Media Instructions for Scientists
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A presentation given for students of a life science graduate program on science communication and media relations management.
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Media Instructions for Scientists
- 1. Media Instructions for Scientists Science and Media Organized by HeLiSci Biomedicum 1, lecture hall 3, Meilahti October 3, 2012 Petro Poutanen, M.Soc.Sci, researcher University of Helsinki, Department of Social Research http://blogs.helsinki.fi/pkpoutan
- 2. Are multivitamins killing older women?
- 3. Actually, what they were meaning was that supplements do little or even worse, if one DOUHDGKDVDKHDOWKGLHW«RUZDLWDPLQXWH This is the part of the message that the journalists will interpret as the ´peak´RIWKH news story
- 4. Press release Journal article The most important thing! Intro: setting the problem Empirical part Conclusion Background! Implications! Blaah, blaah (theoretical background)
- 5. How to make the uncertainty related to the scientific knowledge into the communication with media? (and at the same time be attractive)
- 7. Fallacy #1 ,W¶V just PR: writing good press releases, etc«
- 8. ,W¶Vnot MXVW35« «LWLVDERXWHQJDJLQJLQLQIOXHQFLDO conversations and relationships with others and managing those relationships. (see e.g. Coombs Holladay, 2007)
- 9. Who are your stakeholders? Journals Publishers Traditional media Supervisor University Social media Friends family Citizens Colleagues You Investors Conferences Academic organizations Society Industry
- 10. Fallacy #2 Journalists are doing everything to mess up your results and confuse your expert opinion
- 11. Three typical cases 1. 7KHVFLHQWLVWDVD´SROLWLFDO´SXQGLW ± (usually 2) experts having opposite opinions 2. A scientific study as a source ± PR material or short comments would do it all 3. A full-scale feature article ± $´UHDO´VFLHQFHMRXUQDOLVWPDFDOORXXSDQG make an interview
- 12. Fallacy #3 What you write is what you really mean and everybody who can read it will understand it
- 13. ‡ What particular words mean to scientists may not mean to someone else ‡ ´Asociation´ statistical association? = association making no causal claims? = just a weird ´DVVRFLDWLRQ´or D´link´etc« We need to take into account our audiences¶ background knowledge and experiences and adapt our message so that people can understand us (see also: Richmond McCroskey McCroskey, 2005)
- 14. Fallacy #4 The content of the communication is where it stands
- 15. ´Watching TV is Related to Math Ability´ McCabe, D. P., Castel, A. D. (2008)
- 16. How we say How we act What we say Equally Important! Way of communicating
- 17. Fallacy #5 The more communication, the better
- 18. PR is not just a matter of volume (although it matters as well) ‡ Context of the story matters ´+RZshould I dress my story today«´ ‡ Significant results are always significant ´Who would be interested in big data super processors«´ ‡ Daily agenda may do a lot! ´,was thinking about releasing my historical study on the WW2 in the day of anniversary«´
- 19. Fallacy #6 There are times when it is best to break down the communication
- 20. ´2QHFDQQRWQRWFRPPXQLFDWH´ ‡ Science is ± by definition ± involved in big crisis and changes ‡ There is no easy, nor quick answers on complex issues ‡ However, a scientific norm of refraining from speculative statements would be interpreted as contemptuous If science is to be considered as socially useful, scientists must be ready to interact with those outside of the academia
- 21. Fallacy #7 Social media is for geeks
- 22. Going IRUVRFLDOPHGLD«ZLWK real (!) people out there ‡ Blogging (or other means of communicating interactively online) is a good way WR´GHPWKRORJL]H´ science ± Opening up the manufacture process ± Lay people at target ± Placing studies in context of the prior work ± Correcting science journalism ± Allowing comments, questions and feedback - dialogue! ± Making science politics (Wilkins, 2008) ‡ Building your own presence as a bundit, expert, scientific thinker, etc. ‡ Making notes of your own work and enhancing your personal learning process
- 23. Blogging allows cultural mashups! (Wilkins, 2008)
- 24. Fallacy #8 Some people are just natural communicators Yes and NO Communication is a learned ability; skills are acquired through experiences and education Personality and temperament influencing on communication styles may be determined (Richmond McCroskey McCroskey, 2005)
