Science Media Centre

Director of the UK Science Media Centre, Fiona Fox, discusses the interplay between universities, journalists and editors in the wake of her presentation to the Leveson inquiry. From her blog on science and the media. An excerpt (read in full here): Dodgy science headlines: PR can share the blame Two weeks ago I was called [...]

New Zealand scientists have helped establish a link between a mother’s diet while pregnant and the probability that her child will be obese. A team of scientists from New Zealand and the UK, including Sir Peter Gluckman of the Liggins Institute (NZ), examined epigentic modification (chemical changes in the DNA structure) in umbilical tissue from [...]

Not one, but two high-profile research articles were published this week by linguists from Auckland University, and have received extensive coverage by global media. Research from Prof  Russell Gray and colleagues challenged Noam Chomsky’s universal language rules in a paper published in Nature (a simplified explanation of the research can be seen here). Meanwhile, Dr [...]

In a session at this week’s Climate futures: Pathways for society forum in Wellington, a panel of science writers and journalists wrestled with what the best advice might be to give climate scientists seeking to reach out to the public. Science historian Erik Conway — co-author of the recent book ‘Merchants of Doubt’ — opened with [...]

The Science Media Centre, in conjunction with Meltwater News, has been tracking the coverage of science-related issues in the media, and introduces here the first of what will be monthly reports. The SMC Media Tracker is aimed at identifying not only the incidence of science-related coverage in the media, but also the events which might [...]

We hear the grumbles about the media all the time – from friends and family, colleagues and the inevitable bloggers sneering about the useless “MSM” or mainstream media. If the media isn’t beating the story up, it seems, it is getting it completely wrong. But are things really that bad with the media? Is the [...]