News Co/Lab presenting at Misinfocon

by | Feb 19, 2020 | Blog

Managing Director Kristy Roschke will talk about media literacy and journalistic transparency in science at the conference hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Feb. 22.

The focus on public health and climate change misinformation at this year’s Misinfocon in Washington, D.C. couldn’t be more timely. 

I’m looking forward to the important discussion and to presenting the News Co/Lab’s work in two related areas: embedding digital literacies in science education and increasing transparency in science journalism.

During a lightning presentation Saturday at 9:30 a.m., I’ll address the importance of incorporating digital literacies as an integral component of science education. Science educators play an important role in bridging scholarly research and popular science media and should help students navigate information pitfalls in the context of their subject area.

At 3:30 p.m., I’ll be co-presenting a workshop with the Science News team of Nancy Shute, Tina Hesman Saey and Carolyn Gramling. The News Co/Lab has had the great pleasure of working with them to promote transparency in science journalism. By explaining story origins, sourcing decisions and other aspects of complex stories — and providing a feedback mechanism for these transparency elements — Science News is helping readers better understand the journalism process, further establishing the publication as a trustworthy, expert source of science information.

In the 90-minute workshop, we’ll walk participants through our transparency process, share examples of reader feedback and lead small-group discussion on how to make transparency a science journalism norm.