The Science Media Centre is a charitable company, first formed in 2002, two years after the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

Select committee on Science and Technology's third report on "Science and Society" in 2000. This report stated that while science was generally reported accurately in the mass media, there was a need for the promotion of more expert information at times when science is under attack in the headlines, mentioning the public reaction to GM crops, in particular.

Functions

In order to promote more informed science in the media, the centre's main function is as a service to journalists, providing background briefings on current scientific issues and facilitating interviews with scientists. Comments are also sourced from scientists about breaking news stories, to provide an independent expert commentary on the news, so that press releases have some peer review. Independence means from the breaking news story, and scientists commenting are asked to declare any competing interests they have with their comment. Its director is Fiona Fox who is a former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party and a former contributor to its magazine ''

Living Marxism ''Living Marxism'' was a British magazine originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Rebranded as ''LM'' in 1992, it ceased publication in March 2000 following a successful libel lawsuit brought by ...

Aims

The SMC's stated aim is to "facilitate more scientists to engage with the media, in the hope that the public will have improved access to accurate, evidence-based scientific information about the stories of the day". More baldly, the philosophy is "the media will do science better when scientists do the media better".

Structure

The setting up of the Science Media Centre was assisted by

Susan Greenfield Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, (born 1 October 1950) is an English scientist, writer, broadcaster and member of the House of Lords (since 2001). Her research has focused on the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's dis ...

, the director of the

Royal Institution of Great Britain The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

. While the centre was initially based in a specially refurbished wing of the Royal Institution, full independence was claimed from all funders and supporters. The SMC is now hosted by the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glax ...

. The Science Media Centre is funded by over 60 organisations, with individual donations capped at £12,500 per annum. The SMC receives sponsorship from a range of funders including media organisations, universities, scientific and learned societies, the

UK Research Councils Research Councils UK, sometimes known as RCUK, was a non-departmental public body which coordinated science policy in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2018. It was an umbrella organisation that coordinated the seven separate research councils tha ...

, government bodies,

Quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where N ...

s, charities, private donors and corporate bodies. For an up-to-date list of funders, se

As well as having a board of trustees, the SMC maintains an advisory board of science and media experts to consult on its strategy.

Criticism

Criticism of the SMC relates to perceptions of independence: in respect of funding sources relating industry with an interest in some science applications, in respect of scientists promoting specific views in favour of their own research in response to news stories, and promoting science establishment concerns particularly in respect of funding for science. A 2013 article in ''Nature'' stated about the SMC, "Perhaps the biggest criticism of Fox and the SMC is that they push science too aggressively – acting more as a PR agency than as a source of accurate science information." In 2002,

Ronan Bennett Ronan Bennett (born 14 January 1956) is an Irish novelist and screenwriter. Background Bennett, the son of William H. and Geraldine Bennett, was born in England, but was raised in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, in a devout Roman Catholic Churc ...

and

Alan Rusbridger Alan Charles Rusbridger (born 29 December 1953) is a British journalist, who was formerly editor-in-chief of ''The Guardian'' and then principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Rusbridger became editor-in-chief of ''The Guardian'' in 1995, hav ...

described the SMC as a lobby group.

Other SMCs

During Professor Greenfield's term as

Thinker in Residence Thinkers in Residence is a program in Adelaide, South Australia, designed to bring leaders in their fields to work with the South Australian community and government in developing new ideas and approaches to problem-solving, and to promote South A ...

in South Australia, a new

Australian Science Media Centre The Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) is an independent, not-for-profit service for the news media, giving journalists direct access to evidence-based science and expertise. The Centre's aim is to better inform public debate on the major i ...

was set up in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

, Australia in August 2005. Science Media Centres exist in other countries such as Japan; except for the relation between the Science Media Centre in UK and the Australian Science Media Centre, these centres are independent of each other. The Science Media Centre of Canada was founded in 2008. The New Zealand Science Media Centre was launched on 30 June 2008 The Science Media Center Germany was founded in 2015 with €1.5 million in seed money by

Klaus Tschira Klaus Tschira (7 December 1940 – 31 March 2015) was a German billionaire entrepreneur and the co-founder of the German software company SAP AG. Life After gaining his Diplom in physics and working at IBM, Tschira co-founded the German softw ...

, founder of the software company

SAP SE Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separat ...

.The Science Media Center Germany
retrieved 28 January 2019

References

External links

Science Media Centre

Australian SMC

Science Media Centre of Canada

Science Media Centre of New Zealand

Profile
at

SourceWatch The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by progre ...

George Monbiot on Science Media Centre
* Robin McKie

''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', 2 June 2002
About the Science Media Centers & the Press
By Fiona Fox and Connie St. Louis 2013

Audio clips

''Leading Edge'' March 2009

''Leading Edge'' December 2008
{{Authority control Science in society Science and technology in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2000 Scientific organisations based in the United Kingdom 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom Works about science