Science journalism against disinformation: decalogue of good practices in the digital and transmedia environment

ICONO 14, Revista de comunicación y tecnologías emergentes, 21(1), 2023. ISSN: 1697-8293 https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 ICONO 14 es editada por: Francisco García (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España) y Manuel Gertrudix (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (España) bajo una licencia de licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento 4.0 Internacional. Artículos Science journalism against disinformation: decalogue of good practices in the digital and transmedia environment El periodismo científico ante la desinformación: decálogo de buenas prácticas en el entorno digital y transmedia O jornalismo científico face à desinformação: um decálogo de boas práticas no ambiente digital e transmedia Juan Ignacio Martin-Neira1* Magdalena Trillo-Domínguez1** María Dolores Olvera-Lobo1*** 1 University of Granada, Spain * Journalist. PhD student in Social Sciences ** Journalist. Associate professor PhD. Department of Information and Communication *** Full Professor. Department of Information and Communication Received: 12/09/2022; Revised: 10/10/2022; Accepted: 22/12/2022; Published: 06/03/2023 Translation to English: Adam Cundy To cite this article: Martin-Neira, Juan Ignacio; Trillo-Domínguez, Magdalena; & Olvera-Lobo, María Dolores. (2023). Science journalism against disinformation: decalogue of good practices in the digital and transmedia environment. ICONO 14. Scientific Journal of Communication and Emerging Technologies, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 2Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 Abstract In parallel to the impact of the Covid health pandemic, the fight against disinformation has become one of the main concerns of democratic societies and the media system itself due to its historical role as guarantor of the right to access to rigorous, contrasted, and quality information. The viralization of hoaxes, most of them through social networks, has led media and journalists to place verification processes as one of the cornerstones of their activity and to explore new narratives and publication strategies to reach audiences. In particular, the younger generations are increasingly disconnected from traditional communication environments. This context is revitalizing, redefining and placing science journalism in a strategic position: for what it implies in fact-checking processes and for the opportunity to improve engagement with the public. This research is structured on the basis of a solid corpus of interviews with academic and professional experts. The considerations and opinions of these specialists have made possible the elaboration of a decalogue of good practices oriented to the exploration of the transmedia ecosystem as a vehicle for innovation and promotion of media literacy. Keywords: Science journalism; scientific literacy; misinformation; digital environment; fake news; transmedia narratives Resumen En paralelo al impacto de la pandemia sanitaria del Covid, la lucha contra la desinformación se ha convertido en una de las principales preocupaciones de las sociedades democráticas y del propio sistema mediático por su histórico papel como garante de libertades y derechos. La viralización de bulos, en su mayoría por redes sociales, ha hecho que medios y periodistas sitúen los procesos de verificación como uno de los ejes de su actividad y exploren nuevas narrativas y estrategias de publicación para llegar a las audiencias. En especial, a las generaciones de jóvenes cada vez más desconectadas de los entornos tradicionales de comunicación. Este contexto está revitalizando, redefiniendo y colocando al periodismo científico en una posición estratégica: por cuanto implica en los procesos de fact-checking, además de por la oportunidad de mejorar el engagement con el público. La presente investigación se construye a partir de un sólido corpus de entrevistas a expertos académicos y profesionales. Las consideraciones y opiniones de estos especialistas han posibilitado la elaboración de un decálogo de buenas prácticas orientado a la exploración del ecosistema transmedia como vehículo de innovación y fomento de la alfabetización mediática. Palabras clave: Periodismo científico; alfabetización científica; desinformaciones; entorno digital; fake news; narrativas transmedia Resumo Paralelamente ao impacto da pandemia de saúde Covid, a luta contra a desinformação tornou-se uma das principais preocupações das sociedades democráticas e do próprio sistema de comunicação social, dado o seu papel histórico como garante do direito de Science journalism against disinformation: decalogue of good practices in the digital and transmedia environment Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 3 acesso a informação rigorosa, verificada e de qualidade. A viralização dos embustes, principalmente através de redes sociais, levou os meios de comunicação e os jornalistas a fazer dos processos de verificação uma das pedras angulares da sua actividade e a explorar novas narrativas e estratégias de publicação para chegar ao público. Em particular, as gerações mais jovens estão cada vez mais desligadas dos ambientes de comunicação tradicionais. Este contexto está a revitalizar, redefinindo e colocando o jornalismo científico numa posição estratégica: pelo que implica em processos de verificação de factos, bem como pela oportunidade de melhorar o envolvimento com o público. Esta investigação é construída sobre um sólido corpus de entrevistas com peritos e profissionais académicos. As considerações e opiniões destes especialistas permitiram a elaboração de um decálogo de boas práticas destinado a explorar o ecossistema transmedia como veículo de inovação e de promoção da literacia mediática. Palavras-chave: Jornalismo científico; alfabetização científica; desinformação; ambiente digital; notícias falsas; narrativas transmedia 1. Introduction The coronavirus pandemic has been an unprecedented challenge from the perspective of news with consequences for the practice of journalism and, in particular, media specializing in scientific dissemination. The need to communicate and update events in the field of healthcare and science has become quite a challenge in news processes. And that is not all; as the cases provoked by the virus increased, along with the need to provide appropriate information on what was occurring at sanitary level, the amount of misinformation distributed via analogue and digital means rose (Salaverría et al., 2020), especially from social networks and instant messaging, the main platforms on which this type of false information is reproduced (Noain-Sánchez, 2021). In light of this information crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020) determined that modern society is facing an “infodemic” as a result of the considerable increase in information circulating on the internet, driven by technology and the use of social networks, with the aim of creating “deliberate attempts to disseminate incorrect information to undermine the public health response