The messy nature of the internet is proving a hard concept for some of the veteran science journalists at the Knight New Media Center’s workshop on science journalism.
One issue that was raised during the morning sessions was how people stumble across science news. The argument goes that in print, readers would come across science stories by chance as they flicked through the paper. But online, do you remove this element of chance?
The answer is actually the opposite. A Pew Internet study found that happenstance plays a big factor in how people find science news. John Horrigan said that 65% of people encounter science news when they ‘ve gone online with another purpose in mind.
The upshot is that the internet increases the chances of stumbling across a science story, than in other media. But what also means, according to Horrigan, is that brand stickiness is less important in how people search for science news.
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