Filter by keyword: Science and media

Publications including this keyword are listed below.

260 publications found

Apr 14, 2025 Article

Contesting dominant AI narratives on an industry-shaped ground: Public Discourse and Actors around AI in the French Press and Social Media (2012-2022)

This paper studies how artificial intelligence was set to the agenda in the press and social media in France. By simultaneously analysing the framing of AI and the key actors who dominated the discourse on this technology in the national press and on the X and Facebook platforms, the study highlights, on the one hand, the influence of digital companies and government narratives, and on the other, the presence of alternative stakeholder perspectives that diverge from dominant discourses and contribute to political polarisation on AI-related issues such as facial recognition. Our study sheds light on how AI framing can highlight dominant and alternative narratives and visions and may contribute to the consolidation of socio-technical imaginaries in the French public sphere.

Volume 24 • Issue 2 • 2025 • Science Communication in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Science Communication & AI)

Apr 14, 2025 Article

“Away from this duty of chronicler and towards the unicorn”: How German science journalists assess their future with (generative) Artificial Intelligence

by Lars Guenther, Jessica Kunert and Bernhard Goodwin

The advent of generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) is expected to have a significant impact on journalism. In this study, we address whether this development could help mitigate the crisis in science journalism. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 German science journalists, asking them about the potential impact genAI may have on the news-making process (i.e., selection, production, and distribution). The results suggest that interviewees anticipate many future benefits associated with genAI, some believe that the technology is unlikely to worsen the crisis in science journalism, while others express concerns about potential negative consequences (e.g., job loss).

Volume 24 • Issue 2 • 2025 • Science Communication in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Science Communication & AI)

Apr 14, 2025 Article

Behind the Screens: How Algorithmic Imaginaries Shape Science Content on Social Media

by Clarissa Elisa Walter and Sascha Friesike

Based on an ethnography of the development and production of science YouTube videos – a collaboration between a German public broadcaster and social science scholars – we identify three intermediary steps through which recommendation algorithms shape science content on social media. We argue that algorithms induce changes to science content through the power they exert over the content's visibility on social media platforms. Change is driven by how practitioners interpret algorithms, infer content strategies to enhance visibility, and adjust content creation practices accordingly. By unpacking these intermediate steps, we reveal the nuanced mechanisms by which algorithms indirectly shape science content.

Volume 24 • Issue 2 • 2025 • Science Communication in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Science Communication & AI)

Apr 14, 2025 Article

ChatGPT’s Potential for Quantitative Content Analysis: Categorizing Actors in German News Articles

by Clarissa Hohenwalde, Melanie Leidecker-Sandmann, Nikolai Promies and Markus Lehmkuhl

We assessed ChatGPT's ability to identify and categorize actors in German news media articles into societal groups. Through three experiments, we evaluated various models and prompting strategies. In experiment 1, we found that providing ChatGPT with codebooks designed for manual content analysis was insufficient. However, combining Named Entity Recognition with an optimized prompt for actor Classification (NERC pipeline) yielded acceptable results. In experiment 2, we compared the performance of gpt-3.5-turbo, gpt-4o, and gpt-4-turbo, with the latter performing best, though challenges remained in classifying nuanced actor categories. In experiment 3, we demonstrated that repeating the classification with the same model produced highly reliable results, even across different release versions.

Volume 24 • Issue 2 • 2025 • Science Communication in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Science Communication & AI)

Mar 24, 2025 Article

Identifying trust cues: how trust in science is mediated in content about science

by Justin T. Schröder, Janise Brück and Lars Guenther

Most public audiences in Germany receive scientific information via a variety of (digital) media; in these contexts, media act as intermediaries of trust in science by providing information that present reasons for public audiences to place their trust in science. To describe this process, the study introduces the term “trust cues”. To identify such content-related trust cues, an explorative qualitative content analysis has been applied to German journalistic, populist, social, and other (non-journalistic) online media (“n” = 158). In total, “n” = 1,329 trust cues were coded. The findings emphasize the diversity of mediated trust, with trust cues being connected to dimensions of trust in science (established: expertise, integrity, benevolence; recently introduced: transparency, dialogue). Through this analysis, the study aims for a better understanding of mediated trust in science. Deriving this finding is crucial since public trust in science is important for individual and collective informed decision-making and crises management.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Mar 04, 2025 Book Review

Reviewed book: “The Science Media Interface: on the Relation Between Internal and External Science Communication”

by Laura Moorhead

The Science Media Interface explores how scientists and their institutions orient their research and publication criteria and processes towards those of journalists and media organizations as a way to gain public attention. The editors present an impressive range of methods, from bibliometrics, an adaptation of the Delphi method, ethnography, mixed-methods analysis, and the path analysis method.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Feb 12, 2025 Book Review

Book Review: Palgrave Handbook of Science and Health Journalism

by George Claassen

This comprehensive compilation of a wide variety of science communication scholars investigating science and health journalism, brought together by editors Kim Walsh-Childers and Merryn McKinnon, leaves one with mixed impressions.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Dec 16, 2024 Article

Intermediaries in the limelight: how exposure to trust cues in content about science affects public trust in science

by Lars Guenther, Justin T. Schröder, Anne Reif, Janise Brück, Monika Taddicken, Peter Weingart and Evelyn Jonas

A potential decline in public trust in science has often been linked to digital media environments, which serve as intermediaries of trust by providing cues for why (not) to trust science. This study examines whether exposure to trust cues in content affects public trust in science (across population groups). The study employs a mixed-method design, combining content analysis (“n” = 906) and panel survey data (“n” = 1,030) in Germany. The findings reveal that exposure to trust cues in certain media predicts public trust in science. Variations across trust groups indicate a nuanced nature of trust-assessing processes in digital media environments.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article

Who, if not science, can you trust to guide you through a crisis? The relationship between public trust in science and exposure to established and alternative online sources in times of crisis

by Fabian Zimmermann, Christine Petersen and Matthias Kohring

In light of global crises such as COVID-19, we argue that people’s trust in science drives their media choices in the digital sphere. The results from a German online survey show that individuals who perceive scientists as trustworthy in terms of ability, benevolence, and integrity, confidently expect science to provide accurate knowledge and guide reasonable decision-making in times of crisis. In turn, these positive trusting expectations towards science increase the use of established journalistic and scientific online sources for accessing scientific information. In contrast, people with low or no trust in science tend to resort to the messenger Telegram and ‘alternative’ online media outlets. Interestingly, the individual need for orientation does not amplify this association between trust in science and digital media use in a crisis situation.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article

Public perceptions of trustworthiness and authenticity towards scientists in controversial scientific fields

by Markus Schug, Helena Bilandzic and Susanne Kinnebrock

This study investigates public perceptions of trustworthiness and authenticity regarding scientists engaged in controversial and less controversial fields with a cross-sectional survey of a German sample (“N” = 1007). Results indicate that scientists in controversial fields like COVID-19 or climate change are perceived as less trustworthy and authentic compared to scientists in less controversial fields or scientists without specification of their field. Additionally, we found that science-related media consumption shaped people´s trustworthiness and authenticity perceptions towards scientists. Our analysis points out how public perceptions of scientists vary if these scientists research controversial areas, actively participating in public (and media) life.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments