Bridging Science and Journalism

Abstract

Journalism has been a key site for communicating science, and public relations departments at universities and research hospitals are a vital institutional link between science and journalism. Located betwixt scientific demands for didactic explanations of science and journalistic desire for interesting stories, biomedical public relations writing juggles competing rhetorical demands. This study shows that press releases favor the concerns of internal scientific audiences over journalistic audiences. Yet stories that provide journalistic appeals to application are more likely to gain a journalist’s attention, although journalists will then develop their own appeals to application to incorporate into the story.