✍️Science Writing News Roundup #242
Can AI Tools Meet Journalistic Standards? + Social Media Strategies for Climate Journalists.
Center for Health Journalism announces 2025 National Fellows, more than $80,000 in grants. The USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism announced the selection of 21 talented and diverse journalists to participate in the 2025 National Fellowship, exploring issues related to children, youth and family well-being and community health across the United States. (Image via Center for Health Journalism)
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📌Resources
Chart: Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ blows US emissions goal by 7bn tonnes. The passage of the new Republican-backed “megabill” means that US climate targets pursued by Trump’s predecessor now appear firmly out of reach.
Possible steep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and more: How to tell the story. The Congressional Budget Office projected that the bill would add $2.3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years and could force nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare beginning in 2026, as Jacob Bogage and Abha Bhattarai reported for The Washington Post.
🔎Articles
Can AI Tools Meet Journalistic Standards? Can AI tools meet the standards of traditional reporting and publishing? Columbia Journalism Review finds several recent instances in which AI tools failed to rise to the occasion.
ESMH Summer School 2025 in a nutshell: From 24 -26 June 2025, young journalists from across Europe came together at the European Parliament in Brussels for the European Science-Media Hub (ESMH) Summer School “Science Communication in the Digital Age”. Over the course of three days, participants engaged in expert panels, seminars, and hands-on workshops exploring the challenges and opportunities of communicating science in an era of social media and AI.
Child deaths in hot cars: Data and research on pediatric vehicular heatstroke. Denise-Marie Ordway summarized key research on child deaths in parked vehicles, including how often caregivers face criminal prosecution and why otherwise attentive parents sometimes forget infants in hot cars.
Covering bird flu from an ecological angle. Coverage of bird flu should not be limited only to what’s happening in birds, cows and humans. Reporters can also start looking at local angles on environmental contributors to this current public health issue and to pandemics broadly.
Why reporters need to level up their medical studies coverage: Reporting on medical studies and the crucial role DEI plays in health research.
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✏️News and Announcements
Extreme Heat Photo Contest: The Global Heat Health Information Network, in partnership with Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN), is launching a global photography competition to showcase the real impacts of extreme heat, and the ways communities around the world are responding to it. This competition seeks original, compelling photographs that capture the human, environmental, and infrastructural impacts of extreme heat—as well as the creative strategies communities are using to stay safe and resilient.
ABSW runs a survey on diversity and barriers in UK science journalism: The survey also addresses the challenges faced by working science journalists, including broadcasting, podcasting and science writing.
Meet the Winners of the GGSC’s “Spreading Love Through the Media” Reporting and Production Grants. This initiative aims to harness the transformative power of love beyond romantic relationships to tackle social challenges like polarization and loneliness.
🗺Opportunities
Anti-misinformation alliance offers journalists scientific backup and funding. Facing attacks from anti-knowledge forces, journalism and science are fighting back together. The Journalism Science Alliance offers funding for collaborative investigations that combine journalistic storytelling with scientific rigour - applications open until August.
Virtual Training for Journalists Reporting on Business and Climate Change. EJN is hosting a virtual media workshop in late August for business and finance journalists in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Thailand seeking to strengthen their climate-focused reporting on environmental accountability, financial and industry solutions and informing public demand for change in Asia’s business sector.
More opportunities and calls for pitches 👉 Bonus content for monthly supporters.
🎙Videos & Podcasts
Hot Topics 2025: Julia Sklar, Science Journalist and VLGS Environmental Media Fellow
Weather forecasts under fire: Attacks against science-based climate reporting
Climate, the Big Beautiful Bill, and You: The Jobs/Projects at Risk Near You
📆Events
Amplify Your Impact: Social Media Strategies for Climate Journalists (July 8, 2025)
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Jobs
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