- 25. Thank you! Petro Poutanen (M.Soc.Sci, Phd. Student, researcher) (University of Helsinki, Department of social research) petro.poutanen@helsinki.fi @poutapepe www.organisaatioviestinta.fi http://blogs.helsinki.fi/pkpoutan/
- 27. ,W¶V1RW-XVW353XEOLF5HODWLRQVLQ Society. Malden, MA: Blackwell. McCabe, D. P., Castel, A. D. (2008). Seeing is believing: the effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning. Cognition, 107(1), 343±52. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.07.017 Poutanen, P. K. (2012). Unwilling self-marketers ± a small media guide for scientists. An blog article: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/pkpoutan/?p=391 Richmond, V. P., McCroskey, J. C., McCroskey, L. L. (2005). Organizational Communication for Survival: Making Work, Work (3rd ed., pp. 16±31). Allyn Bacon. Wiio, O. A. (1978). Wiion lait ± ja vähän muidenkin. Espoo: Weilin + Göös. Wilkins, J. S. (2008). The roles, reasons and restrictions of science blogs. Trends in ecology evolution, 23(8), 411±3.
Editor's Notes
- The study publised a year ago (2011) reporting that women shouldn’t take various vitamins and supplements was all over news ( Iowa Women’s Health Study, “Less is More: Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women” )
- Usually it is the press who is to blame over-interpreting the results, but this time also the study was titled as a tabloid news story Inside the study, the authors admit that they can’t really draw any definite conclusions from their data. However, the uncertainty did not make it into the press reports Study was based on self-reports, women reported 3 times over a period of almost 20 years, and for certain supplements the risk of death was increased What was neglected was background information on why those women eat supplements; they ignored whether those women were nourishing or had some chronic disease (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/jaaj-cds100611.php)
- - The Inverted pyramid model of news story is up-side-down when it comes to scientific publications! - Findings from scientific studies are often complex, controversial, and open to multiple interpretations - Scientific PR, let alone journal articles, should not try to ”sell” findings
- - We go throgh 8 myths related to communication and consider them from the viewpoint of scientific PR and a researcher communicating with media
- How to be better communicator? The best way is to learn what communication is not, to get rid of fallacies related to human communication We go throgh 8 myths related to communication and consider them from the viewpoint of scientific PR and a researcher communicating with media
- Jennifer aniston was related to the scientific founding, and again, oh my god, we have breaking story, a celebrity cell found! The rationale is to illustrate how media functions Few years ago in UCLA neurosurgeon showed a photograph of Jennifer Aniston to his patient during brain surgery and found that a particular neuron always reacted to the photo of Jen. Actually, this Aniston-specific brain cell found from other patients as well. This is of course a joke like example, but it reveals the fact that when study or findings are connected to the characters that already has a lot of news value, it may boost the original study. Think about what if it has been some other woman not known, not a celebrity… - This is called framing the strory, wearing it into a way that it connects to something current, topical or other ways significant phenomena The point to be made here is, that good PR is not a matter of volume (althouhg that matters as well), it is a matter of what is the signifigance of the results, how well the story fit to the media’s daily agenda (what other news there are supplied), and in which context the news may be relevant. E.g. if I do a research of the second world war, my result s might be given more weight if I revealed them in the anniversary day of the second world war, etc. http://www.holisticeducator.com/Neuron.jpg http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/03/30/149685880/neuroscientists-battle-furiously-over-jennifer-aniston
- What a particular word means to us may not be what it means to someone else. The word stimulates a meaning in our minds that is different from the meaning it stimulates in the mind of our colleague. Meanings are in people, not words. This requires that we adapt our ideas to the background and experiences of our colleagues so that they can adapt to our ideas.
