Class 4: the media and the transformation of knowledge

In today's double session we looked at how scientific information changes as it moves between different kinds of publication. We started by looking at some extracts from places like Science, the BBC website, or the Science Museum's Antenna. Amazingly, we could spot what was from where - so good are we at picking up on the internal cues and signals that tell us whether something is textbook or news.

We had a brief overview of Fahnestock's analysis of the changes between scientific paper and 'popularisation': a shift in genre from forensic to epideictic; appeals to 'wonder' and 'application'; and an increase in certainty and in uniqueness. We also discussed news values - factors that media scholars think journalists use to decide what is newsworthy. After some analysis of newspaper cuttings, it looks like values such as negativity, relevance, personalisation, facticity, and threshold are importantant for science stories.

Good papers to read to support today's topics are Fahnestock 1986 (on WebCT) and Hilgartner 1990.

And finally we gave out Assignment 1, due next Monday 6th November. Students are to produce a press release based on one of the four science stories on WebCT. If you read the instructions carefully and remember what we've talked about in terms of newsworthiness and journalistic style, you'l be fine...

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