The black hole in science journalism

A study of journalism students’ accommodation strategies of scientific writing

Bibliographic Data

ID22155243
AuthorsWincharles Coker (0000-0001-7350-5040, University of Cape Coast), Richmond S Ngula (0000-0003-3499-4480, University of Cape Coast)
Year2021
Volume31
Issue2
Pages1-32
Publication date2021-01-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLegon Journal of the Humanities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2458-746X • E-ISSN: 2458-746X
PublisherAfrican Journals Online (AJOL) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4314/ljh.v31i2.1
OpenAlexW3122900966
LanguageEN
References cited10

This study examined strategies employed by journalism students to accommodate scientific communication into public news. Data were collected from news articles of 130 journalism students, 130 science-based research articles, 3,990 minutes of interviews between scientists and trainees, and among 25 focal participants. We found that some journalism students could not adequately accommodate scientific articles into news reports due to their passive knowledge of newswriting journalese. We also observed that journalism students had difficulty in interpreting scientific research claims, and showed less resilience to cope with the angst of scientists about the journalistic profession and the humanities. The paper concluded that the accommodation of scientific communication into public news is a rigorous process that requires the active participation and praxis of journalism students

Accommodation · Art · Journalism · Literature · Media studies · Pedagogy · Political science · Praxis · Public relations · Science communication · Science education · Scientific writing · Sociology · Technical Journalism · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology

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