Science and the media in South Africa: Reflecting a ‘dirty mirror’

Abstract

The public understanding of science is vital in any society, to counter pseudoscientific claims and quackery. The relationship between scientists and the media (the latter often the only channel through which scientific findings reach the public) was studied within a South African framework. An empirical survey was conducted by means of a comprehensive questionnaire sent to 740 South African scientists and researchers and 360 journalists. Because the media are important in the public understanding of science, the survey tried to establish the depth of and possible reasons for distrust between the two professions and what structures could be put in place to overcome this. This study found some significant differences in the views of scientists and journalists about the role of science in society, how it could be communicated to the public, and the reasons for this dichotomy. Finally, proposals to bridge the gap between scientists and the media are made: the media should give serious attention to raise the standards of science reporting by establishing science desks headed by properly trained science editors and well-trained science reporters. On the other hand, scientists should be trained to communicate better with the media and, therefore, the public.

Social media health promotion in South Africa: Opportunities and challenges

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The Ethics of Distributing Scientific Knowledge: Epistemic and Ethical Injustices in Context

“…The World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), for example, following luck egalitarian intuitions, have poured resources into Africa and Middle Eastern nations where science communicators have been under-resourced in both communication and epistemic terms. Thabo Mbeki's denial of the cause of AIDS in Africa was abetted by the poor resourcing of science communicators to offer counter-narratives (Claassen, 2011). There is now a strong organization (SAASTA) in South Africa to continue in this vein and the WFSJ has added additional training resources for science communicators in order to provide more equal access to the opportunities for science communication.…”

Public science communication in Africa: views and practices of academics at the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe

“…In the African context, two studies have explored the science communication attitudes of researchers -both focused specifically on the challenges that South African scientists experience in their interactions with the mass media [Claassen, 2011;Gething, 2003].…”