In the latest of its Media Tracker series, the SMC looks at some of the events which caused news spikes during March.
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As always the weekly news cycle is clearly in evidence, with coverage of science-related issues dropping off over the weekend.
Science-based news in March was dominated by the CRIs and associated initiatives, with openings, prizes and conferences attracting interest, and coverage.
- 2-3 March: Spikes in mentions of research organisations and pastoral greenhouse gas were due to the release of the CRI Taskforce report, calling for a shakeup in the way New Zealand’s CRIs deliver their services. During this time, New Zealand’s Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre was also launched.
- 9-12 March: Rises in the mentions of research organisations, and science were likely due to the announcement of the winners of the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes on March 9th, naming Bob Buckly and Dr Jeff Talon (IRL) the overall winners.
- 23-25 March: The country’s largest biotechnology conference, BioNZ, took place over this period and it, together with its accompanying awards, generating a number of stories about some of the specific advances being discussed, as well as biotechnology’s role in New Zealand. This led to a spike in mentions of science, biotechnology, climate change, genetic modification, and of course research organisations.
The next SMC Media Tracker, looking at the trends for April, will be released in the first half of May. Last month’s Media Tracker can be found here.