FREELANCING

So you’ve landed a pitch: Science writers’ tips and tricks for freelancing

By Emilio Perez Ibarguen

This is the 4th in a series of articles by Knight Center students who attended the recent annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers.

Financial instability, long gaps between assignments and burnout are challenges many freelance journalists must deal with, whether they’re new to the business or have been writing for decades.

At the recent conference of the National Association of Science Writers in Chicago, freelancers and editors met to discuss how both sides can better understand each other, communicate effectively and, in the process, produce better journalism.

Throughout the panel, the editors and freelancers repeatedly emphasized the value of communication.

Sarah Scoles, a freelancer who has written for WIRED and The New York Times, noted that editors are often happy to give reporters more time to fact check parts of their story, as long as they’re given a heads up.

Scoles, who is also a contributing editor for Scientific American, recalled a recent day when she was asked to fact check details in three separate stories, and subsequently “had a really bad day.”

Had she just reached out to one of those editors and asked for an extra day, Scoles said, she would have saved herself the headache.

Editors and freelance journalists emphasized the benefits of communication at the recent National Association of Science Writers annual conference in Chicago. Credit: Emilio Perez Ibarguen

“Remembering that editors want to help you, since they know you’re people, is a good thing to do,” Scoles told an audience of science journalists, writers and communicators.

Shi En Kim, another freelancer whose work has appeared in National Geographic and Smithsonian Magazine, added that freelancers shouldn’t be scared to be upfront about unexpected challenges in their reporting process.

A source falling through or a specific reporting date changing isn’t the end of the world, said Kim, who goes by her last name, but it’s best to keep the person in charge of editing the final piece in the loop.

Another nugget of advice Kim offered: having a quick 15-minute call to go through questions with your editor can be far quicker, and more effective, than a prolonged email correspondence. Continue reading →

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Nuclear weapons expert criticizes Trump “Golden Dome” plan

By Emilio Perez Ibarguen

This is the 3nd in a series of articles by Knight Center students who attended the recent annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers.

President Donald Trump has announced plans to create a network of satellites to defend the U.S. from a potential missile attack — a project he coined the “Golden Dome.”

While his administration has lauded the project as vital for protecting the nation from its enemies, particularly those armed with nuclear weapons, critics say it would be wildly expensive while not guaranteeing a comprehensive defense.

Lisbeth Gronlund, who researches nuclear weapons and policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holds the latter opinion.

“The Golden Dome is not so golden,” Gronlund said during a lecture on nuclear weapons at the recent National Association of Science Writers annual conference in Chicago.

Lisbeth Gronlund is researcher at the Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Credit: Emilio Perez Ibarguen

The White House’s pitch: A constellation of satellites capable of detecting and shooting down missiles that would be operational by the end of Trump’s second term and cost $175 billion.

But that price tag is inaccurate, Gronlund said.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in May that a design built to defend against one or two missiles could cost anywhere from $831 to $161 billion, depending on the price of launching all those satellites into space.

The conservative American Enterprise Institute in September said that providing a “moderate level of protection” against aerial threats could cost up to $1 trillion.

Constructing the all-encompassing, impermeable defense the president wants, the institute stated in a research paper, could cost as much as $3.6 trillion. Continue reading →

DATA JOURNALISM

Storytelling with data: tips for success

By Julia Belden

This is the 2nd in a series of articles by Knight Center students who attended the recent annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers.

On a chilly November Friday, a gaggle of journalists recently huddled around tables in a hotel ballroom , attempting – with varying levels of success – to filter Major League Baseball salary data on a Google Sheet.

The goal? Equip science journalists attending the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) annual conference with new and powerful reporting skills.

Crunching numbers and wrangling spreadsheets don’t conjure the mental image that most people think of when they imagine journalists, but the aptly named sub-field of “data journalism” does just that, and more.

Adam Rhodes, the training director for Investigative Reporters & Editors, led the journalists – including a group from the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism – through a step-by-step process to clean, filter and glean insights from datasets.

NASW data journalism photo: Investigative Reporters & Editors training director Adam Rhodes shows workshop attendees how to organize data in Google Sheets. Credit: Julia Belden

While modern data journalists typically do their work via computer, using data to discover and enhance news stories isn’t a new phenomenon, Rhodes said. For example, an 1848 story in The New York Tribune tracked milage expenditures of members of Congress, and journalist Ida B. Wells was the first to collect and analyze statistics about Black lynching victims in the U.S. in her 1895 pamphlet A Red Record.

Rhodes showed attendees where to find useful datasets online – government websites and reports are always sure bets – and how to prepare, or “clean,” the data for analysis. Continue reading →

INNOVATION

Software engineer questions what future scientific innovation looks like, how productivity is diminishing and what can be done

By Clara Lincolnhol

This is the 1^st in a series of articles by Knight Center students who attended the recent annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers.

Is scientific innovation slowing down?

That’s what Cristian Ponce, the CEO of software development company Tetsuwan Scientific, asserts.

Cristian Ponce, CEO and co-founder of software development company Tetsuwan Scientific, speaks to a session of the National Association of Science Writers conference in Chicago. Credit: Clara Lincolnhol.

He also urges people to look into the effects that diminishing research productivity has on creating life-changing products like medications.

When William Shockley invented the transistor in 1947, that allowed the modern computer as we know it today to exist, Ponce said, speaking at the recent annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers in Chicago.

“Innovation in the transistor has enabled computers that are faster, more affordable, more energy efficient and much smaller in footprint,” he said.

There have been great jumps in technological innovation due to the development of transistors. These technological advancements coincide with many changes in society, he said.

“If we’re able to describe how the computer changes over time, we are able to describe in many ways how society changes over time due to computers’ important impact on our society,” Ponce told an audience of science journalists, writers and communicators.

In 1965, an engineer and business executive named Gordon Moore observed that the number of transistors in a circuit doubles around every two years at the same energy expenditure, leading to greater technological development. Continue reading →