Dr Toby Murcott delivers 'Science and the Media: Uneasy Bedfellows' lecture
Event date: 19th February, 2010
Journalist and science writer Dr Toby Murcott has challenged journalists to understand and report on the processes which make up most of the activities behind scientific endeavour, rather than reporting on science as a series of abstract “eureka moments”.
The lecture on media reporting of science entitled “Science and the Media: Uneasy Bedfellows”, provided a fascinating insight into science journalism from someone who has worked at the very top of the field.
Dr Murcott also talked of the need for science journalists to do more than simply convey information handed down to them from scientists, and urged them to play more of a watchdog role.
Science journalists need to play the role of intelligent critics as well as relays of scientific findings or they risk becoming an uncritical “priesthood” to science, he argued.
Although this was a public lecture, it was also a part of a Masters module from the school’s MSc in Science, Media and Communication degree run by Dr Andy Williams.
Dr Williams said, “I first asked Toby to come to speak to the students about science and the media from the perspective of a practitioner to give them some much-needed practical insights into how the routines and constraints of day-to-day reporting affect the kind of news that is produced”.
“He did this really well, of course, but he did much more, too. Toby’s a very shrewd and reflective commentator on how science is covered in the news, and his insights will be very valuable to this group of future science journalists”.
Listen to Dr Murcott’s lecture - Science and the Media: Uneasy Bedfellows [28.8 MB]
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