Welcome to Locally Sourced, a biweekly Covering Climate Now newsletter for journalists working to localize the climate story. Share this newsletter with colleagues and journalism students interested in localizing the climate story.
Story Spark: Scientific Studies and Research
When reporting on scientific studies, don’t let the research take over the story. Good science reporting requires a human angle, often not present in scientific articles, to connect the academic research with people’s everyday lives.
Sifting through research worth reporting on takes skill and practice. Each year, tens of thousands of scientific studies on climate change are published in academic journals — with nearly 50,000 published in 2021 alone.
There’s plenty of research that is relevant and interesting for general audiences — from explaining climate’s “fingerprint” on catastrophic disasters, highlighting surprising public opinions that cross political divides, or simply something that makes a great headline (volcanoes in Antarctica anyone?). Research findings are sometimes publicized via press release, which require reporters to be discerning to avoid getting spun; after all, it’s incredibly rare for a single study to revolutionize established scientific knowledge.
While recent and proposed future US federal funding cuts and staff reductions will likely quell some of the decades-long exponential growth in climate research over the next several years, climate change research remains robust and expansive with more and more work being done internationally.
Rigorous scientific research can strengthen reporting and help audiences grasp larger trends. Learning to vet which studies to cover and how to scrutinize them takes practice, but is a valuable tool in any climate reporter’s kit.
Stories (and Guides) We Like
- The Journalist’s Resource lists 13 questions that can help reporters spot red flags in research and gauge a study’s quality.
- Instead of just highlighting a recent study on the rise of malaria-like disease spread by ticks, Grist humanizes the science by sharing the personal battle of a Virginia resident battling the rare disease that’s becoming more common as the climate warms.
- LatAm Journalism Review shares helpful tips from science reporting experts for how to use scientific papers as a source.
- As part of CCNow’s 89 Percent Project, The Guardian breaks down research dispelling the myth that climate action is not popular.
- In the wake of research estimating climate change was responsible for over 16,000 heat-related deaths in Europe this summer, Eos reached out to experts who were not involved in the study to bolster their reporting.
- Explore 2024’s top climate papers that attracted the most news and social media attention, as compiled by Carbon Brief.
- Once thought to be less vulnerable than the Arctic, new research complicates our understanding and suggests that Antarctica’s ice fields may rapidly melt as extreme warmth becomes more prevalent, Inside Climate News reports.
- The New York Times explains how its journalists decide which studies to cover.
Expert Tips
Carmen Nobel, program director and editor-in-chief of The Journalist’s Resource, offers tips on covering scientific studies responsibly.
Based at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, The Journalist’s Resource empowers journalists to use evidence-based research throughout every step of the reporting and editing process. The following advice is based on information in JR’s “Know Your Research” section, featuring tip sheets and explainers to help journalists understand academic research methods, find and recognize high-quality research, and avoid missteps when reporting on new studies.
Use language that accurately conveys the strength of the evidence that a research study or group of studies provides. For example, it’s almost always wrong to report that a new study “proves” something. And it’s inaccurate to report that a study “establishes” certain facts if it simply “suggests” or “offers clues” about some aspect of a subject.
It’s also important to avoid words that exaggerate the importance of a new study — words like “revolutionary,” “breakthrough,” “game-changing,” “landmark,” or “Holy Grail.” News outlets often overuse words like these, especially in headlines, and that can give audiences false hope about the promise of a study’s findings.
Beware of predatory journals. Predatory journals represent themselves as legitimate academic journals, but they prioritize profit over quality. They charge authors a fee to publish their research while sidestepping standard editorial practices like peer review. As such, they’re more likely to publish low-quality, highly flawed studies. The number of these pseudo-journals has increased dramatically in the past decade. It’s important for journalists to be aware of them because they pose a threat to the integrity of science and science journalism. This tip sheet offers advice for spotting and avoiding them.
Avoid overgeneralizing research findings. When reporting on research about people, journalists often overgeneralize study results by implying that they apply to a much larger group of people than they actually do. One way to avoid that is to pay close attention to the study’s sample, the specific group of people whom the researchers studied.
As Denise-Marie Ordway explains in a recent tip sheet, “What’s key is how well the sample represents the larger population to which researchers want to extrapolate the results. If the majority of a study’s participants are white women, the results can’t be applied to all women. Likewise, if a sample is mostly made up of adults with bachelor’s degrees or adults who live in one region of the country, what researchers learn cannot be generalized to adults nationwide.”
Resources
- Explore an interactive map, developed by University of Sussex researchers, that can be used to find relevant research for specific cities across the world.
- Read MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Science Editing Handbook, available online in seven different languages.
- New to reading scientific papers? Here’s 10 simple rules to help.
- Use SciLine to find rigorously vetted information, get connected with climate scientists, and explore more resources to strengthen your climate coverage.
- Check out aggregate science news sites, such as Phys.org and ScienceDaily, which often re-publish press releases highlighting recent climate research studies.
- Something fishy about a study? Use the Retraction Watch Database to search for retractions connected to a specific researcher, university, or research organization.
Scientific Journals to Bookmark
- American Geophysical Union
- American Meteorological Society
- Earth System Science Data
- European Geosciences Union
- Nature
Before We Go…
The next Locally Sourced will highlight solar energy. Have you reported about the boom in renewable solar energy or the political roadblocks intended to stem its progress? Send them to us at local[at]coveringclimatenow[dot]org. We’d love to consider them for the next edition of Locally Sourced and our media trainings and social platforms.
Want more story ideas? Check out the Locally Sourced archive for more topics to explore, including resilient agriculture, emergency alerts, climate anxiety, and more.
Know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Forward Locally Sourced to a colleague!
Support Covering Climate Now
We’re working to help journalists worldwide improve and expand their climate coverage. Meet our staff and learn more about CCNow.