Get the word out! A Panel Discussion on Managing your Message with the Media
In CORE's first collaboration with GEODES (Geoscientists Encouraging Openness & Diversity in the Earth Sciences), a series of panelists spoke with us about communicating research to the media. Tim Stephens, Senior Public Information Representative for Science and Engineering at UCSC Public Relations, opened the discussion with a brief overview of his job as the interface between university researchers and the media, explaining the process of putting out press releases as well as responding to interested reporters in accordance with university regulations. Dr. Andy Fisher (EPS Department), Dr. Adina Paytan (Institute of Marine Sciences), and Rachel Holser (PhD student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department) provided us with insights from their various interactions with the media, ranging from local papers such as the San Jose Mercury News to national outlets such as Scientific American, from print to video media (check out northern elephant seals in virtual reality from USA Today in collaboration with the Costa Lab). The panelists discussed challenges, such as effective translation of their message into a publicly accessible format to engage non-experts, and rewards, such as an overwhelming amount of public interest in a seemingly obscure topic (such as the discovery of water clouds on a brown dwarf star) by spreading the word through online channels and interacting with interested readers. The event encouraged participants to consider the importance of their various research topics to the general public and contemplate how to distill the significance of their work into a succinct message worth remembering.
from left to right: Dan Killam (Panel Moderator), Rachel Holser (EEB), Tim Stephens (UCSC Public Affairs), Adina Paytan (IMS), and Andy Fisher (EPS).
We thank our sponsors, the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, the Ocean Sciences Department, Woodstock's Pizza, and Lagunitas Brewing Company, for helping us put on this event.
