Who We Are
The Open Notebook is the leading online source of training and educational materials for journalists who cover science. Our ultimate goal is to enable communities to navigate the complexities of how science affects our everyday lives. We focus on strengthening journalistic coverage of science, environment, health, and technology.
We are a small, nimble, globally distributed team that works to assure that the resources needed to cover science can be provided to any journalist, anywhere in the world, for free. We’re building a robust training, professional development, and community infrastructure to transform science journalism.
Our publications, courses, workshops, and mentoring programs empower journalists in the U.S. and globally to tell stories that matter, contributing to an informed and engaged society. By strengthening media coverage of science and setting standards across the industry, we make it easier for people to navigate the immense changes society faces.
We do this while investing in and creating opportunities for people traditionally left out of journalism and the global discourse.
Mission
The Open Notebook fosters a supportive, diverse, and inclusive global community that enables reporters and editors who cover science to learn and thrive. We do this through training and mentoring programs, a thriving online magazine, and a rich community of journalists at all experience levels. Through this work we contribute to a more informed and engaged society and enable the public to navigate the complexities of our ever-changing world.
Vision
We envision a world in which journalists everywhere are fully empowered to tell impactful stories about science and its role in society.
Pillars of Our Work
Professional Growth
Through mentoring, training, articles, books, and other professional development resources, we help journalists and editors develop their skills in covering science.
Community
We cultivate a diverse global community of journalists who support and empower each other to serve the public’s need for reliable information.
Equity
We provide equitable access to training regardless of one’s geography and means, to ensure diverse perspectives in science reporting.
The Challenge
The pace of change today is profoundly consequential: Climate change is altering lives; emerging infectious diseases threaten public health; new technologies are upending culture. Such changes pose enormous societal questions, ranging from what strategies we’ll adopt for transitioning to a lower-carbon planet and for managing public health risks to how we will regulate social media and artificial intelligence.
Science underpins all of this change, and understanding how scientific observation and evidence relate to the challenges society faces is critical to navigating those issues—not just for scientists and policymakers, but for all communities.
At the same time, the barriers to public understanding of science are growing more complex. Democracies are becoming more fragile, threatening access to information; and misinformation and disinformation backed by powerful financial interests has made it harder than ever to discern fact from fiction. Society has become more polarized, trust in science has declined, and the silencing of marginalized voices has distorted public perceptions of the scientific enterprise.
These are enormous, thorny problems with no simple solutions.
Journalists who cover science play a crucial role in informing the public about the most important issues of our time and in holding those in power accountable. They must not only break news about groundbreaking discoveries but also provide critical context and analysis, highlight the human stories behind the research, and amplify the voices of those most affected. When done well, science journalism can also deliver on multiple counts: It humanizes the siloed institution of science, and it reminds audiences that, for better or worse, our connection to science, health, innovation, and the environment is inescapable.
The core skills that science journalists cultivate—evaluating evidence, understanding complex systems, discerning causality from correlation, identifying bias, and communicating technical information—are increasingly essential for all journalists across all beats. In an era where unreliable and deliberately misleading information spreads faster than ever before, the ability to distinguish accurate information from falsehood or hype is more critical than ever. That’s not just a niche skill but a fundamental requirement for responsible journalism in the 21st century.
Yet, too often, the flow of science information through journalism is fractured. Most journalists lack a background in science, making it difficult to report confidently and accurately on complex scientific topics that directly affect their communities. At the same time, journalists who do have expertise in science often work within their own silos, serving audiences that purposely seek out science news through specialized, niche outlets.
The result is a widening gap between the communities most affected by science-driven societal change and the reporting that could help them make sense of it.
Developing the skills needed to report well on science is more important than ever—and more challenging than ever. Science itself has become more complex and fast-moving. The world has become more polarized, to the point where even the very definition of a fact is up for grabs.
Yet opportunities for formal training in science journalism and for newsroom mentorship have dwindled drastically as the journalism industry has contracted. Only a tiny fraction of working journalists have formal training in how to cover science, health, environment, or technology.
Those opportunities are also inequitably distributed. The high cost of formal training, unpaid or low-paid internships (often in expensive cities), and costly professional development opportunities shut out many aspiring science journalists, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds and the Global South. These barriers reinforce a system where access to science journalism training and career development remains disproportionately available to those with financial privilege, excluding diverse voices that are critical to the field.
Impact
We believe that by empowering journalists with the right tools, training, and resources, we can cultivate a vibrant community that effectively serves the public’s need for reliable information.
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Theory of Change
We believe that every story is a science story, and that accessible, high-quality training in evidence-based reporting is essential for journalists covering complex topics. We provide practical, inclusive professional development resources that empower journalists—regardless of background—to navigate the intricacies of science reporting with skill and confidence.
In the short term, our initiatives improve the quality of science journalism by deepening journalists’ understanding of scientific concepts, strengthening their critical thinking, and equipping them with the knowledge and support to do evidence-based reporting with integrity and impact. As a result, their work becomes clearer, more accurate, and more engaging—helping the public better understand the science at the heart of society’s most pressing issues.
In the long term, we envision a science journalism landscape that actively reflects the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. By fostering a skilled, ethical, and well-supported community of journalists, we help ensure that science reporting is both rigorous and representative. This transformation empowers the public to engage with science in meaningful ways, fostering a society that is informed, curious, and capable of making evidence-based decisions.
Beyond training individual journalists, we model healthy and inclusive practices within our organization, setting a standard for the broader journalism community. Through collaboration and knowledge-sharing, we strengthen a network where journalists learn from one another, collectively raising the bar for science reporting.
Ultimately, The Open Notebook is building a more inclusive, connected, and effective journalism community that embraces evidence-based reporting. Through our strategic initiatives, we aim to create a ripple effect that enhances the quality of journalism for generations to come, resulting in a more informed and engaged society better equipped to address critical global challenges and hold power accountable.
Core Values
Social Impact. We believe that high-quality coverage of science is essential to society and democracy. Science plays a fundamental role in addressing countless issues that directly impact communities, from climate change and environmental justice issues, to reproductive health, gun violence, housing, and rapid advancements in technology such as artificial intelligence.
Evidence-Based Reporting. We believe that integrating science into journalism is about more than covering news related to science: It’s about fully embracing and developing a journalistic practice around scientific evidence, how it’s obtained, how one can verify it, and how we as journalists can use these skills to hold decision makers accountable.
Trust. We believe that journalists are in a unique, critical place to counter misinformation and rebuild people’s trust in both science and journalism—if they have the right tools to vet what science should be covered and how it can be covered.
Community. We believe that training and professional development resources that are accessible, high-quality, practical, inclusive, and centered in community can foster a science journalism community that is better equipped to serve the public.
Equity and Inclusion. We believe that when we exclude voices and perspectives of those who have been historically marginalized by science and by journalism, we are missing essential stories that reveal our common humanity and are neglecting to focus on problems and solutions pivotal to healthy societies and a healthy planet.
Supporters and Partners
Since 2010, we’ve enjoyed support and partnership with numerous organizations. The Open Notebook accepts gifts and grants from individuals and organizations for the support of our activities (see our editorial independence policy). We’re proud to have worked with the following organizations:
Organizations and Individuals Who Have Contributed More than $5,000 in the Past Year
- AAAS Mass Media Fellowship program
- The Burroughs Wellcome Fund
- The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- The Simons Foundation
- The Sloan Foundation