challenge of writing science stories

We had our last laboratory exercise last Friday for Animal Science 1 (Ansc1). I and some of my classmates were on our way to our room when one of them asked me, “Ate, ano’ng course mo?”. I smiled and said “Devcom”. They asked me, why I am taking Ansc1. Maybe they were thinking I should only take communication courses. I told them Ansc1 is one of my electives.

Honestly, when I was thinking on what to put in my POS, I did not know why it is important for us, Devcom students, to take hard sciences as our electives. But as time goes on, I began to understand that it is useful in so many ways. We are exposed with these sciences, and it gives us background knowledge about the things we usually don’t deal with like chemistry, biology, zoology, etc.

As I read the article entitled “Bad Science in the Headlines”, I realized that in reality when we (future journalists) are already out of our comfort zone, we will be dealing with science stories. And with dealing with these stories, we have to have knowledge about it for us to be able to report it truthfully. Studying science during our years in college is a great help.

It is our duty to report stories as honestly and as accurately as we can. If we write something that does not have empirical proof, we might mislead the public that would affect their behavior toward the subject.

For me, reporting science is really something. Extra care should be given. Extra research should be done. Extra control should be observed. Science is a very sensitive topic to put into public. Whatever new discoveries in the world of science would surely affect the public because it somehow answers their questions about the world. If not, it gives the public new things that would help them make life easier.

Maybe these are the reasons why there are but few science journalists existing in the industry. We seldom see science headlines in the newspapers. And this reality is quite saddening. As it is mentioned in the article, people seldom read scientific journals. They mostly depend on newspapers, or news on TV or internet. It is our responsibility to give them the information they need without distorting the truth from the experts. However, the experts should also partner with the journalists so that there will be understanding from both parties to avoid producing information that might mislead their audience—the general public.

The lesson to be learned is that never write something you do not know. Aside from it being difficult, it may cause confusion to all the parties involved—the experts, the journalists, and the intended audience.