SciLine Crash Course: Social Science Essentials for Local Reporters

SciLine is a free service for journalists and scientists based at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society. Editorially independent, nonpartisan, and funded by philanthropies, SciLine has a singular mission of enhancing the amount and quality of scientific evidence in news stories. Accuracy, clarity, fairness, transparency, and an unwavering commitment to evidence are core to that mission.

SciLine has helped thousands of journalists add small but important doses of science to their local news stories. 

Science is more than lab coats and Bunsen burners. This free one-hour “crash course” — designed specifically for local and general assignment reporters — teaches basic principles about how social science works and ways it can be used to strengthen virtually any news story with a human element, especially this election season.

Former longtime Washington Post science reporter Rick Weiss and Ph.D. neuroscientist Dr. Tori Espensen together lay out key do’s, don’ts, and pitfalls to watch for when including science in your news reporting. Among the topics covered:

• The basics of how science works and how those principles apply to social science;
• Different fields of social science and what they can add to your stories;
• How to get the essentials from social science studies; and
• Practical tips for identifying credible social scientist-sources and interviewing them.

Forty-five minutes of interactive teaching are followed by a 15-min open Q&A.

When: August 19, 2024 @ 2-3 p.m. ET

REGISTRATION IS FREE AND OPEN TO LOCAL AND GENERAL ASSIGNMENT PRINT, RADIO, AND TV REPORTERS.