Jim Cornell

News from Afar

by Jim Cornell

Bosch Fellows Chosen to Attend 2003 AAAS

Seven young journalists from regional papers in Germany have been selected by the Robert Bosch Foundation to attend the AAAS meeting in Denver as the 2003 Bosch Fellows.

Chosen on the basis of a nationwide competition, they are: Tobias Beck, Stuttgarter Zeitung; Julia Bidder, SaarbrŸcker Zeitung; Tina Brodback, Die Rheinpfalz (Ludwigshafen); Thorsten Funke, Maerkische Oderzeitung (Frankfurt/Oder); Britta Heidemann, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Essen); Bas Kast, Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin Bas); and Claudia Sewig, Hamburger Abendblatt.

In cooperation with ISWA, whose members act as informal mentors, the Bosch Fellows will attend scientific sessions, press conferences, and social events as well as the NASW workshops. Any NASW member who would like to participate as a mentor should contact me at cornelljc@earthlink.net.

The Bosch Foundation, established in 1964, is named for inventor-industrialist Robert Bosch (1861-1942). The foundation funds several exchange programs between the United States and Germany, including one that brings American reporters there for a first-hand look at German science and society. (For more information, see www.bosch-stiftung.de/english/).

New Science Communications Initiative for Africa

A new initiative launched last fall at a meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, may help raise the level of science and technology communications on the African continent.

Known as SciDev.Net Africa, the Web-based science news service will link individuals and institutions through a sub-Saharan regional network of SciDev.Net. This international news organization was set up last year with the backing of the scientific journals Nature and Science and the support of the Third World Academy of Sciences.

SciDev.Net already runs a regional gateway linking together all news articles and other items about science being carried out in, or directly relevant to, sub-Saharan Africa. One of the main roles of SciDev.Net Africa will be to seek out authors and issues to expand this coverage.

The new initiative was announced at a four-day workshop organized by SciDev.Net in Entebbe on the topic “Science Communication for Sustainable Development.” It brought together almost 60 scientists, journalists, public information officers, and policy researchers from 10 sub-Saharan African states.

Japanese Journalists Create “Juku” for Aspiring Science & Technology Writers

Professor Kenji Makino, organizer of a very successful international conference on science and technology reporting held in Tokyo last fall, and longtime NASW member, reports that he and a group of colleagues have founded Japan’s first “school” for science journalism.

Located at the Japan Press Club in downtown Tokyo, the “juku”-as small, private, learning groups are called in Japanese-has some 50 students who meet on a regular basis with veteran journalists for informal tutorials, more akin to the academic salons of Europe than the university classrooms of the United States. The inaugural session began Sept. 17 and the twice-monthly gatherings of mentors and acolytes will continue through March 2003.

The faculty is composed exclusively of members of the Japanese Association of Science and Technology Journalists (JASTJ), of which Makino is president.

The initial success of the juku represents both the desire by journalists such as Makino to improve the quality of science reporting in Japan, and the growing interest in science journalism among a surprisingly large group of young people.

Japan has five national newspapers, as well as some 120 major local papers throughout the country. Almost every paper covers science as news on a daily basis; but some, particularly the national papers, also run weekly two- to four-page science news sections. While newspaper science reporting is very robust, Makino says, there is currently only one monthly popular science magazine, and the weekly general magazines seldom publish science stories. In addition, only the public broadcasting network (NHK) offers serious science coverage.

Of the estimated 200 science journalists and 300 medical journalists in Japan, a significant number have studied science, but only a few have taken courses in science journalism, simply because no such university programs exist at present. Given the lack of formal training opportunities for aspiring science writers, the JASTJ decided to open its own private and informal educational institution.

The success of the juku-already a second series of classes is being planned for next year-seems due, in part, to a new interest in science journalism among young people. Dozens, mainly university students and young workers, have formed Internet groups to share information and experiences. Makino believes that within only a few years more formal courses will be established at universities.

Then, he says, “science journalism in Japan will become really great.” Contact Makino at makino@rs.kagu.sut.ac.jp.

World Federation of Science Journalists

Some 320 participants from 26 countries attended the Third International Conference of Science & Technology Journalists, Nov. 24-27, 2002, in Brazil. A highlight of the meeting was the presentation of a draft constitution and the appointment of an executive board for a World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) that would serve as an umbrella association for international, regional, and national groups, thus offering the potential for what one supporter called the increased “purchasing power and political clout” of a truly global group.

This document is the work of an ad hoc committee formed in 2001 at the International Conference of Science & Technology Journalists, in Tokyo, (see President’s Letter, SW, Winter 2001-2002).

According to the articles of the draft WFSJ constitution, presented in Brazil, the new federation would be a non-profit, non-governmental “association of associations” representing existing organizations of science and technology communicators (journalists, writers, editors, broadcasters, etc.), including those organizations devoted to specific disciplines, such as health and the environment.

Intended to offer the benefits of an all-inclusive professional support and development organization for science communicators everywhere, especially in the developing world, the WFSJ will strive to maintain and improve standards of science journalism, to protect the rights of journalists, and to promote the free flow of information from the scientific community to the public through the media in all countries. A major goal will be the formation-and support-of national groups in countries where such groups do not now exist.

The fledgling WFSJ appointed a seven-member executive board and named as its first president Veronique Morin, a journalist-news presenter with Radio Canada and current president of the Canadian Science Writers Association. Jens Detgett, a Danish science journalist now working at the European Science Foundation, will serve as the group’s executive secretary, maintaining both the WFSJ office and Web site out of the ESF’s headquarters in Strasbourg, France.

The WFSJ constitution will be considered ratified-and the federation itself officially founded-once six or more organizations agree to join and pay annual dues. Four organizations tentatively agreed to do so before leaving Brazil and a formal invitation has been offered to NASW through President Paul Raeburn. For more information about the WFSJ, the rationale for its creation, and a copy of the constitution, see www.esf.org and click on the “press area,” or internationalsciencewriters.org.

While the presentation of the WFSJ was certainly a historic moment, the Third World Conference of Science Journalists had many highlights, not the least of them the lively interaction between veteran writers attending from around the world and the young and enthusiastic Brazilian journalism students who made up a significant part of the audience.

Of course, the health of science journalism worldwide only reflects the increasingly international nature of scientific research and development. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Sao Jose dos Campos, a sprawling industrial city about 90 miles northwest of Sao Paulo. With the headquarters of the Brazil’s space agency (INPE) and country’s major aviation manufacturer (Embraer), as well as many other high-tech firms nearby, conference attendees could easily leave the lecture halls to discover first-hand how many one-time “emerging nations” have already arrived.

The Third International Conference of Science & Technology Journalists was organized by the Brazilian Association of Science Journalism. The next conference will be held in Montreal, Canada, Sept. 21-23, 2004, and will be organized by the Canadian Science Writers Association and the Association des Communicateurs Scientifiques du Quebec. NASW members should start brushing up on their French.

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Jim Cornell is president of the International Science Writers Association. Send items of interest-international programs, conferences, events, etc.-to cornelljc@earthlink.net.