WCSJ2009

Stories that Matter to a Changing World

WCSJ 2011

The next World Conference of Science Journalists will be held in Cairo, Egypt from 27 to 29 June 2011.
Please visit http://www.wcsj2011.org for more information and an overview of the program.

04. Great talent, but are they credible?

Submitted by Horacio Salazar on Sun, 2009-05-31 10:18

b. Parallel sessions

Strand:

Development Strand

Website:

Wellcome Trust

The credibility of scientific sources can fundamentally influence the credibility of a story. But how do you spot a credible expert? Mavericks have intrinsic news value, are they a necessary evil to stimulate debate? Does the need for balance excuse the use of less than credible experts?

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4_Colin Blakemore.pdf	166.37 KB

Place & time

Venue:

Central Hall, Westminster

Venue detail:

Maurice Barnett Room

Date & Time:

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 - 15:45 - 17:15

People

Producer:

Lyndal Byford

Chair:

Robyn Williams

Speaker:

Alok Jha

Colin Blakemore

Diran Onifade

Session reviews:

Who You Gonna Call?

2009-07-02 10:05

We all know them: The scientists whose research is always exciting and who are never stuck for an interesting opinion. You can call them anytime and their quotes are always pithy. But can you really trust such sources? How do you know whether the researcher you’re relying on is truly brilliant, just a marginal figure in his field, or even a complete idiot?

Great talent, but are they credible?

2009-07-01 05:44

One of the questions at the very heart of science journalism is which sources to trust: to which scientists should we turn for comment and explanation? What makes one scientist’s opinion more worthy than that held by their colleagues?