“Science Journalism is more needed than ever”
By Maria Bolevich
Saad Lotfey is a science editor, and science communication consultant, he is also the co-founder of Science Journalism Forum and Arab Science Week. He worked as Editor in Chief of Popular Science Arabia, and he wrote for the Arabic Version of Scientific American, SciDev.Net. Science Journalism Forum is a virtual multilingual global event where science journalists, writers, publishers, scientists, academia… can exchange ideas, get to know each other, and learn from each other while listening some of the most amazing science journalists like Deborah Blum, Carl Zimmer, Pampa Garcia Molina, or one of the most interesting sessions “Your voice as a working tool in science journalism”, which was very refreshing, useful, and creative (especially if you are trying to improve your Spanish skills). The third SJF was organized virtually from 29th October to 4th November in partnership with KSJ@MIT, Eurekalert, Springer Nature, The Open Notebook… in English, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, and French, with +150 speakers, +70 sessions, and +1200 attendees from all over the globe. “When we launched the 1st edition of SJF back in 2020, we didn’t expect a tremendous effect, and the number of attendees reached 900 attendees in the 1st edition. We noticed that SJF not only offers high-quality content for science journalists but also empowers local and regional associations and offers them the platform to share their expertise and knowledge with their peers worldwide. In our 3rd edition, we reached +1600 attendees, and +60 partners, and offered 5 languages English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Portuguese.” says Lotfey. They are now adapting a decentralized model, where they empower science journalism associations with the reach and tools to share their expertise, engage with global audiences, and build partnerships. “We also consider the time zone differences so every journalist on the planet can attend at least one day of the activities according to their local time zones. “he adds.
The Deepness: How would you describe the current situation of science journalism?
Saad Lotfey: I see that Science Journalism is more needed than ever, and the pandemic is a clear example of this. Yet, Science Journalism is facing many challenges including the inclusion and representation of different voices as there’s almost no representation of the global south science journalists at international conferences. Also, the coverage focus is mainly on science produced by the global north, and besides that, there’s a lack of professional science journalism professional training and academic degrees. For example, in the MENA, there’s only one academic program for science journalism and it’s a master’s degree. The growing urge, demand, and need for science journalism don’t match the number of skillful science journalists which is fewer than needed from my perspective, especially in the global south.
The Deepness: Science Journalism Forum offered many different lectures, and as I read the forum convenes more than 900 attendees from 81 countries in 76 sessions in 5 different languages. This is a very interesting opportunity to learn more about the state of science journalism in other countries, and to learn about the problems journalists deal with, so based on your experience what are the top five biggest problems science journalists cope with, and what is the solution?
Saad Lotfey: That’s a tough question. From my perspective, I think these are the top 5 biggest problems:
- Lack of educational resources in different languages. English still is a barrier for many journalists, and most training materials are in English. We need to have more training in local languages.
- Less representation of global south science: The focus of coverage is mainly on science produced by elite organizations in the global north with minimum interest or focus on the global south. The global south is full of great science and research that has a global impact, and I think neglecting such achievements is still a challenge that we need to overcome when it comes to science reporting
- Traditional reporting: Many journalists are sticking to traditional ways of reporting, and neglecting the development of digital media. I believe we need to have more skillful science reporters who use new tools effectively like TikTok, Substack, Instagram, Mastodon, and any other platforms where the audiences exist.
- Inclusion, Diversity, and representation: There’s less representation of the global south science journalists either within the global publishers, or science journalism gatherings. I think this is a huge challenge, and it’s the main issue that we created SJF.
- Knowledge transfer: There are many great science journalists who have huge experience and are willing to share their knowledge with younger generations, so we need to have more initiatives and platforms that can support this kind of knowledge transfer. Organizations like The Open Notebook, KSJ@MIT, SJF, and many others are filling this gap, but we still need to see more initiatives and organizations playing this role.
The Deepness: How events like this one can improve cooperation between science journalists and scientists?
Saad Lotfey: We are doing this on 2 levels: First, we empower science journalists with training sessions, panel discussions, and case studies on how to interview scientists and collaborate with them. We also do the same thing with the scientists, helping them to communicate effectively with science journalists. Second, we connect them together so they can discuss, communicate and collaborate effectively. We have around 10% of SJF attendees represent researchers and scientists who are interested in communicating with science journalists and sharing their work with them.
The Deepness: The pandemic really showed the importance of science, and that science journalists are essential. So that brings me to the question, how the forum can promote, not just diversity, but the importance of being united?
Saad Lotfey: One of the major shifts that we did at SJF is being decentralized. We learned that if we want to empower the community and have more inclusion and diversity, we need to empower all local science journalists through empowering their local associations and communities. So over 80 percent of SJF content is organized and produced through our partners, who eventually collaborate together to have that impact of empowering +1600 science journalists worldwide. This also creates huge opportunities for reporters and freelancers who can network and communicate with editors from global media, and pitch their stories to them.
The Deepness: Have politicians ever shown an interest in supporting the forum, do you think that something like that might happen in the future? I’m asking due to the impact they had during the pandemic.
Saad Lotfey: We regularly invite policymakers to speak and attend SJF. We don’t accept sponsorship or any funds from political parties or politicians, but we invite relevant policymakers to be part of the discussions. We also arrange networking events where policymakers, scientists, and science journalists connect together and discuss specific issues. This help shares different perspectives which may eventually motivate policymakers to highlight these issues or take some action.
The Deepness: For the end of the interview, I must ask what is the carbon footprint of the forum?
Saad Lotfey: Compared to in-person events, we consider SJF as an environment-friendly event. SJF is fully virtual, so attendees don’t have to travel locally or internationally which lowers the emissions. Attending SJF also doesn’t require any extra activities or setup, even for the organizers. We are a fully virtual remote company, so we organize SJF while we work from home, doing the same daily activities that we do. The organizers, attendees, and sponsors don’t have to travel, use major facilities, or use materials that have a high carbon footprint, which I think is one of our value propositions for SJF.
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