A recent snapshot

Science in the media : A snapshot of science coverage

Since its inception, the AusSMC has been tracking science topics covered in the Australian mainstream media (broadcast and press) based on a search of 12 key-words.

The results for the three months ending 31 October in the years 2005 to 2008 show how coverage of certain topics in the media change over time...

Climate change stories increased every year, jumping from 561 in 2005 (comprising 14.8% of the total) to a whopping 5190 in 2008 (67.3% of the total for that year).
The biggest drop in coverage from 2005 to 2008 was bird flu which received just 36 mentions in 2008 (Aug-Oct) compared to 1534 stories for the same period in 2005. Notably, 2006 (230) and 2007 (281) were also significantly lower than the 2005 total.
Stem cell research received the most coverage in Aug-Oct 2006 with 2253 stories compared to just 235 for the corresponding period in 2005, 524 in 2007, and a low of 101 in 2008.
Coverage of nuclear stories rose from 395 in 2005 to 1157 in 2006 (193% increase) and 1197 in 2007. The number halved to 594 in 2008 (after the federal election).

See the four pie-graphs below for a more detailed breakdown.

Reports prepared by Media Monitors – a foundation supporter of the AusSMC.

Figure 1: Share of volume by key scientific topic for 1 August to 31 October, 2008 in the Australian mainstream media (press and broadcast). Only items that referred to scientific research or policy were included in the search. Note: Biofuels was dropped after 2006 and two new categories were added - Renewable Energy and Ageing and Dementia.

Figure 2: Share of volume by key scientific topic for 1 August to 31 October, 2007 in the Australian mainstream media (press and broadcast). Only items that referred to scientific research or policy were included in the search. Note: Biofuels was dropped after 2006 and two new categories were added - Renewable Energy and Ageing and Dementia. Genetically Modified Organisms does not appear in the 2007 chart because it received just 5 results, meaning it was less than .1% of the total results and is therefore too small to show.

Figure 3: Share of volume by key scientific topic for 1 August to 31 October, 2006 in the Australian mainstream media (press and broadcast). Only items that referred to scientific research or policy were included in the search.

Figure 4: Share of volume by key scientific topic for 1 August to 31 October, 2005 in the Australian mainstream media (press and broadcast). Only items that referred to scientific research or policy were included in the search.

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