With regard to evolution, creatures who refuse to learn deserve extinction. What about our own profession? Do we maybe ‘refuse to learn’ from digitisation that it is not just work practices and business models which are being transformed? Does the post-truth era question the very function of ‘journalists’ as dedicated intermediaries? What is it that enables or prevents us from adapting to the changing media environments? This keynote at the European Science Journalism Conference 2017 introduced a new model of “Disintermediation in Science Communication”. The concept which was originally coined in economics, describes the structural loss of journalists as intermediaries in the knowledge-creation and -transfer processes. The research is based on the world’s first full-text content analysis of every science press release published digitally in German academia.

1. 1 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Reinventing Science Journalism
in the Age of Disintermediation

2. 2 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Reinventing Science Journalism
in the Age of Disintermediation
Prof. Alexander Gerber
Chair of Science Communication,
Rhine-Waal University
Research Director, Institute for
Science & Innovation Communication
ag@hsrw.eu
a.gerber@inscico.eu
@inscico
alexandergerber
4thEuropean Conference
for Science Journalists
Copenhagen / DK
27th June 2017
bit.ly/Disintermediation-Science

3. 3 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Extinction is the rule.
Survival is the exception.
Carl Sagan
1934-1996

4. 4 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Extinction is the rule.
Survival is the exception.
EUSJA Newsletter
3 / 2016

5. 5 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
The Gatekeeper*
an endangered species?
An obvious cause:
Change in information behaviour
 business models obsolete
 market pressures
 churnalism
Term coined by journalist Walter Lippmann.
Research tradition founded in the 1950‘s by David M. White
*

6. 6 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
The Gatekeeper*
an endangered species?
An obvious cause:
Change in information behaviour
 business models obsolete
 market pressures
 churnalism
Term coined by journalist Walter Lippmann.
Research tradition founded in the 1950‘s by David White
*
Term coined by journalist
Nick Davies in 2008
**
**
Catch 22: erosion
of public trust

7. 7 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
The Gatekeeper*
an endangered species?
An obvious cause:
Change in information behaviour
 business models obsolete
 market pressures
 churnalism
Term coined by journalist Walter Lippmann.
Research tradition founded in the 1950‘s by David White
*
BBC Science Coverage
(Meller et al. 2011):
 82% of science stories
derived from PR
UK Journalism in general
(Lewis et al. 2008):
 Time-pressure
increases dependence
on ‘ready made’ news.
 60% of articles from
such sources (not
counting false
negatives).
 Most influenced topic:
health

8. 8 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
The Gatekeeper*
an endangered species?
An obvious cause:
Change in information behaviour
 business models obsolete
 market pressures
 churnalism
Term coined by journalist Walter Lippmann.
Research tradition founded in the 1950‘s by David White
*
BBC Science Coverage
(Meller et al. 2011):
 82% of science stories
derived from PR
UK Journalism in general
(Lewis et al. 2008):
 Time-pressure
increases dependence
on ‘ready made’ news.
 60% of articles from
such sources (not
counting false
negatives).
 Most influenced topic:
health
“These data portray a
picture of journalism in
which any meaningful
journalistic activity by the
press is the exception rather
than the rule.”
(University of Cardiff)
See: Moore (2011) in CJR

9. 9 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
The Gatekeeper*
an endangered species?
A more concealed cause:
Technological and structural means
of bypassing the intermediary

10. 10 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 10 / 64
Traditional sequences in the communication process:
specialist discourse  didactic explanation  popularisation


11. 11 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 11 / 64
Traditional sequences in the communication process:
specialist discourse  didactic explanation  popularisation


12. 12 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 12 / 64
Traditional sequences in the communication process:
specialist discourse  didactic explanation  popularisation


13. 13 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 13 / 64
Traditional sequences in the communication process:
specialist discourse  didactic explanation  popularisation


14. 14 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 14 / 64
Traditional sequences in the communication process:
specialist discourse  didactic explanation  popularisation
This presumably sequential process has desequentialised for
quite some time.


