¿Does Spanish television and radio news relegate research in Human and Social Sciences? ‘The ‘garbage science’
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/redc.2016.3.1326Keywords:
Journalism, television, radio, communication of Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, knowledge transferAbstract
This paper shows how science and research are presented by Spanish television and radio news. The study is guided by the question of whether or not Spanish audiovisual journalists relegate research in the Humanities and Social Sciences vs. the ‘hard sciences’. To answer it, news broadcasts by public and private television channels and radio stations about Science Week from 2001 to 2014 were analyzed. The results reveal which disciplines journalists built their perception of science. The audiovisual media coverage of science is analyzed and quantified in order to isolate the specific coverage of Humanities and Social Sciences. The data obtained allow us to learn of the professional behaviour of Spanish journalists and to compare it to that of other countries in terms of how coverage of news concerning Humanities and Social Sciences is handled elsewhere.
Downloads
References
Allgaier, J.; Dunwoody, S.; Brossard, D.; Lo, Y-Y.; Peters, H.P. (2013a). Medialized Science? Neuroscientists' reflections on their role as journalistic sources. Journalism Practice, vol. 00 (00), 1-7.
Allgaier, J.; Dunwoody, S.; Brossard, D.; Lo, Y.-Y.; Peters, H.P. (2013b). Journalism and Social Media as Means of Observing the Contexts of Science. BioScience, vol. 63 (4), 284-287. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/bio.2013.63.4.8
Borjas Gil, M.I.; Vilchez Paa, C.F. (2009). Ciencias «duras» vs. ciencias «blandas». Revista Electrónica de Humanidades, Educación y Comunicación Social, vol. 4 (7), 195-209.
Brantner, C.; Huber, B., (2013). How visible is Communication Studies? Press Coverage of the Discipline in Three German-Language Quality Newspapers. Studies in Communication/Media, vol. 2 (2), 247-264. http://dx.doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2013-2-247
Cassidy, A. (2008). Communicating the Social Sciences. En: Bucchi, M. and Trench, B. (editores) Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology. Londres, Routledge, Ch. 16, p. 225-236.
Cassidy, A. (2014). Communicating the Social Sciences: A Specific Challenge? En: Bucchi, M. and Trench, B. (editores) Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology (2.ª ed.) Londres, Routledge, Ch. 14, p. 186-197.
Diamond, J. (1987). Soft sciences are often harder than hard sciences. Discover, vol. August, p. 34-39.
Dittus, R.B. (2005). La opinión pública y los imaginarios sociales: hacia una redefinición de la espiral del silencio. Athenea Digital, vol. 7, 61-76. http://dx.doi.org/10.5565/rev/athenead/v1n7.181
Dunwoody, S. (1984). Mass media coverage of the Social Sciences: Some new answers to old questions. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, vol. 5 (2), 83-92.
Fara, P. (2014). ¿Qué es la ciencia? Confusiones de una historiadora. Mètode Science Studies Journal, vol. 84, 45-49.
Fenton, N.; Bryman, A.; Deacon, D. (1998). Mediating social science. Londres: Sage Publications.
Francescutti, L.P. (2010). La información científica en los telediarios espa-oles. Barcelona, Cuadernos de la Fundación Dr. Antonio Esteve nº 21.
García Sierra, P. (1999). [169] Ciencia (acepciones de). Diccionario filosófico. Manual de materialismo filosófico, una introducción analítica. Edición digital Proyecto Filosofía, http://www.filosofia.org/ filomat/df169.htm [19-04-2015].
Gil Antón, M. (2004). ¿Ciencias duras y ciencias blandas? Una falsa dicotomía. Contaduría y Administración, vol. 213, 151-164.
González Alcaide, G.; Gómez Ferri, J. (2014). La colaboración científica: principales líneas de investigación y retos de futuro. Revista Espa-ola de Documentación Científica, 37 (4): e062 http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/redc.2014.4.1186
Hackmann, H.; St. Clair, A.L. (2012). Transformative Cornerstones of Social Science Research for Global Change. Paris, Report of the International Social Science Council.
Haslam, C.; Bryman, A. (2003a). Introduction. En: Cheryl H. and Bryman, A. (editores) Social Scientists Meet the Media. Londres y Nueva York, Routledge-Taylor & Francis (1994), p. 1-15.
Haslam, C.; Bryman, A. (2003b). Social scientists and the media: an overview. En: Cheryl H.; Bryman, A. (editores) Social Scientists Meet the Media. Londres y Nueva York, Routledge-Taylor & Francis (1994), p. 186-211.
Hedges, L.V. (1987). How Hard Is Hard Science, How Soft Is Soft Science? The Empirical Cumulativeness of Research. American Psychologist, vol. 42 (2), 443-455. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.42.5.443
Hijmans, E.; Pleijter, A.; Wester, F. (2003). Covering Scientific Research in Dutch Newspapers. Science Communication, vol. 25 (2), 153-176. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1075547003259559
Kreimer, P. (2010). ¿Dos culturas o múltiples culturas? Ciencias duras, ciencias blandas y "science studies". Medicina, vol. 70 (5), 475-478.
