The programme of the World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ2013) has seen a sudden reshuffle last month, with six sessions that focused on the developing world countries removed. This may end up giving the conference, held in Helsinki, Finland, a rather “Western” taste instead of a more global one.

According to SciDev.Net, the producers are now invited to take part instead in a two-hour ‘around the world’ session. The conference organizers say this decision was made due to the lack of funding to bring the session speakers and producers to Helsinki.

Two of the sessions focused on issues facing science and science journalism in Latin America, an area often vastly underrepresented in previous WCSJ, and two focused on African and non-English speaking media. The final two cut sessions were on neglected diseases and tuberculosis, which often plague developing countries.

This is truly unfortunate because from previous experiences, there is much that both journalists from the developing and the developed world can learn from each other through interactions at these professional meetings.

Science journalism is still in its infancy in the developing world, but it is growing steadily and gaining respect and momentum. The challenges that science journalists there face are very real and we (since I’m included in this part of the world) can often use all the help we can get from our counterparts from the West. On the other hand, science journalists from Africa and other developing regions bring a side of the profession to the table that many scientists in Europe or the US may be unaware of.

I was on the organizing team for the last WCSJ, held in June 2011 in Doha, Qatar, and – while things may not have gone perfect due to an abrupt movement from Cairo to Doha following the events of the Arab Spring – the fact that nearly half of attendees were journalists from the developing world brought a much needed angle to the meeting and greatly enhanced it in my opinion. A session I produced on reporting science to non-English speaking audiences, for example, shed light on a challenge that most journalists in the developed world are unaware of and generated some incredible tips and techniques that established science journalists reporting in their native languages came up with over their careers.

According to the WCSJ2013 organizers, they are working to secure more funding in order to bring as many science journalists from the developing world as possible. They have already announced scholarships available that will support travel and accommodation and conference registration for developing world science journalists.

Commenting on SciDev.Net, Jean-Marc Fleury, the executive director of the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) which is co-hosting the conference, stressed that the federation is working hard with the conference organizers and other organizations to secure that a large number of science journalists from developing countries join the conference. Vesa Niinikangas, president of the WFSJ, also commented saying that the “developing world is not being purged from the WCSJ2013” and pointing out the various sessions that have speakers from the developing world and with a focus that can be important to these regions of the world.

The Arab world has a serious problem when it comes to science communication. To put it frankly, there’s hardly any of it – and what little there is is of such bad quality that the public is not interested in even coming close to it (that is if they even heard of it).

While science journalism is booming here (even though it is shrinking in many places in the West), public engagement to raise awareness of science and innovation remains minimal. There are a few really good initiatives to engage the public with science, such as FameLab or Stars of Science – but they are few and far between.

But some young students from the German University in Cairo (GUC) who are passionate about science decided to take their fascination a step further and launch the first student popular science magazine in Egypt. This could even be the first such student effort in the Arab world.

The magazine, which they are calling The Vector, will start by covering research on and off the GUC campus in a format accessible to anyone interested in science. It will also cover research happening internationally, with articles that span both physical and biological sciences.

“With a heritage of poor science curricula in terms of content, approach and presentation  simply speaking the world ‘science’ is sufficient to invoke a string of dull memories to the average Egyptian,” says Youssef George, the editor-in-chief of the new magazine. To counter this, he suggests the written word will not be enough. “In a community in which most individuals gather information from audio-visuals, it is inevitable to go for that at a later phase.”

The magazine will start as an online publication, launching its first issue next May. However, the students hope to have a monthly print edition by September 2013.

The magazine will stay a student project, so when the current students graduate they will be replaced by new students, always keeping fresh blood flowing. “The transient nature of university life makes it impossible for any one person to stay in their position for too long,” says Sara Khaled, the magazine’s managing editor. “The dynamic nature of the team would always ensure that the quality of the production is based on a coordinated team effort, rather than the individuals running it.”

High on the agenda of the launch team is to build a solid foundation that others can build on and grow in the future, once they have graduated and left university. They will not completely leave the project behind, however, but will continue offering advice and support to the subsequent teams taking the magazine forward, explains co-news editor at The Vector Reham Tarek, always keeping them motivated and passionate about what they are doing.

To start if off, the students are relying on freelance volunteers to supply the stories and articles. A long recruitment process on campus has yielded many interested people who were excited to take part in the effort – even several not majoring in sciences. “We want to give them the opportunity to learn and grow as part of The Vector team. This is the core part of our vision.”

It is this vision, which every member of the team completely believes in, that is driving force for the project. Their belief that they must help “gradually refine science-centred thinking, both locally and regionally, and to continuously help nurture it with the best of science news from all over the world,” as Alaa Madi, the chief biological sciences editor puts it.

“What keeps us motivated is that we are starting out at a time where there are many science communication initiatives that have paved the way, such as Nature Middle East, SciDev.Net and FameLab, that have collectively created a scientific awakening and encouraged us to continue from there,” adds George.

{credit}© Mohammed Yahia{/credit}

After two years of ongoing mentoring, 58 science journalists from the developing world have graduated from the World Federation of Science Journalists’ (WFSJ) largest science journalism training programme.

SjCOOP, which is the WFSJ flagship activity, twins budding science journalists from Africa and the Arab world with established science journalists from leading science outlets, such as Nature and Science. This is the second round of the project.

“During the programme we worked with some 80 journalists but not all of them made it through to the graduation,” says Olfa Labassi, the programmer’s coordinator. Only 58 science journalists from the Arab world, English-speaking Africa and French-speaking Africa are graduating.

Through the programme, each mentor works directly with four or five science journalists, offering advice, criticism and evaluating their work. They exchange experiences and help them improve their work and find better opportunities. The project aims to create stronger science journalism in the developing world, teaching the journalists to be more critical and hopefully to boost the role of science in policy-making.

“It has been quite an interesting journey over the past two years,” says Deborah-Fay Ndhlovu, a mentee who works at Research Africa and, through the programme, went on to intern and freelance for Nature. “After two years on the course I have learned that learning on how to report science is an ongoing process and there’s still much to learn,” adds Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla, a freelancer from South Africa who writes for Nature Middle East.

{credit}© Mohammed Yahia{/credit}

In preparing for the next phase, SjCOOP 3, the organizers are now evaluating the successes and shortcomings of the programme. “Part of the idea behind the programme was to form closer collaborative connections between the mentees, so they can in the future work together and help each other. We have seen strong connections forming within each of the three different language groups. But this isn’t happening across the groups as much as we had hoped,” says Labassi.

The selection criteria of both mentees and mentors also needs to be tightened, adds Labassi. “We need really reach the people with high potential.”

For the next phase, which should start in 2013, the WFSJ wants to use the programme to strengthen local science journalists associations, making them a primary partner in the training course.

“This is a capacity building project for both science journalists and their associations,” explained Labassi. “One of our biggest achieve to has been joint projects and support we gave to five science journalists associations in Africa to expand and have their own activities.”

The WFSJ is also supporting the formation of Egyptian and Jordanian science journalists associations. “Through our partners, we would like to work more closely with Arab Spring countries” to strengthen science journalism there and give it a more prominent role in the future of their countries, says Labassi.

A pelinary panel on the second day of the World Conference of Science Journalists 2011 (WCSJ2011) discussed one of my favourite controversial issues: How should science journalists cover evolution?

The panel included the renowned Eugenie Scott, from the National Center for Science Education who has been active for many long years in protecting the education of evolution in US schools. She was joined on the panel by Elsabe Brits from DieBurger in South Africa and Valeria Roman from Argentina. Rounding up the panel was Salman Hammed , one of the people who have done the most research on evolution education in Muslim-majority countries and author of the Irtiqa blog.

I thought I’d curate here some of the amazing advice they shared which will be useful to anyone writing about evolution or discussing it, especially in religious communities.

1) Watch your language! Eugene argues that the language chosen by reporters can make a large difference. As an example, she suggests using the word ‘evolution’ rather than ‘theory of evolution’. In a science community the phrase theory of evolution makes every sense, but in a lay audience this is often argued to mean it is just a theory that still needs to be proven because there aren’t enough evidence for it. She also advises not to use the word “Darwinism” – because -ism usually refers to ideologies and has a bad reflection in the mind (take for example fascism, sexism, racism, etc)

2) Do not go into the narrative that pits religion against science in the context of evolution. Disband an acceptance of evolution from a refusal of religions. You can even cite examples of scientists or religious scholars who have no problem with their religious beliefs and the scientific evidence. Ever emphasizing this unnecessary conflict is not the smartest thing to do in a predominantly religious society.

3)Treat evolution like any other science story. That narrative neither makes sense nor has any necessity and does more harm than good when covering evolution in a religious community.

4) Find stories of evolution with a local angle. This makes it easier for people to relate to evolution and see it as something that is actually happening in the backyard rather than half the world away. Hameed gives the example of Pakicetus, a 50-million-year old ancestor of modern whales, which was actually discovered in Pakistan but did not get much coverage there.

5) Don’t try to use the word “missing link” even though it is always sexy. This conveys a wrong impression that scientists are missing a certain fossil to actually prove evolution happened. The truth is, every newly-discovered fossil of a creature we didn’t know of before IS a missing link. There is no need to hype a story unnecessarily.

6) Understand your audience. The context of evolution coverage would be vastly different depending on who you are talking to. For example, Muslims have no problems with an Old Earth theory so there will be no need to discuss a Young Earth for any reason. This can be different depending on other religions

Finally, if you are curious about the picture, it comes from a funny story that Hameed shared at the beginning of his presentation. Apparently, there was a religious fatwa (or edict) in Saudi Arabia a few years ago against Pokemon because the show encourages evolution.

Do you have other tips not covered here? Share them in the comments section!