Jacobs, Geert

Verkest, Sofie

Undetermined

Ghent University Academic Bibliography

Blurred boundaries in the production of science news Analysis of a large scale citizen science project on air quality Sofie Verkest - Geert Jacobs  Panel contribution to ‘Contesting the news: towards a postfoundational media linguistics’ Abstract This paper investigates the increasingly fluid agenda and credibility of journalists, scientific experts (Fahy & Nisbet, 2011) and political stakeholders in the production of science news. To do so, we take a postfoundational stance in which boundaries are blurred and certain foundations are questioned (Macgilchrist, 2016).  The production process of science news can be seen in light of a  larger mediatisation of society, where media is central to various aspects of social life (Briggs & Hallin, 2016). The production process is not a linear effort where scientific knowledge is produced by scientific experts and then transferred to a non-scientific public through the media (Maeseele, 2013). This is, however, a multi-layered process in which science cannot be seen as separate from society and multiple social actors are at play when it comes to defining what science means and how it is represented in the media (Briggs & Hallin, 2016; Maeseele, 2013). One of these social actors are political stakeholders. Science news often covers societal problems that are linked to science and technology (Peters, 1995), where science is presented as the problem or solution (Murcott & Williams, 2013) and scientific results are frequently used by political stakeholders as a legitimising tool in political decision-making (Weingart, 1983).  This paper presents a linguistic ethnographic analysis of a large scale citizen science project on air quality set up by a newspaper, university and governmental agency in Flanders. During this collaboration journalists, scientific experts and government officials reflect on their role in the production process of knowledge claims, how expertise is constructed, how the audience views this expertise and how the blurring of boundaries affects their own professional routines.   Sofie Verkest; Geert Jacobs Ghent University  Briggs, C. L., & Hallin, D. C. (2016). Making health public : how news coverage is remaking media, medicine, and contemporary life. Routledge. Fahy, D., & Nisbet, M. C. (2011). The science journalist online: Shifting roles and emerging practices. Journalism. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884911412697 Macgilchrist, F. (2016). Fissures in the discourse-scape: Critique, rationality and validity in post-foundational approaches to CDS. Discourse and Society, 27(3), 262–277. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926516630902 Maeseele, P. (2013). On Media and Science in Late Modern Societies. Communication Yearbook, 37, 155–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2013.11679149 Murcott, T. H. L., & Williams, A. (2013). The challenges for science journalism in the UK. Progress in Physical Geography, 37(2), 152–160. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133312471285 Peters, H. P. (1995). The interaction of journalists and scientific experts: co-operation and conflict between two professional cultures. Media, Culture & Society, 17(1), 31–48. Weingart, P. (1983). Verwissenschaftlichung der Gesellschaft - Politisierung der Wissenschaft*, 12(3), 225–241. Retrieved from https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/zfsoz.1983.12.issue-3/zfsoz-1983-0303/zfsoz-1983-0303.pdf  

Blurred boundaries in the production of science news : analysis of a large scale citizen science project on air quality

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8675934/file/8675937.pdf

Blurred boundaries in the production of science news : analysis of a large scale citizen science project on air quality

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Ghent University Academic Bibliography