Meneses Fernández, M.D. (2004). Aspectos de periodismo especializado: ciencia, cultura y canariedad en la prensa insular canaria, a-os 1975 y 1982. La Laguna, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de La Laguna.
Moreno Castro, C. (2010). La construcción periodística de la ciencia a través de los medios de comunicación social: hacia una taxonomía de la difusión del conocimiento científico. ArtefaCTos, vol. 3 (1), 109-130.
Moreno Castro, C.; Gil Pérez, A. (2014). ¿Periodismo diletante o ciencia mediática? La metamorfosis del artículo científico en noticia de prensa. En: Barrio Alonso, C. y Cáceres Gómez, S. (editores) Fronteras de la ciencia. Dilemas. Madrid, Biblioteca Nueva-OEI, p. 48-58.
Olmos-Pe-uela, J.; Castro-Martínez, E. (2014a). ¿Cómo interaccionan los investigadores de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales del CSIC con otros agentes sociales fuera de los cauces institucionales?. Revista Espa-ola de Documentación Científica, 37(4): e072. http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/redc.2014.4.1165
Olmos-Pe-uela, J.; Castro-Martínez, E.; Fernández- Esquinas, M. (2014b). Diferencias entre áreas científicas en las prácticas de divulgación de la investigación: un estudio empírico en el CSIC. Revista Espa-ola de Documentación Científica, 37(2):e040. http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/redc.2014.2.1096
Pena de Oliveira, F. (2006). Teoría del Periodismo. Sevilla, Comunicación Social, Ediciones y Publicaciones, 241 p.
Peters, H.P.; Brossard, D.; de Cheveigné, S.; Dunwoody, S.; Kallfass, M.; Miller, S.; Tsuchida, S. (2008). Interactions with the Mass Media. Science, vol. 321, 204-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1157780 PMid:18625578
Peters, H.P.; Spangenberg, A.; Lo, Y.-Y. (2012). Variations of scientist-journalist interactions across academic fields: Results of a survey of 1600 German researchers from the humanities, social sciences and hard sciences. En: Bucchi, M.; Trench, B. (editores) 12th International Conference Public Communication of Science Quality, Honesty and Beauty in Science and Technology Communication PCST, Florence, Italy, 18-20 April 2012), Vincenza, Observa Science in Society, p. 257-263.
Peters, H.P. (2013). Gap between science and media revisited: Scientists as public communicators. PNAS, vol. 110 (3), 14102-14109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1212745110 PMid:23940312 PMCid:PMC3752168
Peters, H.P.; Dunwoody, S.; Allgaier, J.; Lo, Y-Y.; Brossard, D. (2014). Public communication of science 2.0. EMBO reports, vol. July, 1-4.
Pouliot, C. (2009). Using the Deficit Model, Public Debate Model and Co-production of Knowledge Models to Interpret Points of View of Students Concerning Citizens' Participation in Socioscientific Issues. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, vol. 4 (1), 49-73.
Priest, S. (2014). ¿Qué tienen de científico las Ciencias Sociales? La complejidad de medir el comportamiento humano. Mètode Science Studies Journal, vol. 84, 57-63.
Ruiz-Castell, P. (2014). La ciencia: percepción e inestabilidad. ¿Puede haber un único relato? Mètode Science Studies Journal, vol. 84, 65-71.
Schmierbach, M. (2005). Method Matters: The Influence of Methodology on Journalists' Assessments of Social Science Research. Science Communication, vol. 26 (3), 269-287. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1075547004273025
Summ, A.; Volpers, A.-M. (2015). What's science? Where's science? Science journalism in German print media. Public Understanding of Science, 1-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0963662515583419
Unesco (2013). Rapport mundial sur les sciences sociales 2013. Changements environnementaux globaux. Conseil International des Sciences Sociales, París, Éditions Unesco.
Weigel, R.H.; Pappas, J.P. (1981). Social science and the press: A case study and its implications. American Psychologist, vol. 36 (5), 480-487. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.36.5.480
Weiss, C.H.; Singer, E. (1988). Reporting of Social Science in the National Media. Nueva York: Russell Sage Foundation, 299 p.
Whitelegg, E.; Holliman, R.; Allgaier, J.; Scalon, E.; Hodson, B. (2009). Invisible witnesses? How scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians are represented on UK television. 'Changing research landscapes to make the most of human potential 10 years of EU activities in Women and Science and Beyond', EU Commission, Prague,14-15 May.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the printed and online versions of this Journal are the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International” (CC BY 4.0) License. You may read here the basic information and the legal text of the license. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 License must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the published by the Editor, is not allowed.
