For any journalist, regardless of nationality or beat, protecting sources is part of the job. With growing antiscience sentiment, climate change denialism, and politicization of science at the highest levels of U.S. government, science journalists, too, are facing challenges more commonly associated with those investigating corruption or national security.
I often turn in first drafts of articles that are over the assigned word count by around 20 to 30 percent. I do so knowing that the story will need to be trimmed but wanting the editor's feedback on what should take priority, and I specifically ask for that feedback about where to cut back. Often, though, the editor sends edits without making any significant trims and asks me to cut things on round two. Am I wrong to expect that editors will help with this aspect of shaping a story?
Maryn McKenna is a freelancer focused on public and global health and food policy, the author of three books, and a senior fellow of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University. She is a columnist for Wired and has written for The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, National Geographic, and many others. Her stories have been anthologized in numerous collections. She appeared in the 2014 documentary Resistance, and her 2015 TED Talk has been viewed 1.6 million times.
Reporting on the decolonization of South African science for Nature, Linda Nordling—a native of Sweden who had long lived in the United Kingdom before moving to South Africa more than a decade ago—found herself in an uncomfortable spot. She was passionately interested in the subject, but worried whether it was right for a white journalist from a former colonial power to tell such a story. Here, she talks about confronting those doubts and becoming the custodian of someone else's story.
The challenge of making complex science topics clear and entertaining can be even greater for audio journalists, who can’t use visual aids or rely on the audience to reread a confusing section. Yet Science Friday, Science Vs, and Radiolab have all discovered unique ways to meet this challenge. Now they share some of the most important lessons they’ve learned along the way.
The Great American Eclipse was arguably the largest science story of 2017, with nearly every U.S. newsroom covering it. But what that coverage looked like—and why it took the form it did—varied significantly from outlet to outlet. Examining the approaches taken by four different organizations—BuzzFeed, The Washington Post, The Oregonian, and Science News—can reveal important lessons in shaping coverage of a large science event.
Suicide. Guns. Mental health. Not exactly light fare. Yet with thorough reporting, careful structure, and a compelling lead character, a story about such serious social issues doesn’t have to read like a white paper or a variant of the same opinion piece on gun deaths you’ve seen 20 times. In her measured and thoughtful piece “Surviving Suicide in Wyoming,” FiveThirtyEight’s Anna Maria Barry-Jester delivers an informative, sensitive, and nuanced look at a difficult issue.
When BuzzFeed News’s Nidhi Subbaraman began covering the Rosebud Sioux tribe’s lawsuit against the U.S. government for its failure to provide treaty-mandated health care to tribal members, she discovered “seriously horrifying stories” of substandard care and neglect. Digging deeper, she found a narrative of not only hurt and outrage but also resilience and activism. Here, Subbaraman tells the story behind her story.
Are You a Writer or an Editor? Part I: The Writers
On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness
Jacqui Banaszynski’s Literary Forensics: A Diagnostic Tool to Improve Writing
Ask TON: Who Should Trim Long Drafts?
Single Best: Seth Mnookin
Ask TON: Using Quotes
Maryn McKenna Reports the Dark Side of Agriculture
Storygram: Anna Maria Barry-Jester’s “Surviving Suicide in Wyoming”
Good Beginnings: How to Write a Lede Your Editor—and Your Readers—Will Love
A Guide to Translating Science to Audio
How to Tell Science Stories with Maps
Naming the Dog: The Art of Narrative Structure
The Open Notebook has earned a GuideStar Gold Seal for our commitment to transparency in sharing information important to donors.
Follow Us