

• Advice column: Should I be concerned about AI transcription tools? Whether they use AI-automated transcription or human transcriptionists, online transcription services need you to upload your audio in a way that is legible and thus, recordable to the service provider. So this means that you really need to trust the service provider before uploading.

• Coping with Media Layoffs: How to prepare for, and recover from, losing a job in an industry in turmoil.

• Looming budget cuts: What to know when covering Medicaid for older adults. Here are some fast facts about Medicaid, specific to older adults, to help inform your reporting on this topic.

• More resources 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.

🎤News

• Twelve Outstanding Journalists Awarded 2025 MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellowships: Now in its 38th year, the Logan Science Journalism Program provides journalists with immersive, hands-on research training, giving them invaluable insight into the practice of science as well as some of the major news stories of today.

• Congratulations to the ten journalists awarded a 2025 Ferriss-UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship! The Ferriss – UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship offers ten $10,000 reporting grants per year to journalists reporting in-depth print and audio stories on the science, policy, business and culture of this new era of psychedelics.

• Fracking Investigation Wins 2025 McElheny Award for Local Science Journalism: PublicSource investigated fracking operations connected to West Virginia families’ degrading health and water quality.

• New program helps gun violence survivors connect with journalists: The Survivor Connection, launched in February by The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting (PCGVR), “promises to facilitate more empathetic, ethical and impactful news reporting in the city by bridging a gap between journalists and the survivor community,” according to a news release.

🕵️‍♀️Events

• International Journalism Festival 2025: the events you shouldn’t miss. Here is a curated list of panels on topics such as the climate crisis, local news, human rights, trust, AI and more. All the panels will be live-streamed on the festival's IJF YouTube channel.

• More events 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive the next post in your inbox:

Worried you missed something? See previous posts here. What would you like to see in the newsletter? Please send me your suggestions: sciencewriting@substack.com