Why Science and Health Journalism Matters

Abstract

With the worst global pandemic in a century, with a cumulative reported death toll of more than 6.5 million, in its fourth year, it scarcely seems necessary to make the argument that health and science journalism serves a critical function worldwide. Even without the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for high-quality science and health reporting could be justified solely by the threat climate change poses to human wellbeing—and perhaps even to our continued existence. Factor in the need for societies to cope with and make decisions about ageing populations (Ageing, 2022); for accelerating technological change (Butler, 2016); for the opportunities and challenges of advancements in artificial intelligence and gene editing; for reducing health and technological disparities both between and within nations, and numerous other science/health issues; and for trustworthy, reliable information sources seem clear.