A discussion of J G Crowther's journey into the world of science journalism. A story of distance, identity and magic.

1. ‘J G Crowther and the science-
journalism relationship
Science Journalism Lecturer Fellow (Science Communication)
Jenny Gristock

2. Overview
• Crowther’s journey into science journalism
(1924-1940).
A story of:
• Identity,
• distance and
• magic

3. ‘Inventing scientific journalism’
• ‘I propose to invent it’ (Fifty years with
science’)
• ‘by most measures, the first British
Science Correspondent’ (Guardian 2004)
• ‘There is only one other daily paper with
an official scientific correspondent, i.e. the
‘Times’ for which Dr Chalmers Mitchell
writes.’ J.G.C. to H.S. Milford, 8 Dec 1928.

4. Crowther’s ‘scientific journalism’
• not filling a new position in a newspaper, full
time or otherwise,
• nor writing reports as a scientist or secretary of
an elite scientific institution.
• forging the very idea (identity) of a new
community of intermediaries
• distinct from the community of science, - with the
skills, contacts and authority to peer into the
scientific unknown and make sense of it in public
media channels.

5. Distance
• 1925 ‘From A Correspondent’
• 1927 ‘From A Scientific Correspondent’
• 1929 ‘From Our Scientific Correspondent’

6. A slow process
• Crowther started publishing in the
Guardian in 1924
• He struggled with the basics of journalism
at first

7. From the New Statesman (1926)
• “Dear Mr Crowther. . . the article has no
apparent raison d’etre. Such articles ought
always to be apropros of something,
whether it be a current event or a new
book or controversy, It is necessary to
have some sort of peg to hang articles of
this kind on, and usually pegs are not very
difficult to find.” Clifford Sharp to JGC, 8 .2.26b

8. From the Guardian (1926)
• “This article is interesting, but it needs a
definite occasion for its use; that is to say,
if it came in immediately after one of these
big hurricanes one could almost certainly
use it. I would suggest that unless you can
place it somewhere at once you should
hold it in reserve until the next hurricane
comes along.” Crozier to Crowther, 15 October 1926

9. Differing ideas of newsworthiness
• The role of expectations. . .

10. News Values
• I am handicapped at present by not being able
to enquire directly from scientists for the kind of
information specially suitable for articles. . . I
spent over an hour interviewing Professor
Donovan the other day, trying to find out which
he considered were this year’s most notable
advances in chemistry, the ostensible object of
my call being an enquiry about the literature of
chemical engineering. .

11. The journey in
• Crowther became a science journalist
• OUP position a source of motivation, as
well as subsidy
• scientists were interested in, and could
understand, the idea of writing an
academic book

12. Changing science journalism
• As science changes, so does science journalism
(what is hidden and magic/terror)
• Crowther’s ‘scientific journalism’ was both
everyday and elitist
• ‘The scientific and more rounded themes were
to be expressed in a style which enabled the
reader to realise he was in the presence of great
achievement’
Letter from JGC to Ruthersford 05/1929

13. A science communicator
• With easier conditions I might do much
more towards extending the public
understanding and appreciation of
science…
Letter from JGC to Ruthersford 05/1929

14. Crowther as a scientist
• Tots and Quots – ‘Science at War’
• “The public should be made to realise that their
own existence is largely the result of the
application of science to the old domestic
manufacturing arts, and that social organisation
is obviously in the long run very sensitive to the
application of science.”
JG Crowther ‘Science and Journalism’ Manuscript 23/11/1926

15. Crowther on scientists
• ‘The scientist whose imagination does not
naturally conceive images of the ordinary
literary kind ought not to bother with
popular exposition. He will find the
psychological hunt for connections
between the literary and scientific images
in his mind too difficult and will either
waste mental energy over it and neglect
his science’.
Science as a material of literature: the psychology JG Crowther 24.1.29

16. Old controversies
• ‘While lunching with members of the
Society for Experimental Biology and the
Physiological Society yesterday, I found
there was a feeling that the Manchester
Guardian backs the anti-vivisectionists.’
• JGC to Crozier, 16th of December 1928

17. A media campaign
• ‘Evans has had a lot of trouble over the
University College London dog-stealing
again. . . he receives or has received
dozens of scandalous anonymous letters
about it. Consequently he believes that
many anti-vivisectionists are not only
abnormal, but scoundrels.’
JGC to Crozier, 16th of December 1928

18. The Guardian view
• ‘We have not taken an anti-vivisection line
in the paper, but it is obvious that
vivisection may be liable to abuse and the
subject has to be very closely watched.’
Crozier to JGC 19 December 1928:

19. ‘Propaganda for science’
• One of the main obstacles to getting
across a reasonable view of science is
that the persons controlling the press,
films, etc, have been influenced by the
same ballyhoo about scientists as
everybody else, and so expect from
science mainly extravagant or nearly
impossible achievements.
‘Tots and Quots’ memo 28 September 1940

20. Science as magic
• The first problem is to de-bunk the
scientist, and to dispel the idea that he
operates in a private world of magic.
‘Tots and Quots’ memo 28 September 1940

21. Conclusions
• Crowther allowed the scientific journalist to
have an identity distinct from science
• ‘A/Our Science Correspondent’ different
meanings over time
• Crowther was concerned with many of the
issues that policymakers consider to be
contemporary
• The main focus was ‘science as magic’.

22. Jenny Gristock
Fellow, Science
Communication, SPRU
Science and Technology Policy
Research
Science Journalism Lecturer,
City University
J.Gristock@city.ac.uk

23. Magic and distance
• ‘Distance lends enchantment to the view’
JGC in a letter to Leslie Rouse, 1921

24. Crowther on Science Journalism
• This task of finding picturesque
illustrations and analogies makes the
writing of scientific journalism
exceptionally arduous. The journalist has
to grasp the principle before he can clothe
it with many colours.
‘Science and Journalism’ manuscript JG Crowther 23/11/1926