Turning the page

• Resources from foundation partners helped us pivot to new programming delivered virtually.

• With our conference partner, the National Association of Science Writers, we produced a virtual ScienceWriters conference program that reached an unusually wide audience. We replaced the traditional New Horizons in Science briefings with a science program combining video presentations with live interaction, and added well-received virtual tours and workshops. 

• Even as we moved through a period of austerity, CASW joined hands with collaborating organizations to respond to racial injustice and inequity.

• Our treasured sustainers and individual donors maintained or increased their support.


Ros

Rosalind Reid
Executive Director
Council for the Advancement of Science Writing

Racism is no glitch, Benjamin tells science writers

Delivering the Patrusky Lecture at the ScienceWriters2020 virtual conference, Ruha Benjamin, sociologist and associate professor of African American studies at Princeton University, focused on the intersection of race with the culture and tools of science and technology.

“We're socialized to think of [technology, science, and medicine] as neutral and objective, standing above society in its own little bubble,” said Benjamin. “In the last few years, that bubble has been burst.”

Often seen as the solution to many of the world’s problems, Ruha argues that technology instead reinforces and itself creates harmful social inequalities.

Read the full story reported by ComSciCon student Claudia López Lloreda.

Watch 2020 Vision: Reimagining the Default Settings of Technology and Society, the eighth Patrusky Lecture delivered by Ruha Benjamin on October 21, 2020. 

Visit the New Horizons Newsroom for additional coverage of CASW's New Horizons in Science briefings by student writers who attended ComSciCon-SciWri, a science-communication workshop presented in conjunction with ScienceWriters2020.

Scribing at the frontiers of science and ethics

Fledgling science journalist Brooke Dulka writes, "I sat in front of my laptop, headphones on and pen poised. A long week of virtual conference events lay ahead, but that day I was fresh, rested, and ready...."

Dulka had signed up as a discussion-group scribe for the Kavli Foundation-sponsored workshop "Journalists and Scientists at the Frontiers of Science: A Dialogue about Values and Responsibility" at ScienceWriters2020. The alert scribe came away with several lessons:

• When they can, reporters covering frontier biomedical science should seek out ethicists.
• If a topic has human applications, journalists should reach out to affected communities.
• Distinguishing real from hypothetical applications of new science is an ethical imperative for journalism.
• Reporters should get multiple scientific viewpoints on any topic that lies at the edge of possibility.

Read Brooke Dulka's full story.

Watch the opening panel discussion.

Watch the closing session, including the scribes' reports on small-group discussions.

Learn more about the workshop.

This year's New Horizons in Science briefings were something entirely new. CASW's signature program, which each year gives science writers a look over the fast-moving horizon of research, went virtual in a radically different format.

New Horizons Program Director Wayt Gibbs had been preparing a full slate of briefings for the fall when the pandemic hit. Gibbs narrowed the program to a few extraordinarily timely topics, arranged for scientists to pre-record short presentations, edited and packaged those to create virtual sessions, and moderated live Q&A sessions for those attending ScienceWriters2020. As a side benefit, this year's presentations and Q&A sessions are all available online.

The final New Horizons segment, a live discussion on climate communication, was one of the most well attended conference sessions. We are pleased to share the full program with Spotlight readers.

Unequal Burdens: Why Is COVID-19 So Much Worse for Black, Indigenous, Latinx and Other Americans of Color?
Videos:  Presentations | Q&A with speakers

New Missions En Route to Mars: What Perseverance, InSight, and Tianwen-1 will teach us about the possibilities for life on the red planet
Videos: Presentations | Q&A with speakers

Vitriol and Disinformation: Math and big data illuminate the dark world of online speech. Can journalism compete?
Videos: Presentations | Q&A with speakers

Firestorms in the Outback and Taiga: Damage to Indigenous communities, wildlife, permafrost and the climate by extreme wildfires in Australia and the far North
Videos: Presentations | Q&A with speakers

Science + Science Writing: Communicating about climate across political divides
Video: Session

Celebrate Dave Perlman and support the future of science journalism

The remarkable David Perlman (1918–2020) covered science for the San Francisco Chronicle for 60 years and served as a CASW board member and president. Inspired by Dave’s commitment, we invite you to support the future of science journalism in two ways:

1. MAKE A GIFT to CASW to help us carry Dave’s legacy forward and to improve the quantity and quality of science news reaching the general public.

Donate