Deborah Blum

President’s Letter

by Deborah Blum

Late last year, NASW took what you might consider an unusual step for a group of science journalists. We signed on to a statement of principles, which will be sent to the Bush White House, urging that the media be allowed to do an honest and responsible job of covering any war with Iraq.

I use the word unusual not because I think this is irrelevant to science journalists. Honest and responsible coverage of military science and technology is exactly what we do in wartime and I remember very well, for instance, being called out of an astronomy meeting in Philadelphia, during the last Gulf War, to write a story on the role of spy satellites.

But it’s an unusual move because NASW has not traditionally been a politically active organization or an organization that is well-networked with other journalism groups. The war coverage statement of principles is being organized by the Society for Professional Journalists and also supported by groups ranging from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) to the Reporters’ Committee on Freedom of the Press.

I think, I hope that this action, small as it might seem, is another step toward making NASW a more involved, more engaged, and more activist organization. We should raise our voice on behalf of open and intelligent communication of science. We should recognize also that good science reporting belongs in the bigger field of good reporting period. For all of us who care about access to information, these look like challenging times and I’d like us to be a group that can make a difference in responding to those challenges. We plan, in the next year, to create a task force to deal with freedom of information issues, and I welcome any suggestions or ideas regarding that.

The fact that SPJ asked us to join in this cause and our ability to move so quickly to such an alliance owes much to our outgoing president, Paul Raeburn, who did a great job of connecting us with other journalism organizations. And the growth of NASW as an increasingly professionally focused organization also comes from our hardworking board members and from our membership, which has increasingly urged us to be more involved.

There’s no doubt that this is an exciting and challenging time for the National Association of Science Writers. I’d like to welcome all of you to what will be an interesting-and I think extremely rewarding couple of years, as we continue to pursue a higher profile role in the science writing community. We have a terrific board again for this term, and it is both an honor and a pleasure to become president at this time.

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Deborah Blum began a two-year term as NASW president on Jan. 1, 2003. She can be reached at dblum@facstaff.wisc.edu.