USA Today's Dan Vergano probably didn't mean to set off a social media explosion with his views on whether science writers are outcasts in major newsrooms. But that's about what happened, as evidenced by the dozens of comments attached to Vergano's Q&A, in which he asks: "Where is the science writer sitting at the editor-in-chief’s desk at Time, or the New Yorker, or the Atlantic? Why is David Brooks explaining social science or neuroscience to readers?"
Science writing news
It's one of the three main axioms of writing, "Write what you know." But does that mean you shouldn't write about something unless you know it inside and out? Not at all, Ben Yagoda writes in the New York Times. Instead, just learn it: "The idea is to investigate the subject till you can write about it with complete confidence and authority. Being a serial expert is actually one of the cool things about the very enterprise of writing: You learn ’em and leave ’em."
On Science Blogs is moving to the PLoS blog network. And I'm starting a new blog at the Genetic Literacy Project. Meanwhile, Nate Silver has said more about his plans for bringing data-driven news to his ESPN/ABC blog FiveThirtyEight.com. And you can learn data-driven journalism for FREE!
The National Press Club is gathering journalists and public information officers Aug. 12 in Washington, D.C., for a forum on government agencies that require reporters to conduct interviews via their press office. Details here. For background, see this survey of PIOs/PAOs, 39% of whom said they would block some reporters, and this survey of journalists, who called that censorship and an impediment to public information.
Remember that thrilling Peter Benchley novel, Leviathan Rising? How about the Civil War classic, Bugles Sang True? And of course there's that modern non-fiction political whodunit, At This Point in Time. If you're drawing a blank, don't feel bad — all of those titles were changed before their books came out, Bill Lucey writes at NewspaperAlum, in a musing prompted by Mark Leibovich’s new book This Town, which was almost You’ll Always Eat Lunch in this Town Again.
NASW member Dennis Meredith has taken both the commercial and self-publishing routes and discusses both in a series of posts. A commercial publisher provided sound editing but meager royalties and harsh contract terms, Meredith writes. Self-publishing meant less support but fewer hassles. And "given the sad economic state of commercial publishing, particularly fiction, the reality was that my novels would likely not see the light of day unless I self-published them."
Would you describe a dying star as "bloated and gouty?" Caleb Scharf did and was called to task by a scientist who objected that stars can't be gouty because they don't produce uric acid. Scharf still defends the use of metaphors in science writing: "The simple truth is that scientists themselves constantly make use of analogies, metaphorical devices, and similes. Sometimes it’s the only way to build an intuition for a problem, by relating it to something else."
Be careful before you put down that iPad or Kindle and pick up an old-style "paper" book, Dave Winer writes. You might not be prepared for the experience. First of all, you have to move your head when you go from a left page to a right page. If there's a word you don't know, you might have to reach for another book to find out what it means, instead of just pressing your finger on the screen. And then this: "I keep looking for the clock. Paper books don't have them."
Why scientists — and especially science writers and science bloggers — should be tickled pink about Nate Silver's move from the New York Times to ESPN/ABC.