- Brain images are believed to have a particularly persuasive influence on the public perception of research on cognition Three experimetns: bar graphs, brain image, no image at all Experiments are shoving that presenting brain images with articles summarizing scientific research resulted higher rating compared to others - Fig. 1. (a) Examples of the bar graph and brain image used for the article entitled, ‘Watching TV is Related to Math Ability’, in which watching television and completing arithmetic problems led to similar levels of temporal lobe activation. - Fig. 1. (b) Mean ratings of scientific reasoning for the articles as a function of experimental condition (control, bar graph, and brain image). Error bars represent standard errors of the mean. - These data lend support to the notion that part of the fascination, and the credibility, of brain imaging research lies in the persuasive power of the actual brain images themselves. Data: 156 Colorado State university students “ Seeing is believing: The effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning” David P. McCabe, Alan D. Castel (2008)
- The quality of communication that is important, not the pure quantity of it
- 1: it’s always good to think how this phenomena or result might help people, how it might relate to them, or even influence on them? 2: target audience: for a tech-savvy magazine you may offer something more technical than for regular local news paper 3: In Christmas time, there are always news on Christmas
- The quality of communication that is important, not the pure quantity of it
- Financial crisis, climate change, A/H1N1 virus… controversial issues http://peterthomas.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/economic-crisis.jpg http://www.nature.org/idc/groups/webcontent/@web/@lakesrivers/documents/media/melting-ice-floating-490x250.jpg http://dalje.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g2009/m04/y201919011743024.jpg http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/115235.jpg
- - When people feel a need to place blame for their poor decisions, their interpersonal incompetence, their failure to consult with wiser persons before taking action, we hear the phrase "communication breakdown." Human communication does not break down, although electronic communication systems can do so.
- blogit, tiedotteet, keskustelu, kotisivut, yliopistojen viralliset kanavat yms... blogi on tapa mainostaa ja tiedottaa omasta konferenssipaperista, esitelmästä, artikkelista, luennosta, seminaariesitelmästä tms. Se mahdollistaa myös dialogin muiden aiheesta kiinnostuneiden kanssa, hyvässä lykyssä saa jopa palautetta, uusia ideoita jne. Samalla blogi on myös tapa tehdä muistiinpanoja ja tutkimustyötä itselleen, eräänlainen oma tutkimuspäiväkrija, jota voi käyttä oman tutkimuksen ja oppimisen reflektoimiseen. "Blogging is also a way to demythologize science. Unlike laws and sausages, the public should see science during its manufacture, but the lay public is generally ill-equipped to interpret what they see, and science bloggers play a crucial role here. Bloggers with a deeper knowledge of the topic, or of science in general, can place studies in a context of prior work, thereby correcting or avoiding the myths and pigeonholes of science journalism. In addition, readers can comment immediately, making correction possible. This provides a contrast to science magazines and columns in the mainstream media and shows that science and medicine are not always about major breakthroughs or immediate applications. Science bloggers can also discuss science politics (both the politics between the scientists themselves and the role of wider politics on science), which are frequently not touched upon in popular science publishing."
- allows commentators to overcome the two-cultures divide between the sciences and the humanities. a two-cultures ‘mashup’ becomes possible, in which cultural and scientific themes can be treated together Allow you to pen up discussions and topics on issues which may be relevant but has not natural arena within the tradition scientific genre
- - Communication competence can be learned, and practice can help us improve – so, no excuses for not trying to be a better communicator! This myth is used as an excuse for not trying to be a better communicator. If people are born with or without the ability to communicate, so the thinking goes, how can I be blamed for being a poor communicator? Sorry, no excuse. Communication is a learned ability. While our personality and temperament may be primarily determined by our genes, we acquire our communication skills from our experi- ences and our education. If what we have acquired is inadequate, it is up to us to see to it that we take the initiative to overcome our inadequacy.