Conceptos Básicos
Science journalism exhibits gender and regional disparities in the representation of quoted speakers and cited authors compared to the demographics of scientific publishing.
Resumen
The study analyzed 22,001 news articles published by Nature from 2005 to 2020 to examine potential biases in science journalism. The key findings are:
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Gender Disparities:
- Quotes from people predicted to be men were initially overrepresented compared to the proportion of first and last authors predicted to be men in Nature papers. However, this gap has been decreasing over time, with the "Career Feature" column achieving gender parity in quoted speakers.
- The gender disparity in quotes was dependent on the article type, with some types like "Career Feature" reaching parity.
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Regional Disparities:
- There was a significant over-representation of names with predicted Celtic/English origin and under-representation of names with a predicted East Asian origin in both quotes and citations, compared to the demographics of authors in Nature and Springer Nature papers.
- The disparity in quotes from people with predicted East Asian name origins was larger than the disparity in citations, suggesting issues in the source gathering process beyond just citing published works.
- Journalists with a predicted East Asian name origin included a higher proportion of quotes from people with a predicted East Asian name origin compared to journalists with other predicted name origins.
The study highlights the need for science journalists to be aware of these biases and take steps to improve representation, such as utilizing expert databases, expanding their source networks, and covering a broader range of topics beyond just recent publications.
Estadísticas
In 2005, 87.09% of quotes were predicted to be from people with a male name, compared to 68.86% in 2020.
People with predicted Celtic/English name origins accounted for 17.9-39.6% of cited authors in news articles, while those with predicted East Asian name origins accounted for 7.3-28.1%.
Journalists with a predicted East Asian name origin included 24.3% quotes from people with a predicted East Asian name origin, compared to 3.8% for journalists with a predicted Celtic/English name origin.
Citas
"Science journalism is an indispensable part of scientific communication and provides an accessible way for everyone from researchers to the public to learn about new scientific findings and to consider their implications."
"Coverage of science shapes who is considered a scientist and field expert by both peers and the public. This indication of legitimacy can either help recognize people who are typically overlooked due to systemic biases or intensify biases."