Researchers are invited to enrol in an online media training workshop on 26 November, hosted by the Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) for Flinders University staff, and presented free of charge through ienrol.
Lead by Dr Joseph Milton, Senior Media Officer at Aus SMC, this session will enable researchers to understand the media, how it works, what it wants and how to increase media interest in their research. This workshop will also investigate how to plan and prepare for interviews.
Researchers from all disciplines who would like to engage with the media will benefit from this session, not just those from a scientific background.
Topics
- Discussion: You and the media
- Activity: Burn the witch! Explaining tricky new science to an audience with no frame of reference
- Why is communicating science important?
- The media – what is it? What do journalists want?
- When is science news?
- Activity: avoiding jargon
- The media landscape – how is it changing and what does that mean for scientists?
- How (and why) news stories are structured
- The recipe for TV news
- Planning and preparing for interview
- During the interview
- Dumbing it down?
- Summary and conclusions
There will also be time for discussion and questions. The format will be an interactive online session, with registrants receiving a meeting link beforehand.
Presenter
Dr Joseph Milton is an evolutionary biologist who, after studying plants for ten years at Scottish universities, made a move into journalism.
Since then he has worked as the assistant editor of a scientific journal, The Biologist, and worked as a journalist at the Financial Times, Nature and New Scientist, among others. He joined the London Science Media Centre in 2010, where he was Senior Press Officer for Mental Health, before taking up the position of Senior Media Officer at the Australian Science Media Centre in 2012.
Dr Milton is a regular guest on ABC Radio National Drive’s Research Filter slot, chatting science with host Patricia Karvelas, on ABC Radio Darwin Mornings, and ABC South QLD Drive.