200 Words
Tom Siegfried
Science provides humankind with a common language for coping with the world, a language that transcends personal preferences and prejudicial ideologies. Those who would impose their preferences or ideologies on humankind must therefore disregard or distort science, and therein lies many of the world’s woes. It is the duty of the true scientist to cut through those distortions to reveal sound evidence, interpreted by sound reasoning, that tells nature’s true story.
It is the role of the true science journalist to relate that story, without fear or favor, to the public at large, bridging the gap of language and culture that too often separates science from the rest of society. In this sense scientists and journalists are partners in a vital enterprise at the heart of preserving and advancing human civilization.
But scientists must remember that the journalist’s duty in fulfilling this role is not to serve science, but to serve the public. Only when science operates in humankind’s best interests does the communication of science serve the dual role of sustaining the scientific enterprise and enriching the condition of life.