Dear TON community,
The importance of high-quality science journalism has never been more evident. Over the last 11 years, thanks to the generosity of those who have shared their time and hard-won insights with this community, The Open Notebook has published more than 500 articles and other resources aimed at helping science journalists improve their skills. We depend on the financial support of our community. If you find The Open Notebook’s mission to be a valuable one, please consider making a donation or a monthly recurring contribution. All gifts are tax-deductible. Thanks to a pool of 24 matching donors, gifts to The Open Notebook made from now through December 31 will be doubled, up to a total of $8,500. At least half of the funds we raise between now and the end of the year will be earmarked for our Spanish translations program, TON en Español.
Here is a snapshot of what we’ve done in the past year:
- Published dozens of articles on topics such as handling mistakes, making first contact with editors, covering COVID-19 vaccines, finding and vetting journal articles, broadening the definition of “expert”, handling conflict of interest, reporting on health disparities, and much more.
- Launched a series of Science Journalism Master Classes that are available for free to anyone, anywhere, anytime. (So far, our first two courses, on finding angles and on pitching science stories, have seen more than 5,000 sign-ups from dozens of countries. Our third course, on spotting scientific hype and misinformation, will launch on December 2.)
- Added to our Pitch Database, which now contains almost 250 successful pitch letters along with links to the resulting published articles.
- Grew our collection of articles aimed at providing practical support and guidance for reporters covering COVID, including reporters who don’t normally cover science and health.
- Expanded our TON en Español translations program, which now includes several dozen of our most popular articles, translated into Spanish.
- Published On the Origin of Science Writers, a collection of the science-writing “origin stories” of dozens of science writers around the world.
- Provided intensive mentoring for early-career science journalists and for new and aspiring science journalists in low- and middle-income countries.
There’s a lot more that we want to do to support the science journalism community, during this turbulent time and beyond. In addition to continuing to publish in-depth articles on the craft of science writing, we’ll further expand our Spanish translations program, mentoring programs, and free courses. We’re launching a peer-mentoring program for local and general-assignment journalists who want to improve their skills and confidence in covering science. And we’re also planning a series of craft-focused webinars and virtual trainings for science writers and editors.
The Open Notebook is an essential resource for science journalists and aspiring science writers. Thank you for helping to make our work possible!
Thank You to Our Matching Donors!
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