I took 10 weeks “off” from being a graduate student in ecology at the University of Colorado to work as a science reporter for WOSU-AM,a National Public Radio station in Columbus, Ohio.

Even though I had little journalism training, the news staff at WOSU put me straight to work. I had my first story on the air by the end of the first week. During the internship, I worked like any other reporter at the station: pitching story ideas to the assignment editor, conducting interviews, writing scripts, editing tape, and voicing my own reports. I covered a variety of scientific issues ranging from climate change to colon cancer. I concluded my internship with a three-part series on forest ecology.

As a graduate student, I think it was instructive for me to see how science becomes news. Science by its nature is a slow, ongoing process. It is not an “event” like a political speech that reporters are used to covering. Science stories are sometimes passed up for more traditional news stories because editors do not see their timeliness or significance.

When science is covered, it is usually because there is conflict or a prominent figure is involved. Sometimes the publication of a paper is enough of an event to get a story covered. Other times, science is covered as an offshoot to a story that is already in the news, as was the case with smallpox vaccinations recently. And sometimes science stories are covered just because they are zany or unexpected—the “gee-whiz”science story.

The challenge that faces reporters and scientists alike is to make science stories seem timely, significant, and interesting to a local or national audience. Before getting permission to cover a story, I had to convince my editor that the research was significant or interesting to our audience, and that the story should be covered then—not next week or next month.

If those criteria were not met, the story idea was rejected. By working with reporters to prepare answers to these questions, scientists can help expand the coverage of science by the media for the benefit of the general public.

A valuable lesson I learned from my time as a science reporter is that journalism is very similar to science. Both rely on inquisitiveness, critical thinking, objectivity, and creativity to lead the way. Accuracy and credibility are indispensable. Persistence and patience are traits needed in both trades.

The only difference, perhaps, is that journalists need to learn a subject well enough to communicate it in a matter of hours or days, and they may be covering everything from physics to politics at the same time. Reporters deserve our trust, cooperation, and understanding that their job—in certain ways—is an accelerated version of ours.

This internship was a spectacular experience for me. I loved learning about so much science. Every day I covered something different. I could report on bat communication one day and growth-enhancing hormones the next. Most of all, I liked the challenge of making science make sense and still sound exciting and interesting. I hope to continue working as a freelance radio journalist while I finish my degree and throughout my career. There is so much science that deserves to be reported. I hope to continue being a part of that process, just as I hope to remain involved in research and teaching.

Cristina Rumbaitis-Del Rio, AGU Mass Media Fellow, 2002
 

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