Filter by keyword: Science and media

Publications including this keyword are listed below.

256 publications found

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

Nov 11, 2024 Article

Narrative misinformation from a credible source can be discredited with counternarrative

by Nathanael Johnson and Glenn Sparks

Former government intelligence officer David Grusch became a hot new topic in the UFO world when he declared that the government was hiding an alien ship crash retrieval program. Can this media coverage be influential in increasing belief in UFOs? And can a credible critic of Grusch's claims successfully negate the impact of the media coverage on the acceptance of misinformation? A three-condition experiment (N=287) showed that a counternarrative can successfully negate the influence of his claims on conspiratorial beliefs. We suggest that these results have practical implications for journalists in their coverage of controversial claims.

Volume 23 • Issue 08 • 2024

Oct 28, 2024 Article

Characterization of polarized scientific digital messages: a scoping review

by Ana Maria Jucá, Matheus Lotto, Agnes Cruvinel and Thiago Cruvinel

This scoping review elucidated the characteristics of polarized scientific digital messages credited by researchers for studying the impact of content on people's perceptions. Inclusion criteria encompassed discourse and content analysis studies examining the syntactic and lexical features of polarized messages in online science communication, as well as crossover and randomized information intervention studies. Studies without sufficient detail for data extraction or that did not address message characteristics were excluded. After these exclusions, 10 studies were evaluated for the outcomes. Characteristics of polarized messages were observed to include topic dependency, single viewpoint, discredit of opposing views, emphasis on the minority and flaws of concurrent discourses, and uses of assertive statements, intensifiers, controversy, partisanship, skepticism, sarcasm, vague lexicons, and expert opinion support. As a result, we propose a system of codification for identifying and characterizing polarized discourses in science communication digital messages that can be employed in further content analysis studies.

Volume 23 • Issue 08 • 2024

Oct 21, 2024 Article

The coverage of basic and applied research in press releases on EurekAlert!

by Jingwen Zhang, Marina Joubert, Jonathan Dudek and Rodrigo Costas

Research organisations routinely reach out to the media via press releases to announce research news and promote advances in science. This paper explores the presence of basic and applied research in press releases issued through EurekAlert!. Using a scientometric approach to classify research papers featured in press releases into basic and applied research, we found that more than half of the press releases in our dataset were related to basic research. This trend was particularly notable in life and earth sciences, physical sciences, and engineering fields. In contrast, press releases in the biomedical and health sciences, as well as in social sciences and humanities, were more frequently associated with applied research. Additionally, we present findings on the similarity and readability of press releases compared to their corresponding research papers, which confirm the role of institutional press officers in making research papers more accessible to the public and media. This adaptation appears to be more pronounced for basic research.

Volume 23 • Issue 07 • 2024 • Special Issue: Communicating Discovery Science

Oct 21, 2024 Article

Can media inspire public engagement with astronomy? Assessing information modalities and potential mechanisms for inspiration in a basic science context

by Matthew S. VanDyke and Sara K. Yeo

Although many science communicators strive to inspire audiences, scant research has sought to understand how media may evoke inspiration. The present study was a three-condition (modality: text-only, audio-only, and audiovisual) between-subjects experiment examining how media content about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) motivated participants’ feeling moved, awe, curiosity, rumination, and their inspiration state. The findings revealed no statistical difference between using text or audio content, but that audiovisual content can hinder rumination if self-transcendent emotions are not induced. Findings revealed that content leading participants to feeling moved and experiencing awe should lead to reflective thought, and ultimately, feelings of inspiration.

Volume 23 • Issue 07 • 2024 • Special Issue: Communicating Discovery Science