Communicating the Processes of Science to the News Media, Politcians, and the Public

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Date
2010
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Volume Title
Publisher
Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Abstract

The discourse between scientists and politicians and news media must be improved in order to communicate complex environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, ecological overshoot, or exponential population growth to the general public. The media trying to balance, or give both sides of the argument equal time, while the evidence may be massively one-sided could cause misunderstandings between scientists and the general pubic. This practice could be considered a form of bias because it distorts the information available. In order to resolve the misunderstanding and distrust between the two camps, the news media, politicians, and the public need to improve their understanding of scientific processes and scientists must better communicate how science works to the general public and its representatives.

Description
Keywords
scientists, media, scientific journalism, climategate
Citation