Journalists can’t control the narratives others spin from their stories, but they can ensure their reporting provides an accurate picture of the issue at hand. A guide from @cathleenogrady.bsky.social, with @richvn.bsky.social, @manuelansede.bsky.social, @fleerackers.bsky.social and others. 🧪
Home is not just a place, it is also a process.
In my latest for @nautil.us, I dig into the psychology of one of our most basic needs: feeling at home.
What does "home" really mean? How do we build that sense of belonging? And how does it impact our wellbeing?
Read it: nautil.us/home-really-...
Pleasure to be a part of this important story — a must read for critical science journalists.
Interested? Or curious to hear more? Send me an email at a.l.fleerackers [at] uva [dot] nl
(And please share, share, share 💚🙏💚)
If you take part, we'd invite you to answer some questions about your experiences as a journalist who covers climate in an interview taking 30-60 min.
We can offer you a 25 euro gift card in thanks for your time.
The project examines journalists' experiences reporting climate stories and their perceptions of “solutions journalism.” But even climate journalists who have never used, or even heard of, solutions journalism are welcome to participate
Poster with the University of Amsterdam logo and the text "Are you a freelance journalist who covers climate change in the Netherlands? We'd love to hear from you"
Please help spread the word! We are looking for freelancers to participate in an interview for our research project "Engaging citizens with sustainable solutions."
If you fit the bill, or know someone who does, please read on (details in 🧵👇)
#envirocomm #scicomm
Call for presentations: If you're planning to be at #ICA2026 and are interested in #scicomm, please join us for this exciting preconference!
Details below 👇👇👇
Only a week to go before our webinar on "watchdog science journalism"! Will we see you there?
Come join us for a discussion of how science journalists can act as watchdogs of the research sphere!
#scicomm #journalism
Such a pleasure to speak with INCT-CPCT about our recent research on how science journalists navigate predatory publishing
study w/ @juancommander.scholcommlab.ca & @lauramoorhead.bsky.social available here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
🗣️Join our colleagues @loubezuidenhout.bsky.social & @kathleen-gregory.bsky.social for an 'unconferenced style' workshop on strengthening #OpenScience against geopolitical pressures.
📅Thursday 6 November 2025 09:00-18:30 (CET)
📌Leiden NL (in person only)
👉 www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
Great opportunity to work with a vibrant and international team, and to make a difference for #openscience and public knowledge.
Story by the wonderful @naseemmiller.bsky.social , research by the wonderful @juancommander.scholcommlab.ca and @lauramoorhead.bsky.social
Curious about our new study on journalists and predatory publishing, but don't want to read a 15 page academic paper?
@journoresource.bsky.social just wrote a great little summary and what the findings mean for #scolcomm, #openscience & journalism
journalistsresource.org/home/study-s...
Poster advertising "Pub Talk," including illustration of a face and a bunch of digital devices and phones and details of the event: Speakers: Prof Mark Deuze, Dr Alice Fleerackers, Dr Toni Pape When/where: Sep 30, 16:30-18:30, Vox-Pop
If you're in Amsterdam and interested in digital media (or just want to leave your house on Monday), come say hi at this FREE event.
@markdeuze.bsky.social , Toni Pape & I will be talking about the weird and sometimes wonderful nature of living life online.
voxpop.uva.nl/en/content/e...
🐕 🐕 🐕 REMINDER 🐕 🐕 🐕
The deadline to submit an abstract to our special issue on "Journalism as a Science Watchdog" is just a couple of weeks away (October 15).
We are really looking forward to reading your submissions!
Interested in researching how journalists experience and grapple with emotions? And how nature retreats might help them better manage the impacts of covering evolving crises?
Come work at the @uvahumanities.bsky.social with the wonderful @johana.bsky.social 👇👇👇
I would love to see more research on this topic!
Reflecting on this thread, I am laughing at the extreme irony of the glaring capitalization error in the title of our paper 😂
Definitely a sign our research is not to be trusted.
Read the whole study, co-authored by the wonderful @lauramoorhead.bsky.social and @juancommander.scholcommlab.ca here:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Curious to hear your thoughts!
#scicomm #journalism #openscience
The findings are also problematic from a diversity perspective, as they suggest research from smaller, lesser-known, OA journals, and published by researchers whose first language is not English, may remain hidden from public view.
The findings are concerning, because some of these strategies are unlikely to help journalists weed out problematic research.
(See @eve.gd & @ernestopriego.com's great paper on the problems of judging the "container" research is published in: www.triple-c.at/index.php/tr...)
Beyond the reputation and impact factor of a journal, some journalists saw typos/grammar mistakes were "red flags."
Others equated #openaccess with predatory, expressing suspicion about any journal that was free to read.
Quote from journalist: "I vet research largely by the publication that it's in. So, if it's in a weird publication, I sort of don't know whether to trust it or not. I usually don't, because...I'm like, well it would be in a better publication if it were trustworthy."
That gut feeling hinged largely on markers of prestige, impact, and familiarity.
Some journalists, like this one, said they would never report on research from an unfamiliar journal:
Many journalists were unaware of these journals.
Others knew about them but were unconcerned: The journals were a problem in theory, or for their colleagues, but not a problem for them.
With years of experience, they said they had developed a "gut instinct" for telling "good" from "bad" journals.
In the study, we interviewed 23 science, health, and environmental journalists from Europe and North America.
We asked about their perceptions of predatory journals, and what strategies they used to decide if a journal is trustworthy.
Predatory journals prioritize profit over editorial and publishing best practices.
For example, some have no real peer review process, and publish more or less anything authors submit.
(Read about a hilarious example here: www.vox.com/2014/11/21/7...)
Screenshot of journal article titled "I'd like to think I'd be able to spot one": How journalists navigate predatory journals Authors: Alice Fleerackers, Laura Moorhead, Juan Pablo Alperin
Have you ever heard of predatory journals?
Our new study—published this week in Journalism Practice—suggests many science journalists haven't.
When they were familiar with predatory journals, most said they weren't worried, confident they'd "be able to spot one if they saw one."
Details in 🧵👇
Grateful to see our work on Watchdog Science Journalism featured in @epstoa.bsky.social
Reminder if you're a researcher interested in this space, our special issue for Media and Communication is accepting submissions till October 1!
www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcomm...
