Health and Science Journalism in the Twenty-First Century

Sayyed Fawad Ali Shah is assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Auburn University.Tamar Ginossar is professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism and the BA/MD Program at the University of New Mexico.

I am very impressed with the new book, Health and Science Journalism in the 21st Century: Emerging Practices during Crises edited by Sayyed Fawad Ali Shah and Tamar Ginossar. The book clearly describes the crucial roles that journalism performs in disseminating relevant health information to key publics, especially during health crises, while also carefully examining major communication challenges faced by journalists. Given the experience of serious communication problems that emerged during the COVID global pandemic, the chapter authors examine the powerful problematic influences that partisan politics had on the framing of health and science information by different news sources that ultimately transformed the pandemic into an infodemic! The sharing of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories frequently distorted the presentation of relevant health and science information. The same kinds of difficult communication issues challenged media coverage of many other health crises, including the dissemination of important information about climate change, vaccination, nutrition, floods, and wildfires! The book not only identifies these problems but also suggests how to overcome these communication challenges by applying key principles of media ethics, health and media literacy, fact-checking, collaboration, and multi-channel dissemination of relevant health and science information. I highly recommend this book to all those who are interested in media, journalism, communication, public health, and effective responses to public health crises!

• Chapter One: Health Journalists’ Views of Their Work Amid a Pandemic and U.S. Partisan Political ConflictMaria E. Len-Rios, Amanda Hinnant, and Rachel YoungChapter Two: Crisis Journalism and Professional Role Conceptions: A Survey of Journalists in BangladeshKhairul Islam and Pradeep SoporyChapter Three: Fighting COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Africa: Reflections of Journalistic Attitudes in CoverageAbena Yeboah-Banin, Gilbert Kuuim Muobom Tietaah, Audrey Gadzekpo, Jade Ampomaah Baah, and Daniel Kwame Ampofo AdjeiChapter Four: Journalists’ Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Health and Science News Coverage in GhanaGifty Appiah AdjeiChapter Five: Collaboration is Key: How Rapidly Mobilized Journalist-Researcher Task Forces can Tackle Crisis Communication During a Global PandemicNatasha A. Strydhorst, Asheley R. Landrum, Kat Snow, Sue Ellen, Sevda Eris, Scott BurgChapter Six: Communicating Health Information to Rural Communities in the 21st Century: Local Journalists as Trusted MessengersCh’Ree Essary, Natasha Strydhorst, Javier Morales Riech, Asheley R. LandrumChapter Seven: Journalists’ Responsibility in Communicating about Public and Corporate Health Crises: Opportunities Afforded by Social MediaJanine Nadine Blessing, Cassandra L.C. Troy, Nicholas Eng, Jin ChenChapter Eight: Literacy in Science and Journalism as a Weapon in the Post-truth Era CrisisAvshalom GinossarChapter Nine: Understanding Climate Journalism in PakistanShabir Hussain and Jamal Ud Din