Occasionally, science can be a tricky thing for a layperson to understand. From unfamiliar jargon to deciphering complicated research results, a journalist without a science background can often have a difficult time writing a well-balanced but factual article on scientific news.

However, soon the needs of both journalists and scientists will be addressed by a new centre dedicated to increasing public engagement with science issues through media coverage of science that is more informed, accurate and incisive.

A launch event for the new Science Media Centre of Canada was held in Ottawa last month.

Patterned after similar organizations already operating successfully in the U.K. and Australia, the Canadian version, originally set up a small by a small group of Canadian researchers, reporters and science policymakers, will be completely bilingual. It will help reporters with fact-checking and finding experts and briefings on topical concerns in health, technology, the environment, medicine, engineering and the physical, life and social sciences.

Scheduled to open its doors next summer, organizers of the Science Media Centre of Canada intend for it to become journalists' first stop for writing any stories with a scientific bent, whether it is a general story on climate change or a more specific one focusing on the latest scientific study.

Many news publications in Canada do not have the luxury of a journalist dedicated exclusively to science, and often scientific news stories fall in the laps of general assignment reporters who often do not have a science background. The Science Media Centre of Canada is geared specifically for these journalists, to help elucidate the sometimes complicated nitty-gritty of scientific research results with the end result of achieving more accurate media coverage of science news.

The Centre will also provide the media with briefings and background material to help decipher issues with differing scientific points of view, such as the interpretation of pharmaceutical trials. Alternatively, the Centre will also offer workshops for scientists to understand how the media think and operate, and help them get their key points across in a way journalists will understand.

The Centre has more than 30 charter members, who each have donated $5,000 to the Centre's founding, including CANARIE, McMaster University, Perimeter Institute, MaRS Discovery District, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, as well as several corporate funders.

Learn more at www.sciencemediacentre.ca.


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