Page 82 - Fall2020

COMMUNICATING YOUR RESEARCH
Reporters are happy if you provide them with the hook in addition to some geeky details. You have a choice: you can describe your work as you would to a colleague and let the reporter come up with a sound bite or you can provide the sound bite, something you wouldn't object to seeing in print or leading a radio or TV story.
Staying on Message
During an interview, it can be tempting to slip into a conversational mode, following tangents and providing incidental details and anecdotes. Unless you are explicitly asked for this kind of information, it is best to avoid these side trips. Stay focused on your honed message. The main risk of over sharing is that the journalist is not in a good position to distinguish what is important and what is ancillary. It is quite possible that what you thought was a minor detail or incident will become the lead angle of the published story. Another risk of getting too chatty is that you may inadvertently say something that you really would not want to see in print, such an offhand com- ment about a fellow researcher, a joke about a funding agency, or a political opinion. Remember that nothing is off the record unless you make an explicit arrangement in advance.
If, during the course of an interview, it appears that the angle of the story is shifting from what was agreed at the outset, don’t hesitate to remind the reporter what the pri- mary message should be. You can also use the techniques of bridging and flagging, described by Dean (2009), to keep the interview on message. If you are asked a ques- tion that is heading in a direction you don't want to go, bridging is the trick of providing an answer that steers it back to your main message. This technique is on display at almost every press conference with a public official, but it is not instinctive for scientists. Flagging is simply the act of pointing out when an answer you just gave relates to the main point you want to make; it’s a way of keeping the most important ideas front and center. Don’t hesitate to ask if the reporter understands a particular point.
Using Numbers and Visual aids
It is easy to overestimate the mathematical acumen of the average consumer of the evening news. The error lies not so much in the expectation that most people are comfortable with elementary algebra and geometry (they are not), but in the assumption that they are proficient with ratios, rates of change, and order of magnitude. The
use of statistical information is especially fraught, as Nobelist Daniel Kahneman (2011) effectively illustrates. Because humans are “wired” to see patterns and identify causes, we have difficulty accepting the role of chance in many phenomena, especially when the sample sizes are very large or very small. If using numbers is essential to communicating the significance of your work, be sure to provide context. Analogies are especially helpful.
Science journalists stress the value of visual aids. Data or model results represented as an image or graph are worth the proverbial thousand words. Not only do they convey information, they get attention. In a crowded social media feed, a distinctive image may suffice to con- vert a viewer into a reader. You may need to adjust the presentation of a graphic that you originally prepared for publication to suit the needs of a general audience. At the very least, avoid jargon in axis titles, legends, and commentary. A nonspecialist should be able to recog- nize what is being plotted and appreciate its significance, given a modest amount of explicatory prose.
Taking Advantage of Local Media Experts
Most institutions where research is performed have a staff of media professionals dedicated to communicat- ing the fruits of that research to the public. Get to know these people. If you anticipate that an article that you have in press may generate public interest, work with a communications officer to develop a press release. This is an opportunity not only to shape the initial message that will go out to the media but also to get some advice about how to present it and which media outlets to target.
Your institution may have policies regarding whether or how researchers communicate directly with the media.
Members of the ASA should also be aware that the Society contracts with the AIP to provide media rela- tions services. These staff members, who have trained in science journalism, sift through The Journal of the Acous- tical Society of America, other ASA journals (including
Acoustics Today), and meeting abstracts in consultation with members of the Public Relations Committee and the executive director to identify those most suitable for press releases, lay language papers, and virtual press con- ferences. If you are asked to contribute a lay language paper to accompany a presentation you are giving at an ASA meeting, take advantage of the opportunity to work with a professional to hone your message.
82 Acoustics Today • Fall 2020