Should Science Journalists Know Science
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21408922 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Viviane Fairbank (Institute of Philosophy, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 281-299 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0045-5091 • E-ISSN: 1911-0820 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/can.2025.3 |
| OpenAlex | W4407985701 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 30 |
Which additional epistemic skills or attributes must a competent journalist possess in order to produce competent science journalism? I aim to answer this question by bringing together insights from journalism, science communication, and epistemology. In Section 2, I outline the Epistemic Challenge for Science Journalism. In Section 3, I present the dominant answer in the literature, the Knowledge-Based Solution, and argue against it. In Section 4, I propose an alternative, the Confirmation-Based Solution. In Section 5, I argue that this solution can address recent concerns regarding journalistic objectivity. Section 6 discusses my proposal in the context of epistemological debates about norms of assertion. Section 7 concludes
Contemporary philosophy · Epistemology · General interest · Political science · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Philosophy
Assertion
Drought, debate, and uncertainty
Results of the essay competition on the ‘deficit concept’
The Invention of Journalism Ethics, Second Edition
The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication
The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks
Discursive justification and skepticism
Expertise revisited, Part I—Interactional expertise
Knowledge and Assertion
Beyond News
The View from Somewhere
Verification as a Strategic Ritual
The Handbook of Journalism Studies
Reckoning
Journalism as the new knowledge profession and consequences for journalism education
Heightening Uncertainty Around Certain Science
The Rise of the Knowledge Broker
The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism in Politicized Science Debates
Objectivity as Strategic Ritual
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |