Para un periodista independiente, encontrarle un ángulo científico a un tema en la agenda noticiosa del momento puede convertir a su propuesta de artículo en una más placentera e inesperada, y que tenga más probabilidad de despertar el interés de un editor.
Most scientists are excited and eager to share their work with kids. But they’re often intimidated by the idea. It’s the science writer’s job to help them—first by making sure they’re the right fit for the story, and then by helping them craft their message for kids and encouraging them to let their curiosity and passion for science shine through. The result should be engaging science storytelling that treats kids as the intelligent and curious people they are.
Mark Peplow is a freelance science journalist based near Cambridge, U.K., who splits his time between writing and editing. He previously spent four years as Nature’s news editor, two years as editor of Chemistry World, and two years as a physical sciences reporter at Nature. He really likes chemistry.
I have experienced racism in the newsroom. This hasn’t surprised me. I have been black my whole life, so racism has been a fixture of my whole life. What has surprised me, as someone who transitioned to journalism from other work, is that I’ve encountered racism more frequently in journalism than I did in previous professions.
Science journalists often default to framing stories around the scientists whose work forms the backbone of our reporting. But first-person anecdotes allow journalists to connect with readers by lending authority and emotional authenticity to stories, building narrative tension, or lightening the tone of a piece. First-person can also be used to check personal biases and reveal conflicts of interest, avoid awkward phrasing, or breathe life into arcane concepts.
A journalist’s job is to get the story. But for journalists of color, doing so sometimes means encountering racism from the very gatekeepers of that story: their sources. Science writer Jane C. Hu talked with journalists of color about their experiences with racial harassment on the job, how they handle it, and how the journalism community can better support reporters of color who face these difficult situations.
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