Recent books in science communication: practice, ethics, and a perspective on new spaces in digital videos

In the age of social media, personalized information, and digital experiments, science journalism sits upon a new frontier. Some see it in danger, with Dunwoody (2014, p. 43) writing: “science journalism is an increasingly imperiled occupation that, perversely, is needed now more than ever. In a world where both citizens and advertisers increasingly control their delivery of information via online channels, the kind of legacy mass media that have long served as the principal employers of science journalists—newspapers and magazines—are faltering in many countries. Journalists cut loose from these media organizations are scrambling to find their footing elsewhere.” Others see trailblazers standing up to a new age, with Hayden and Check Hayden (2018, p. 1) suggesting that, with a “broader media ecosystem awash with low-quality, sensationalized, sometimes intentionally misleading material, science and environmental journalists and their allies have stood up to assert the value of rigorous, factual, independent coverage and scrutiny.” It is in this contrasting frontier that it’s appealing to examine new books in science communication. These books often keep one eye on the principles and practice of various legacy media, espousing or critiquing traditional norms, while straining another eye to capture, and then articulate, an elusive digital future. The argument seems to be that those who read these books need to accept that flexibility and adaptability are now priorities, but that we are not yet ready to abandon the constant review of fundamental past practice, often propelled forward by the need for more extensive discussion of the ethics and moral values of science communication