“There is an enormous amount of scientific illiteracy in Spain”
Interview with ROSA M. TRISTÁN
Journalist specializing in Science and the Environment
Rosa M. Tristán is one of the pioneers of the speciality of Science and the Environment in the Spanish press. She was the founder of the first section dedicated to these matters in a national newspaper -El Mundo- which for her meant “a privileged gateway to knowledge” as she herself puts it. Now she is working among other projects, in her own medium “Laboratory for sapiens”, with its own news section and a good number of subscribers and visits. She will be one of the participants in the “100xCIENCIA” forum where communicators and scientists will debate about their respective roles in the ecosystem of R+D+I.
- You have been working for decades in the field of science news. What made you choose this particular area?
“The truth is that circumstances brought me into science outreach just when El Mundo was setting up the first section dedicated to science and the environment, a daily column which did not exist in other newspapers. However, even though I had previously been working on other subjects with a social bias, I quickly understood that this was a privileged open door to knowledge, and to be able to transmit the most complex subjects in the most attractive way possible to the general public. This is a big challenge, which in addition allows me to be in contact with some of the most intelligent people in the world and to visit research centres where they are looking for solutions to problems and mysteries which we have not yet fathomed”.
-El Mundo was one of the first of the Spanish media to include a specific section on Science every day. What did you experience as a member of staff making the section grow?
“It was enriching. It also coincided with a time when the written media still had a large audience, and so to have two pages every day devoted to science was to be a privileged popularizer. I must admit that the early times were difficult, but I was lucky in always being able to get the help of the researchers to avoid committing errors. In all my years of experience very few of them have not had a positive response to my requests. In practice it is fundamental in this speciality to develop a good network of experts in the various branches of science because we journalists are not experts in questions as complex and diverse as those found in research.
- Are we in a good epoch for the popularization of science in Spain?
“I really think not, but the same is true of science as a whole, which is not being given priority. In fact, in the traditional media the space devoted to science is shrinking. It is rare to find science news as the main headline in a newspaper, and the columns dedicated to science are being reduced. Nor does science find much space in the new, digital media. Few of these have a dedicated space. Technology is more successful, which is another matter. On the radio there are a few contributions from time to time, and programmes are disappearing from the air. As for the television, I can’t find our scientists or their work on any programmes. As a consequence there is an enormous amount of scientific illiteracy in Spain”.
- Do we popularize science well in this country? How can we improve this?
“I think that there is much to improve. Such popularization as is carried out is at a reasonable level, although it is rare. Personally I miss news which is not exclusively about the great achievements and articles published in scientific journals. The results are presented there, but we need to do more field work, to go to the laboratories, to get to know the people who do science, and the way they work. But this needs more time than just a phone call, and more time means more journalists. On the other hand, the scientists also work in outreach, but not as much as in other countries, and in any case I think that the view of a journalist, an outsider who can collect together several points of view, is always needed”.
- We live in an age when internet has generated many opportunities for people. Do you think that the blogs are substitutes for the space now no longer available in the traditional media?
“This should not happen, but if science keeps on losing ground in the media, the blogs will end up doing this. This is not the way to work, because when someone follows a science blog it is because they are already interested in this specific type of news, but this is not the case for the communication media which one reads or views, or listens to in order to find out what is going on in the world, or to get news about a football match, and as a by-product finds out that there is liquid water on Mars, and maybe even life, or that mankind has landed on a comet or that there is DNA in a 400,000 year old bone. That way you can provoke interest among those who were not previously interested”.
- What is the difference for the general public between a science blog and a section in one of the media? Which is more trustworthy?
“The person who writes is more important than the channel of information. There are news sections or science programmes which are good and bad, and the same is true of blogs. The point is to know how to choose a reliable blog or which professional you can trust because they don’t just ‘cut and paste’ from a press release. Now the social networks allow us to follow those who really interest us, wherever they are”.
“The environment is not on the national nor on the international political agenda, and this means that it doesn’t appear in the media”
- You decided to create your own medium “Laboratory for sapiens”. What is its objective?
“The objective is to give news and analysis of science and environment outreach, and do so with a slant which always gives something which cannot be found in other media. I think that in each and every one of the 300 articles written up to now I have achieved this. None of them is a press release, nor a translation, I have lived through all of them with those most involved. And I am satisfied with the result in these three years, because we have accumulated some 200,000 visits and 400 subscribers. Setting this up was a personal challenge when I left El Mundo and thought that I could be successful with an outreach enterprise which defends science, at a time when the crisis and the budget cuts were really punishing researchers, whether those already established or the younger ones”.
- You have specialized in the environment. There was a time when this type of news was given priority, and some newspapers even had dedicated supplements? What has happened? Has interest waned? If so, why?
“Interest has indeed waned, and this shows a total lack of conscience because the protection of the environment, which is in practice related to science, is the key to the future of humanity. Stephen Hawking said recently in the Canaries that we ought to be thinking of going to live on another planet, but for the time being we have only this one. Nevertheless the environment is not on the political agenda, either nationally or internationally, and this means that it is not in the media either. In few places have we read about the importance of the drought in the war in Syria, nor the significance for the air we breathe of the deceit by Volkswagen, apart from the cold statistics about CO2. In December, when the climate summit is taking place in Paris, the environment will again be on the front pages, if the elections leave any space. And then it will disappear again”.
- In La Palma representatives of the Severo Ochoa centres of excellence will be meeting journalists and communicators. What should each learn from the other?
“We should get to understand that collaboration between us is absolutely necessary so that Spanish society can get to think that the development of science is basic for this country. The former should get to understand the work of the latter, and vice versa”.
- As for the Severo Ochoa awards, whose first edition comes to an end this year, do you consider that this has been a satisfactory policy? Should they be renewed?
“I think that his award has permitted us to nourish centres and units whose science is excellent, guiding investment in a few rather than dividing it equally among all research centres. Of course they should continue to be supported”.
- This crisis has given rise to a critical period in which investment in R+D+I has been drastically reduced. Do you share the idea of many people that this has set back the advance of our country by several decades?
“Absolutely. One has only to visit some research centres, and see them half empty, or to speak to researchers who have been left without personnel in their teams, o to know how many talented scientist, both young and not so young, are now giving of their knowledge in other countries. And it is clear that the situation is not improving, if we look at the budget planned for 2016. From “Laboratory for Sapiens” I have written a great deal about this, naming clearly those responsible for the backward journey to which they are condemning this country, where the leaders prefer to continue to back construction and tourism as the only driver for development”.
Coordination of interviews: Verónica Martín
