Reporters

[Jeff Hecht <jeff.hecht@sff.net>]

At 4:07 PM -0600 10/8/01, Richard W Travsky wrote:
>  http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991393
>
>
> (NOTE: I wonder if this is the guy who list members said was wandering
> around taking notes on conversations?)

No, I was not at the meeting, but was working from abstracts 
published in the conference digest. I tried to reach Elizabeth Rega 
and Chris Brochu by phone, but neither replied to messages left at 
the SVP message desk. (I know the messages were out because another 
paleontologist did.)  The digest papers and material at the Field 
Museum provided the details I needed to meet my deadline. This week's 
issue -- out Thursday in London -- will have reports on two other SVP 
papers.

While I'm here, I should explain what are considered good 
journalistic practices at conferences.

First, anything presented in an open paper (including the published 
abstract) is fair game for working journalists, whether or not we 
talk directly to the scientist presenting the paper. Normally I try 
to contact the researcher individually -- by phone or in person if 
I'm attending the meeting. The scientists may decline to comment if 
they have a paper in press or want to submit one to the major 
"embargo" journals such as Nature or Science. (They also may simply 
not get around to returning my calls for other reasons.) If the 
material presented orally and/or in a printed abstract is clear 
enough, a journalist can go ahead and write it up. That will not 
block publication if what the reporter writes is based on a 
presentation at an open scientific conference like SVP. (Oral papers 
that I've covered at both SVP and the Geological Society of America 
have shown up months later in Nature and Science.) Press conferences 
are a different matter.

Second, working journalists may ask other knowledgeable observers for 
comments, formally or informally. We're not experts, and real experts 
on this list have been very helpful in my attempts to cover dinosaurs 
and other paleontology stories.

Third, a journalist should identify themselves as so and so writing 
for such and such. If you're working on a blockbuster paper for 
Science or Nature on results you just hinted at in your talk, you can 
say you can't provide details because you have a paper in press or 
preparation.

Fourth, if somebody's told me about unpublished research that looks 
newsworthy, I will call the scientist up and ask if they can say 
anything about it. If you can't say anything about it, don't. But it 
is courteous to put that journalist on the list to alert when you CAN 
talk about it.

Fifth, many -- but not all -- journalists will honor embargoes. I've 
been aware of a few papers well in advance of their appearance in 
Science or Nature, and have honored my pledge not to talk about them. 
The embargo system is designed to give us time to contact sources in 
advance and prepare articles properly for publication after the issue 
appears. It allows us to cover the research much better than 
otherwise possible. I may think what I wrote about the coming Nature 
or Science is really neat -- but I wait until after the embargo time 
to say anything here about it.

Sixth, there are some 'amateur' journalists out there excited about 
dinosaurs who publish their own journals on the web. There also are 
people who are kind enough to post informal reports on conferences 
for those of us who couldn't go. I'm grateful for what they do, but 
as a professional I check with the scientists who did the original 
work -- or read what's in print -- before publishing anything.

Finally, be aware that there are some less-than-reputable 
publications out there. If a journalist is rather vague about the 
publication they're writing about, it might be the Weekly World News 
or the National Enquirer. (I once got caught this way on another 
topic, and was interviewed by Britain's "Sunday Sport," which is 
pretty close to the Weekly World News.) Actually, you should be able 
to laugh the tabloids off better than you could the story written by 
a local reporter who knows nothing about dinosaurs but who happens to 
encounter you in a local bar near your field site after you've had a 
few beers too many.

-- Jeff Hecht
--
Jeff Hecht science & technology writer
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Correspondent, New Scientist magazine
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