Science and Health Journalism and Its Effects on Audiences

Journalists play a key role in society as storytellers and sense-makers who can mediate between experts, institutions, and the public. While the news media could serve as an important source for information about health, medicine, and science, journalists often fail to adequately inform the public, which could result in detrimental impact. This chapter reviews theoretical, empirical, and practical considerations associated with journalists’ capacity to influence people’s beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviours. We pay particular attention to communication challenges in the context of health communication, including mistrust, growing competition from alternative media, and misinformation. We demonstrate these potentials and obstacles using examples from the area of epidemics in general, and COVID-19 specifically. We conclude by considering ways to improve health and science journalism and restore public trust in news media.