15. 15 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 15 / 64
Case #1

16. 16 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 16 / 64
Case #1

17. 17 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 17 / 64
Case #1

18. 18 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 18 / 64
Case #1

19. 19 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 19 / 64
Case #1

20. 20 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 20 / 64
Case #2

21. 21 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 21 / 64
Case #2

22. 22 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 22 / 64
Case #2

23. 23 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 23 / 64
Case #2

24. 24 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 24 / 64
Case #3

25. 25 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 25 / 64
Case #3

26. 26 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 26 / 64
Why (only) this one expert?
Single discovery promoted
Researchers speaking of
themselves in the 3rd person
Case #3

27. 27 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 27 / 64
 Launched 2011 in AU
 5 spin-offs since then
 Andrew Jaspan (founder):
“A direct pipeline from
knowledge creation to
knowledge dissemination”
Case #3

28. 28 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 28 / 64
 Launched 2002 in
the UK originally
as part of the RI
 5 spin-offs since
then
 Mission: provide
evidence-based
information,
particularly on
controversial topics
 Comparatively
independent
Case #4

29. 29 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 29 / 64
 EurekAlert,
AlphaGalileo, IDW
etc. all started as
press-release
repositories, yet
serve as media
themselves now
Case #5

30. 30 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 30 / 64
 EurekAlert, AlphaGalileo, IDW etc. all started as press-release
repositories, yet serve as media themselves now
Case #5

31. 31 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 31 / 64
 EurekAlert, AlphaGalileo, IDW etc. all started as press-release
repositories, yet serve as media themselves now
Case #5

32. 32 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 32 / 64
Press releases by academic institutions in Germany published
digitally on IDW (N.B. numer of members has also increased)
1995
2000
Case #5

33. 33 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 33 / 64
Press releases by academic institutions in Germany published
digitally on IDW (N.B. numer of members has also increased)
1995
2000
2005
2010
Case #5

34. 34 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 34 / 64
1995 2000 2005 2010
Number of press-releases per Institution
Characters per press-release per year
2015
Case #5

35. 35 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 35 / 64
Traditional sequences in the communication process:
specialist discourse  didactic explanation  popularisation
From Desequentialisation to Disintermediation…


36. 36 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 36 / 64
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps

37. 37 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 37 / 64
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps

38. 38 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 38 / 64
Open Access,
Open Data
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps

39. 39 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 39 / 64
Open Access,
Open Data
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps
Science
Journalism 3.0
Science
Journalism 1.0
Science
Journalism 2.0

40. 40 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 40 / 64
Open Access,
Open Data
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps
Science
Journalism 3.0
Science
Journalism 1.0
Science
Journalism 2.0

41. 41 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 41 / 64
Open Access,
Open Data
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps
Science
Journalism 3.0
Science
Journalism 1.0
Science
Journalism 2.0

42. 42 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 42 / 64
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps
Science Advocacy;
Upstream Engagement
Open Access,
Open Data
Science
Journalism 3.0
Science
Journalism 2.0
Science
Journalism 1.0

43. 43 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 43 / 64
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps
Science Advocacy;
Upstream Engagement
Open Access,
Open Data
Science
Journalism 3.0
Science
Journalism 2.0
Science
Journalism 1.0
EurekAlert,
AlphaGalileo,
IDW, etc.
SMC
Conversation
Science Daily
Youris
Filling the gap: the ‘new’ intermediaries…

44. 44 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 44 / 64
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps
Science Advocacy;
Upstream Engagement
Open Access,
Open Data
Science
Journalism 3.0
Science
Journalism 2.0
Science
Journalism 1.0
disintermediated

