Science–Journalism Collaboration: An Experiment in Closing the Communication Gap

Abstract

Barriers that impede effective communication between scientists and journalists include communication styles and skills, professional jargon, mistrust, time constraints, and orientation to knowledge types and “facts.” Here we describe an experiment in building bridges between journalists and scientists in Southeast Asia and Japan in a three-day training workshop. Tangible outcomes include the publication of news articles about the workshop; co-authored science journalism articles pertaining to the Mekong River basin; publication of the workshop proceedings; a poster presented at the IHDP Open Science Meetings; and, continued publication collaboration among the participants.