Science coverage: more than just a theory
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Isobel Crump of Claremont asked about the Science File, a page of science-related articles that runs on Saturdays: ‘Please can you explain why the science section is shrinking every week? I used to look forward to a page of science on Saturday but have noticed it is being overshadowed by large ads. Don’t tell me you can’t find any science stories to publish. This is the new age of scientific exploration the world over. There is a serious lack of discussion about science in this country and I think it is the media’s job to make it acceptable and mainstream to care about science issues in our daily lives.’
Readers who measure the science coverage only by what appears in Saturday’s Science Files are missing a lot of the coverage, says science editor Ashley Dunn. Starting several years ago, The Times started publishing more science stories throughout the week. That means fewer stories are held for the weekly page.
‘Science, like other parts of the paper, has shrunk a bit over time, but probably not by as much as you think,’ says Dunn. ‘Over the past six years, the Saturday Science File has been roughly a half page. It has been much smaller some weeks, but on others it has been bigger. The full Science report focuses heavily on daily stories during the week and on weekend feature stories.’
The Science Desk regularly provides context to breaking news stories that might need it (for example, an explanation by science reporter Thomas Maugh of the type of tumor Sen. Edward Kennedy was recently diagnosed with, or a scientific explanation, by reporter Karen Kaplan, of the science behind the FDA’s announcement that cloned meat and milk are safe to eat). It also means coverage throughout the week of breaking science stories (the landing on Mars of NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft, by reporter John Johnson); it means the sort of story that brings science to life in another way (such as the Column One in 2004 on ‘the real Indiana Jones,’ also by Maugh).
The staff writers are Denise Gellene, who writes about psychology; Karen Kaplan, who covers genetics; Alan Zarembo and Thomas H. Maugh II on medicine; and John Johnson, Jr. on space exploration and physics.
Over the last six years or so, the number of science stories has actually increased; there are now about 450 science bylines in a year in the main section (‘A little less than triple what it used to be,’ says Dunn), with some coverage finding a home in the Health section on Mondays.
A science e-mail newsletter is one way way readers can keep up with The Times’ science stories. The daily compilation features all the science, medicine, health and environment stories -- and, says Dunn, is also a way for readers to gauge the importance editors here continue to place on science coverage.
(To subscribe, go to the science page at latimes.com, and scroll down to the Science Files box partway down on the right.)
Photo from NASA shows the Martian surface beneath the Mars Phoenix Lander. Phoenix’s three-month mission is to study whether the Martian north pole region could support primitive life.