Abstract
International surveys of biomedical researchers and of public information officers, along with further evidence, show a medialization of science in the interactions of (biomedical) science and journalism. It is argued that this implies the institutionalization, professionalization and strategic utilization of media contacts by scientific sources on the individual and organizational level. Furthermore, the growing importance of the organizational context for the regulation of science-journalism interactions is shown. Driving force for the media orientation of science is the need for public legitimation of science in general and of research organizations in particular, leading to the goal of media visibility, which in turn requires compliance with the expectations of the mass media. Medialization of science has consequences, first, for the kind of public constructs of research advocated by scientific sources which partly reflect the strategic motives underlying the communication approaches by scientists and research organizations’ public relations departments. Second, there is evidence for a wide-spread consideration of “public resonance goals” by scientists in decisions about research. And, third, the demand for public visibility of scientific sources along with the orientation of the mass media at public relevance and values has consequences for the governance of science because it motivates scientific actors to seek – or at least claim – compliance of their research with public expectations.
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Notes
- 1.
Both surveys are part of the project “Integration of scientific expertise into media-based public discourses (INWEDIS)” (see Peters et al. 2008c; Peters 2009) which was supported by a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the research program Knowledge for Decision-making Processes – Research on the Relationship between Science, Politics and Society. The survey of scientists was conducted in collaboration with Dominique Brossard, Suzanne de Cheveigné, Sharon Dunwoody, Monika Kallfass, Steve Miller and Shoji Tsuchida. The semi-structured interviews with public information officers were conducted by Monika Kallfass (see Kallfass 2009). The conclusions in this chapter are based on the author’s secondary analysis of the interview transcripts and do not necessarily match the interpretations of the primary researcher.
- 2.
I want to thank Terry Devitt for sharing that information with me, and for agreeing to be quoted.
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Peters, H.P. (2012). Scientific Sources and the Mass Media: Forms and Consequences of Medialization. In: Rödder, S., Franzen, M., Weingart, P. (eds) The Sciences’ Media Connection –Public Communication and its Repercussions. Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2085-5_11
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