Science communication today is challenged by two contexts: first, by what has been coined post-normal situations of science coping with uncertainties, value questions, urgency to take action, and the resulting political pressures and second, by a dramatically changing media environment. This leads to changes in the role of scientists and journalists in public communication. We explore to what extent, how and under which circumstances scientists and journalists are diverging from their established roles in science communication and how they are redefining the boundaries of their professions in the process. We assume that digital communication networks enable scientists and journalists to bypass professional control through their peers and reinterpret traditional communicative norms. Changes are likely to affect norms common to both science and journalism such as detachment from advocacy. Also, journalistic norms, for example a focus on current events, may spill over and guide the communication of scientists.
Project board: Prof. Dr. Michael Brüggemann
Project coordinator: Stefanie Walter, PhD
Project members: Stefanie Walter, PhD, Ines Lörcher M.A.
Duration: June 2017- (application for a research grant under consideration at the DFG / German Research Foundation)