Science reporting in and from non-English speaking countries and regions
The session aims to give an insight into launching new and successful regional science news portals, presenting science from smaller and non-Anglophone countries, and freelancing about science in ‘neglected’ regions for international media.
TOPICS:
OPERATIONS: How to set up and operate regional news services on science (Nordic, Balkan, and Africa)?
CONTENT: How do we serve our international audiences? What news and science do we choose to present from our region? What do we NOT report? And how are our choices different from the topics chosen by the foreign media reporting from our countries/regions?
How does writing for an international audience change our stories, our priorities, our ways of writing – compared with how we work locally for national media?
COMPETITION: Can we compete with the huge English news services, journals and media with more money and many years of experiences?
AUDIENCES: How well do we reach our audiences? And who are these audiences? Do we report to specific communities (research, education, politics, government, media) from the regions, or to expats and people abroad working with our regions – or are we able to reach out to everyone with news and insight into the region’s science?
LANGUAGE: Local languages vs English. English is used in science and for science communication across the world, while everyday life is lived in local languages. How to we deal with the language challenge? What are local idiosyncrasies and habits that may affect our work?
THE REGION: What is a region anyway? Is there such a thing as a Nordic science community, African science community, or is science – and also science journalism – national? For instance: Is ScienceNordic really science from Denmark + Norway + Finland and so on, or do we manage to communicate a regional science? Do people feel that the regional level is relevant, since everyday life is lived locally? And what if people resist regional integration and do not associate themselves with it, as is sometimes the case in the Balkans?
Participants:
Mićo Tatalović, News Editor at SciDev.Net ; board member of the British Association of Science Writers and the Balkan Association of Science Journalists
Nina Kristiansen, Chief Editor of ScienceNordic – and forskning.no, online news magazine in Norway.
Bernard Appiah, freelance science journalist and director of the Centre for Science and Health Communication, a non-profit organization based in Ghana
Anne Riiser, Head of Communications, Nordforsk
Moderator: Vibeke Hjortlund, chief editor of Videnskab.dk, independent science news service in Denmark and co-editor of ScienceNordic.
More on the speakers:
Bernard Appiah is a Ghanaian medicine information pharmacist, and a freelance science journalist with interest in using communication to address poverty, community development issues, and global health challenges. After completing a bachelor’s in Pharmacy from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana), Bernard crossed over to science journalism. He has a Master’s in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University and MS in Science and Technology Journalism from Texas A&M University, USA. He is the director of the Centre for Science and Health Communication, a non-profit organization based in Ghana, and is involved in training scientists and general reporters in science journalism and science communication.
Nina Kristiansen is chief editor of ScienceNordic.com and Forskning.no – a Norwegian online news magazine. Nina has worked with science communication for fifteen years. Since 2007 as chief editor of Forskning.no, and earlier as director of KILDEN, Information Centre for Gender Research in Norway. Nina has a master’s degree in media and communication from the University of Oslo, Norway.
Mićo Tatalović is a news editor for SciDev.Net (Science and Development Network), a global media organisation. He sits on the boards of the British Association of Science Writers and the Balkan Association of Science Journalist. He holds a BA degree in biology from the University of Oxford, MPhil in zoology from the University of Cambridge, and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London. He writes regularly about science policy in South-East Europe for the Croatian and international media.
Anne Riiser is Head of Communications in NordForsk, a unit under the Nordic Council of Ministers. NordForsk has two main roles; research financing and research policy at a Nordic regional level, including collaboration with the European Commission and with nations outside Europe. Riiser has a Master’s degree in languages and literature from the University of Oslo, and a Master of Management degree from BI Norwegian Business School. Her previous work experience is from the computer business, the oil industry, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) and with science communication at the Research Council of Norway.
