Extinction: science journos driven to the brink, bloggers to fill their ecological niche
Dodos, dinosaurs and now... science journalists. According to , mass extinction could be on the cards for reporters of science throughout the world.
Overworked and strapped for time, science journalists are increasingly turning to blogs for news stories, says the accompanying story by . They also apparently rely heavily on the press releases issued by scientific organisations. Neither source of information, according to Robert Lee Hotz (a science journalist for the Wall Street Journal, quoted by Brumfiel) can 'fulfil the additional roles of watchdog and critic that the traditional media at their best aim to fulfil'.
It could be worse, perhaps. Blogs may be quick and dirty, but they're also a very . Plus, some of the most popular blogs are penned by scientists about their own research, so the experts are actually getting a voice for themselves.
Brumfiel goes on to say: 'As journalists become more dependent on scientific public relations, scientists themselves have begun reaching out to mass audiences through the Internet ... The most successful sites are drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each month.'
(Take the intriguing , for example.)
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