✍️Science Writing News Roundup #234

Ace science, health, environment, and tech journalists share their best hacks and tips on pitching, contracts, taxes, and everything else you need to know to freelance well and profitably.

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✏️Articles

• “What I’ve learned after 40 years as the Observer’s science editor:” Almost as amazing as the knowledge we have gained in the past four decades is the fact that some people continue to deny the damage we are doing to our world, writes Robin McKie.

• With Scientific Research Under Attack, Journalists Must Up Their Game. At no other point in our lifetimes has it been more important for the public to understand the scientific research that has helped protect us from disease and pollution, and begun to steer us toward mitigation of climate-driven disaster, writes Matt DeRienzo.

• International Journalism Festival 2025: what we learnt in Perugia about the future of news. Here are a few highlights from the festival on journalism in exile, local news, reader revenue, news avoidance and AI and the future of news.

🔍Resources

• “Censor, purge, defund: how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science and universities.” Christina Pagel has mapped 35 of the Trump administration's attacks on science and universities to the authoritarian playbook—and considers what it means for attacks still to come. Also, check out the article “Trump's attacks on universities get ever darker, with the shadows reaching our shores.”

• The Art of Freelancing: Ace science, health, environment, and tech journalists share their best hacks and tips on pitching, contracts, taxes, and everything else you need to know to freelance well and profitably.

• Legal experts advise journalists to strengthen reporting security in the face of rising press restrictions. Journalists can protect their sources by maintaining good digital hygiene and being aware of security vulnerabilities, experts say.

• New JESS AI tool seeks to democratize journalist safety guidance: JESS will help journalists mitigate risks across reporting scenarios, from protests and political rallies to natural disasters and digital threats.

• More resources 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.

👩‍🔬Opportunities

• Applications for the 2025 EurekAlert! Travel Awards for International Science Reporters are now open through May 5. This year's travel awards are open to early-career science journalists with no more than 5 years of professional experience in the following countries: Brazil, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

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

📒News

• KSJ Announces 2026 HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship Class: Ten journalism and science undergraduates were chosen for a year of skill-building and hands-on practice.

• Research-Based Climate Journalism: The Newsroom is creating a tool to help journalists navigate climate research, track scientific consensus shifts, and identify science-based data points. The project is EU-funded through the FF+ Digital Europe Programme. Take the 3-minute survey to shape how this tool will work for you - and gain early access to it!

🔔Videos & Podcasts

• Captured: how Silicon Valley's AI emperors are reshaping reality.

• Telling big tales on big tech with big data.

• How to Survive the Broligarchy.

• Science Journalist in Residence: Nadia Drake.

• How to Stop a Nuclear War — with film director Paul Jay.

• The Ocean’s Stories Symposium.

• Science journalism and real data as resources for your classroom.

• Dismantling of NOAA, NASA, & climate research accelerates.

🗺Events

• Beyond the Threshold: The Urgency of Climate Change (April 17, 2025)

• SEJ Annual Conference (April 23-26, 2025, Arizona)

• The Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit will gather media practitioners, national security experts, frontline communities, policymakers, and scientists. This free, two-day conference and training will focus on how nuclear weapons issues intersect with artificial intelligence, community health, outer space, climate change, local economies, and the environment. (October 9-10, 2025, Arkansas)

• More events 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.

🔗Jobs

👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.

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