À quoi sert le journalisme scientifique ?

Pour nombre de chercheurs, le journalisme scientifique aboutit à une impasse. En cultivant l’illusion du partage de la science, il renforce en réalité la fracture entre la science et la connaissance quotidienne et montre la distance de l’une à l’autre. Dans cet article, nous démontrons que, si le journalisme scientifique échoue dans l’enseignement de la science, il parvient cependant à la création d’une aire culturelle que nous appelons le « troisième champ ». Cette nouvelle culture emprunte à la science et à la vie quotidienne et se situe au prolongement du territoire savant et aux confins de la culture commune.For many researchers, science journalism finds itself at an impasse. While cultivating the illusion that scientific knowledge is being shared, it actually reinforces the schism between science and everyday knowledge and emphasizes the distance between them. In this article, we will show that, although science journalism may fail to teach about science, it succeeds in creating a cultural space we call a “third space.” This new space borrows from both science and daily life, and is an extension of scholarly research located within the boundaries of day-to-day, common knowledge

Triggering change : how investigative journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa contribute to solving problems in society

This article analyses 12 cases of investigative journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa. The reporters all claimed to have contributed to change processes by influencing government policy, action by state administration, supporting the uptake of scientific solutions or provoking public debate. An assessment of these processes shows that in 10 cases, the journalists indeed helped to trigger change and in two cases they failed to do so. The cases are evaluated through an explorative approach inspired by the dynamic models for communication on public issues developed by Rucht and Peters. Different types of investigative stories in Sub-Saharan Africa are identified and hypotheses are developed on key factors that were important in investigating and publishing the stories as well as in achieving change. A decisive element of investigative journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa seems to be the involvement of and the interaction with other societal non-journalist actors