Sep 2026· Media and Communication· Vol 14· 1 citation· ⚡ 1 influential· 24 references
Abstract
The watchdog role of science journalism, as a way of revealing wrongdoings in science-driven enterprises, is a recent and rather invisible practice in Latin America. From my 20 years as a practitioner, this commentary explores some structural causes of this phenomenon: insufficient training opportunities in science journalism; a weak perspective of the watchdog role; a cheerleader posture by the media towards science; symbolic and political links between media owners and scientific elites; and the vulnerable position of journalists due to fragile incomes, which compromises independence and critical thinking. I also underline a further watchdog role: to investigate, expose, and warn society about the misuses and abuses of scientific methods, processes, outcomes, and authority in the public domain. In this role, the watchdog journalist verifies scientific arguments invoked to make decisions. Lastly, I relate successful instances of watchdog science journalism in the region for the social evaluation of scientific knowledge and its impact on urgent Global South problems.
Watchdog science journalism, broadly understood, investigates, exposes, and warns society of the misuses and abuses of science methods, processes, outcomes, and authority by those practicing, funding, and/or using science in the public domain. Amid rising threats to research integrity, this thematic issue provides a fi...
Alice Fleerackers, An Nguyen· Media and Communication· 0 citations
Although science reporters have long been urged to adopt the role of the journalistic watchdog, scholars have not extensively examined how this role can be understood conceptually or in practice. This exploratory case study examines Retraction Watch, founded in 2010, as an illuminating example of watchdog science journ...
Contemporary science communication increasingly unfolds within hybrid media ecosystems where scientists, institutional communicators, journalists, and audiences interact under rapidly changing conditions. In these ecosystems, universities and other research organisations have become highly visible communicative actors,...
M. Joubert, Lars Guenther, Brian Lin et al.· Media and Communication· 1 citation
This article examines six cross-platform biomedical research-integrity controversies in mainland China to analyze how open-source investigation becomes integrated with journalistic verification under platform governance. Drawing on a research design that combines multiple qualitative methods such as digital trace ethno...
Liu Yang, Qi-Xin Lin, Zhongxuan Lin· Media and Communication· 1 citation
The study is a critical survey that analyzes the theatrical interventions of Yousif Al-Ani and Wole Soyinka in terms of the public intellectuals in The Key- المفتاح (1968) and A Play of Giants (1984), respectively, which has looked at each author separately but hardly in relation to one another, by applying a qualitati...
This paper identifies and analyses a distinctive journalistic practice in Iranian political news reporting, termed the “projecting voice”. This practice, observed in reports from both conservative (
Kayhan
) and reformist (
Etemaad
) newspapers, involves a near-complete absence of explicit authorial/journalist op...
Mohammad Makki· Journalism· 0 citations
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