45. 45 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 45 / 64
Science Advocacy;
Upstream Engagement
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps
Open Access,
Open Data
Science
Journalism 3.0
Science
Journalism 2.0
Science
Journalism 1.0
disintermediated
Also on the flip side this raises questions about work ethics…

46. 46 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ. 46 / 64
Corporate
Comms 2.0
Corporate
Publishing,
iTunesU,
Podcasts,
Apps
Science Advocacy;
Upstream Engagement
Open Access,
Open Data
Science
Journalism 3.0
Science
Journalism 2.0
Science
Journalism 1.0
Redefining
responsibilities
Also on the flip side this raises questions about work ethics…
 The comms side
of “RRI”
 CSR
 ELSI
 pTA

47. 47 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Disintermediation
Originally coined in the Economic Sciences
Disintermediation in business (driven by digitisation long
before the media systems came under the economic and
increasingly political pressures we know today)…
Holiday-maker  Travel Agency  Hotel

48. 48 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Disintermediation
Originally coined in the Economic Sciences
Disintermediation in business (driven by digitisation long
before the media systems came under the economic and
increasingly political pressures we know today)…
Holiday-maker  Travel Agency  Hotel

49. 49 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Disintermediation
Originally coined in the Economic Sciences
Disintermediation in business (driven by digitisation long
before the media systems came under the economic and
increasingly political pressures we know today)…
Holiday-maker  Travel Agency  Hotel

50. 50 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Disintermediation
Originally coined in the Economic Sciences
Disintermediation in business (driven by digitisation long
before the media systems came under the economic and
increasingly political pressures we know today)…
Holiday-maker  Travel Agency  Hotel
…never happened!
The agencies were merely reintermediatised.

51. 51 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Reintermediation
…replaces the middlemen with new models
Disintermediation in business (driven by digitisation long
before the media systems came under the economic and
increasingly political pressures we know today)…
Holiday-maker  Travel Agency  Hotel

52. 52 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Reintermediation
…replaces the middlemen with new models
Hypothesis:
If we can expect science journalism to be affected in a
similar way as most other industries, both the challenges
and the potential solutions and new models will need to
be rethought fundamentally. We would be looking at
something that is not “journalism” any more as we know it.
One scenario could be…

53. 53 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Reintermediation
…replaces the middlemen with new models
Hypothesis:
If we can expect science journalism to be affected in a
similar way as most other industries, both the challenges
and the potential solutions and new models will need to
be rethought fundamentally. We would be looking at
something that is not “journalism” any more as we know it.
One scenario could be…

54. 54 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Reintermediation Impact
Filtering:
Algorithms, Filter Bubbles, Echo chambers, Circumvention
Quality assurance:
Collaborative networks of quality assessment (e.g. Airbnb
ratings) have established but hardly exist yet in science.
Could they establish new trust relationships?

55. 55 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Reintermediation Impact
Filtering:
Algorithms, Filter Bubbles, Echo chambers, Circumvention
Quality assurance:
Collaborative networks of quality assessment (e.g. Airbnb
ratings) have established but hardly exist yet in science.
Could they establish new trust relationships?

56. 56 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
Reintermediation Impact
Filtering:
Algorithms, Filter Bubbles, Echo chambers, Circumvention
Quality assurance:
Collaborative networks of quality assessment (e.g. Airbnb
ratings) have established but hardly exist yet in science.
Could they establish new trust relationships?

57. 57 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
He who refuses to learn,
deserves extinction.
Rabbi Hillel
110BC - 10AD

58. 58 / 57Gerber, Alexander (2017): „Reinventing Science Journalism in the Age of Disintermediation”. ECSJ.
He who refuses to learn,
deserves extinction.
Rabbi Hillel
110BC - 10AD
Prof. Alexander Gerber
Chair of Science Communication,
Rhine-Waal University
Research Director, Institute for
Science & Innovation Communication
ag@hsrw.eu
a.gerber@inscico.eu
@inscico
alexandergerber
bit.ly/Disintermediation-Science