Photo by Hatice Yardım on Unsplash.
A new tip sheet offering advice to journalists about how to report on research findings features comments from NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch as well as Naomi Oreskes, a member of NCSE's board of directors.
In discussing the inapplicability of "proof" in science, the tip sheet quoted from two articles by Oreskes, a professor of history of science at Harvard University. Branch was quoted under the headings "Use language that correctly conveys the strength of the evidence that research or group of studies provides" and "Review headlines closely before they are published," where he was given the last word: "'Prove' is a short, snappy word, so it works in a headline — but it's usually wrong ... Headline writers need to be as aware of this as the journalists are."
The tip sheet was prepared by The Journalist's Resource, a project of Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center, which seeks "to inform the news by bridging the communications gap between academia and journalism."
