THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY
CHAPTER 3 • COMMUNICATION 35organisms or stem cell research into two-
dimensional cartoons. Beyond that, there’s an
impatience with basic biomedical research
where the answer so often turns out only to
be the next question. In this view, it’s all tax
money down the lab sink or a plot by money-
hungry biotechs to sow Frankenfood or
experiment on defenseless worms.As a cell biologist, you can shrug this off
and get back to the lab where real people
understand what’s at stake. Or can you?
Sadly, the more complex, the more powerful,
and the more unexpected cell biology
becomes, the more dangerous it is to keep it
in the garden like a unicorn on a rope. You
have to get out there. You have to explain that
we all live in the cellular garden and that
these are exciting times in research. That
means you have to deal with the media.Unfortunately, much of what scientists
believe about general journalistic coverage of
science is true. It’s inadequate, sensational
and simplistic. Scientists are misquoted, theirpoints distorted, and their work is presented
out of context. Conversely, much of what sci-
ence journalists believe about researchers is
untrue: that most scientists are control freaks,
personally possessive of what should be pub-
lic knowledge, and so caught up in specifics
that they can offer no context to outsiders.
It can be rough, but as a practicing cell
biologist, you need to be out there. The
ASCB’s Public Information Committee
believes that cell biology is too important to
leave to cell biologists alone. We must illumi-
nate our science before a wider audience. We
must raise the level of biology literacy in the
media, in government, and in our schools.
We must widen the circle of informed public
discussion.
For most researchers, their first profession-
al contact with the news media is when they
publish something startling that’s considered
news. Often it’s not their most important
paper that attracts the press calls but the
quirkiest one. They have demonstrated
something interesting in mice and the press
jumps on the “mice get X” angle, missing the
whole point. Or do they? Journalists are con-
stantly looking for an “angle” or a news peg
to “sell” a particular story to their editors or
producers. An angle can also draw a general
reader into a difficult science story. More
readers (and editors) know mice than know
intracellular signaling. The mice, though, can
be reader-bait, at least in the hands of a
skilled reporter who understands the real sig-
nificance of a paper.In this view, it’s all tax money
down the lab sink or a plot by
money-hungry biotechs to sow
Frankenfood or experiment on
defenseless worms.The more complex, the more
powerful, and the more
unexpected cell biology becomes,
the more dangerous it is to keep
it in the garden like a unicorn
on a rope.Unfortunately, much of what
scientists believe about general
journalistic coverage of science
is true. It’s inadequate,
sensational and simplistic.