Science journalism in most places around the world may be shrinking, but it is actually increasing in the Arab world. While CNN closed down its science, technology and environmental news department last year, more dailies in the Arab world have started dedicated science and technology pages. So all this looks nice and rosy on the top, but is that growth really healthy or is it hiding something rotten?

As part of the Cairo Science Festival taking place in Cairo, Egypt, science journalists from newspapers, television, and online came together to discuss the successes and failures of their beloved profession. The large panel had representations ranging from the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) to the Arabic-language National Geographic Abu Dhabi TV channel to our very own Nature Middle East.

A quick assessment from the panelists showed there is a general agreement that all was not well with science journalism in the region.

Nadia El-Awady, the president of the WFSJ blamed a lack of basic journalistic skills and ethics on the part of the journalists, which resulted in the production of material that was inferior to the needs of the audience. On the other hand, Khaled Montaser, a journalist from the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, blamed the audience for “developing a science-phobia”, creating a culture that was not receptive to science in the first place. Magdy Saed, the president of the Arab Association for Science Journalists (ASJA) agreed that the main problem was in a lack of demand on behalf of the audience.

I personally don’t think there is a problem with the audience. I believe that the audience are hungry for science information, but they are not happy with what they are getting. Part of the problem lies in the journalists failing to make their coverage exciting and captivating.

The other problem lies in the incredibly tough atmosphere that science journalists must work in. Usually it is very hard, if not impossible, to reach sources for comments. There are layers and layers of constraints on people not to talk to the media about something as simple as a new research paper. Public relations officers in universities and research centres complicate things further by not offering timely help to the journalists. The journalists are in turn under pressure to turn in stories to their papers regularly within very tight deadlines. The end result is a poor report that does not satisfy the readers.

So is all hope lost? I really don’t think so. There is a large market for science news in the Arab region, especially with a young, budding science community in the making. Slowly but surely, a general “science may be the key” mentality is seeping through to people.

It is now time for a proper review of the whole science information delivery chain, starting from the labs with the hard science and scientists, to the science journalists and communicators, and on to the varying audiences – from pre-teen children to adults seniors.

A review of that chain will highlight where the problems are and then they all need to be addressed properly. There is no one single solution or magic pill. If will take time to transform a community from science irrelevant to science caring.

Severing all ties with science and technology when one finishes school will not work. As Alaa Ibrahim, the moderator of the session, puts it, “science journalism can pave the way for lifelong informal learning.”

Science journalists and communicators will need to rise up to that challenge, but they can do very little without support from the rest of the science community, who need to believe through and through that their science will never leave the labs without the help of those journalists.