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 2005 and for the corresponding period in 2006 show how coverage of certain topics in the media change over time...

10,300 stories containing a key-word were identified in August to October 2006 compared to just 3,800 for the same period in 2005
The biggest jump by topic was 'water resources' which saw more than 2000 stories in 2006 (Aug-Oct) compared to just 125 for the same period in 2005
Stem cell research also received much more coverage in Aug-Oct 2006 with 2253 stories compared to just 235 for the corresponding period in 2005.
Coverage of nuclear stories was also up from 395 in 2005 to 1157 in 2006 (193% increase)
Climate stories jumped from 561 in 2005 to 1939 in 2006 (246% increase)
The biggest drop in coverage in 2006 compared to the previous year was bird flu which received just 230 mentions in 2006 (Aug-Oct) compared to 1534 stories for the same period in 2005.

See the two 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, 2006 in the Australian mainstream media (press and broadcast). Only items that referred to scientific research or policy were included in the search.

Figure 2: 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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