Science, Journalism, Media: Communicating Science in a Changing India
In recent years the coverage of science in the Indian media has increased in depth and vibrancy. This has been accompanied by an active dialogue between some scientists and journalists on social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Some very interesting recent discussions on Confluence covered science, journalism and issues faced by both sides in science reporting. These highlight the need to address communication gaps between scientists and science journalists.
This workshop brings together scientists interested in communicating to the public across multiple media and science journalists with an interest in accurately describing Indian science, its breakthroughs as well as its problems. It will attempt to provide scientists with an idea of "what journalists really want" as well as to provide journalists with an idea of scientists concerns about how their work is represented. Several scientists and science journalists have responded very positively to the idea, and a tentative schedule is up now.
The format will be based on panel discussions rather than long talks. Panels of 3-6 people will discuss a variety of topics, with each panelist making short presentations before opening the topic to discussion, enabling active participation by all attendees.
This meeting is being held in collaboration with Dialogue: Science, Scientists, Society, the recently-launched journal of the Indian Academy of Sciences.
UPDATES
#The meeting is over and was very well received. Photos available here.
A live-stream was shared on the IMSc and Dialogue channels on youtube. Cleaned-up videos, broken by session, are now available on this playlist.
Thanks to several participants for actively live-tweeting: check out this thread by the Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster team in particular.
Thanks to Vimal Simha of Gubbi Labs for this detailed write-up.
And for Tamil readers, here's Peer Mohamed's article in Ippodhu.com.
Panelists
#- Sowmiya Ashok, Indian Express
- Pallava Bagla, NDTV
- D Balasubramanian, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad
- Shubashree Desikan, The Hindu
- Sutirth Dey, IISER Pune
- Raghavendra Gadagkar, IISc Bangalore
- Shreya Ghosh, IndiaBioscience
- Pathik Guha, Anandabazar and Desh
- D Indumathi, IMSc Chennai
- Nandita Jayaraj, The Life of Science
- Amitabh Joshi, JNCASR Bengaluru; Editor of Publications, IASc
- Banya Kar, Wellcome-DBT India Alliance
- Sandhya Koushika, TIFR Mumbai
- Mathangi Krishnamurthy, IIT Madras
- S Krishnaswamy, visiting, IMSc / retd, Madurai Kamaraj Univ
- Sunil Laxman, InStem Bengaluru
- Mayanglambam Merina Leimarenbi, Eastern Chronicle (Manipur)
- Janaki Lenin, Freelance
- KP Madhu, STEAMindiaReports, writing consultant Current Science
- Dileep Mampallil, IISER Tirupati
- Peer Mohamed, ippodhu.com
- Sunil Mukhi, IISER Pune
- Vasudevan Mukunth, The Wire
- Narmadha Devi, Dina Malar
- T V Padma, Freelance
- Aathira Perinchery, The Hindu
- R Prasad, The Hindu
- Subhra Priyadarshini, Nature India
- Spoorthy Raman, Gubbi Labs
- Nalini Rajan, Asian College of Journalism, Chennai
- Niruj Mohan Ramanujam, Astronomical Society of India - POEC
- R Ramanujam, IMSc Chennai
- Nithyanand Rao, IISc Bangalore / freelance
- Gauhar Raza, CSIR-NISCAIR, Delhi
- M Sai Baba, NIAS, Bengaluru
- Srikanth Sastry, JNCASR Bengaluru
- A.S.K.V.S. (Kollegala) Sharma, CSIR-CFTRI Mysuru
- Mukund Thattai, NCBS Bengaluru
- T V Venkateswaran, Vigyan Prasar
- K VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India
Schedule
#Monday, August 20, 2018
#| Time | Panel Topic | Members |
|---|---|---|
| 09:40-09:45 | Welcome | |
| 09:45-11:00 | What scientists really want (from science journalists) | Sutirth Dey, D. Indumathi, Srikanth Sastry, Mukund Thattai |
| 11:00-11:30 | COFFEE/TEA | |
| 11:30-12:45 | "Opinions differ on shape of earth": Balance vs accuracy | Sunil Laxman, R. Prasad, Subhra Priyadarshini, T.V. Venkateswaran |
| 12:45-13:45 | LUNCH | |
| 13:45-15:00 | "Ancient Indian Aviation Technology": Pseudoscience in the media and from the government | Sowmiya Ashok, D. Balasubramanian, Vasudevan Mukunth, T V Padma, Niruj Mohan Ramanujam |
| 15:00-15:15 | COFFEE/TEA | |
| 15:15-16:30 | "Why so few?": Women and minorities in science | Shreya Ghosh, Nandita Jayaraj, Mathangi Krishnamurthy, Sunil Mukhi |
| 16:30-16:45 | COFFEE/TEA | |
| 16:45-18:00 | Perspective from institutions, funders and policymakers | Raghavendra Gadagkar, Amitabh Joshi, Banya Kar, K VijayRaghavan |
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
#| Time | Panel Topic | Members |
|---|---|---|
| 09:45-11:00 | What science journalists really want (from scientists) | Pallava Bagla, Shubashree Desikan, Mayanglambam Merina Leimarenbi, Vasudevan Mukunth, Aathira Perinchery |
| 11:00-11:30 | COFFEE/TEA | |
| 11:30-12:45 | Communicating Science in Indian languages | Narmadha Devi, Pathik Guha, Dileep Mampallil, Peer Mohamed, Gauhar Raza, Kollegala Sharma |
| 12:45-13:45 | LUNCH | |
| 13:45-15:00 | Tackling stereotypes about science and scientists | Sandhya Koushika, KP Madhu, Mukund Thattai, S Krishnaswamy |
| 15:00-15:15 | COFFEE/TEA | |
| 15:15-16:30 | "Science as Storytelling": Science, Media and the Public | Pathik Guha, Janaki Lenin, Spoorthy Raman, R. Ramanujam, Nithyanand Rao |
| 16:30-16:45 | COFFEE/TEA | |
| 16:45-18:00 | Opportunities in Science and in Science Journalism: Where are the jobs, the students and the teachers? | Shreya Ghosh, Nalini Rajan, M Sai Baba, Srikanth Sastry |
Organizers:
Gautam Menon, Rahul Siddharthan
The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai