The unfinished science story

Journalist–audience interactions from the Globe and Mail ’s online health and science sections

Bibliographic Data

ID7478409
AuthorsDavid M Secko (Concordia University), David Secko (corresponding author), Stephany Tlalka (Concordia University), Morgan Dunlop (CBC (Canada)), Ami Kingdon (Science Media Centre of Canada), Elyse Amend (Concordia University)
Year2011
Volume12
Issue7
Pages814-831
Publication date2011-09-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1464884911412704
OpenAlexW2169183555
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited26

Science journalists are increasingly confronted with the ability of audiences to comment on science stories, create and share multimedia content, and blog about science. Yet, there is a surprising lack of literature exploring the narrative impacts of such changes on science journalism. To fill this gap, this article draws on the concept of the ‘unfinished’ science story to provide a narrative analysis of story-commentary sets from a Canadian newspaper (the Globe and Mail ). It shows how the authority to ‘finish’ a scientific narrative now faces: (1) the opening up of science journalism narratives to raw experience; (2) the reframing of issues by audience comments; (3) the emergence of a journalists–audience ‘stress test’; and (4) the heavy existence of negative commentary

Art · Citizen journalism · Cognitive reframing · Globe · Journalism · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Newspaper · Pedagogy · Political science · Science communication · Science education · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Media Influence and Health · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub