UK Conference of Science Journalists (UKCSJ)
The second UK Conference of Science Journalists (UKCSJ), organised by The ABSW, took place on Monday 25th June 2012 at The Royal Society, London. You can find the programme here.
Afternoon sessions
Three sessions were held in parallel in the afternoon:
- Professional Development:So you want to write a book?
- Contemporary Issues: Science does not punch its weight in the newsroom
It is now common to hear scientists complaining about the way our newsrooms are dominated by arts and humanities graduates who don’t understand the way science works. The BBC Trust Review identified it as a major issue and most submissions to Leveson from the scientific community suggest that most problems could be fixed by general news reporters and editors deferring to their specialists more.
This session will investigate the status of science in the newsroom. At a time when the Guardian is now employing science specialists as News Editors and even sub editors, will others follow suit? Does the appointment of two new Science Editors for the BBC and Channel 4 news reflect a new recognition that the lack of science at a senior level was a problem?
- Essential Skills: Brain hacks
Neuroscience is fascinating, attention-grabbing and reported frequently. But is it reported well? On this panel, a group of neuroscientists who write, and journalists who cover neuroscience, will discuss the perils and pitfalls of covering this complicated field, and how reporters can up their game.
In order to capture the online conversation we have compiled a Storify from these sessions. Please do let us know if we have missed out any tweets, we’re happy to add them!