and promote other interests of specific groups or persons” (WHO, 2020, par. 2). Science journalism, understood as the discipline specializing in communicating and making the latest science content understandable for the public and in which the use of social networks and the digital environment is fundamental for the effective communication thereof (González-Pedraz & Campos-Domínguez, 2017; Vernal-Vilicic et al., 2019; Calvo & Ufarte-Ruiz, 2021), is playing a central role in the public media agenda of modern-day society precisely because of its relevance for combating misinformation. Thus, in its mission to show the progress being made in the discipline and collaborate in 4Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 the field of fact-checking journalism(Hansen, 2016; Trillo-Domínguez & De-Moya-Anegón, 2022), science reporting has battled during this pandemic to contribute to explaining what is meant by “the truth, half-truths and misinformation” (Molina-Cañabate & Magallón-Rosa, 2020, p.12). Considering the social duty of the profession, the responsibility to inform, educate and disseminate scientific knowledge and, all things considered, the importance of science for human life (Liskauskas et al., 2019), it is imperative that strategies be developed that help to tackle the misinformation that is consumed via digital and analogue spaces. In this way it is made easier for society to acquire mechanisms that permit it to distinguish the lies or hoaxes that are generated, contributing towards the cultivation of scientific literacy on the part of citizens (Díaz Moreno, 2019). 1.1 Misinformation in times of pandemic Fake news can be defined as a news story that has the purpose of intentionally misleading the audience that receives it (Catalina-García et al., 2019). Nevertheless, for some authors, the problem of misinformation is so complex in the current media ecosystem that they advise against limiting it to this expression alone (Montemayor Rodríguez & García Jiménez, 2021). Thus, Salaverría et al. (2020) distinguish four types of hoaxes that are usually published: jokes, exaggerations, decontextualisations and deceptions. Generally, the two latter actions are the most serious, because they often take on a “greater level of falsehood and willingness in their spreading” (p.13). As the technology has advanced, digital media and social networks have become the primary means for disseminating this type of misinformation, due to the immediacy and non-existence of geographical boundaries that occur through these channels (GutiérrezCoba et al., 2020). Although social networks provide advantages for produced content to be distributed generally free of charge, quickly and to a mass audience (Garcia-Galera et al., 2020), the current media environment has favored the proliferation of this type of misinformative action, becoming fertile ground for the circulation of such fake content, strengthening its reach through the power of viralization held by social networks (LópezRico et al., 2020; Massarani et al., 2021). And it is on these platforms where misinformation has reached its greatest levels of dissemination, affecting young people in particular, who are those who most tend to use and trust these channels to get their information (Reuters Institute, 2021). This problem reached its maximum level after the pandemic, with an exponential increase in misinformation via these networks. Conspiratorial stories on vaccinations (Pérez-DaSilva et al., 2020), along with erroneous information associated with the consumption of coronavirus-curing chemicals (Álvarez-Daza et al., 2020), formed part of the messages emitted on these applications. Situations such as the foregoing are just one Science journalism against disinformation: decalogue of good practices in the digital and transmedia environment Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 5 example of this surge of intoxication that had a bearing on citizens making bad decisions based on bad information (León et al., 2022). Fighting against this type of misinformation on social media was one of the great challenges during the management of the pandemic and a priority aim when informing about treatments (García-Marín & Salvat-Martinrey, 2022). However, the “infodemic” (WHO, 2020) that arose due to the abysmal quantity of sanitary information, without being able to know whether or not what was being read was true or simply fakes that prejudiced the well-being of citizens (Herrero-Diz & Pérez-Escolar, 2022), has not just had a direct impact on the public; it also tainted journalism and the media. This is a potentially serious problem given that, generally speaking, the media are considered as responsible for educating their audiences on news consumption (González Clavero & Rodríguez Bazán, 2021) and providing citizens with the ability to inform themselves appropriately about what is happening around them (Califano, 2015). In this day and age, however, the media tend to prioritize immediacy over rigorous and contrasted work (Saavedra-Llamas et al., 2019), putting their role as content filterers and educators of citizens with critical thinking to one side (Vernal-Vilicic et al., 2019). Maybe because of this, and despite the pandemic bringing with it a considerable increase in the demand for science journalism and traditional media (Wormer, 2020; Post et al., 2021), studies carried out in countries such as Spain and Portugal show that citizens are increasingly losing their trust in large media outlets (Pérez Escoda & Pedrero Esteban, 2021; Delicado et al., 2021). Added to this weakness is the fact that the public perceive an ecosystem of politically ideological media, which favors space for misinformation and can come to negatively affect news quality (Vázquez-Herrero et al., 2022). 1.2. Combating misinformation from the digital world Taking into account the difficulties and crisis of confidence in which the media are currently embroiled, as well as the negative aspects brought by the social networks as regards affording visibility to trustworthy knowledge, journalism has sought new disruptive channels and innovating narratives to combat misinformation (Sanz-Hernando & ParejoCuéllar, 2021). This is how transmedia or gamified tools have positioned themselves in the digital environment as an approach in the face of fake informations. One example is that put forward by García-Ortega & García-Avilés (2021), who complied five types of games with a news focus created to educate the public against misinformation and, in a practical way, show how the verification of information works. Other multiplatform experiences are those developed by sites such as Maldita Ciencia [“Damned Science”] when using transmedia dynamics, where news forms part of a big narrative that employs diverse platforms and varying levels of depth in the processing of information to communicate and check the trustworthiness of a news story (Molina-Cañabate & Magallón-Rosa, 2020). 6Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 This is a key period, given that factchecking is increasingly positioning itself in the editorial departments of media outlets, developing as a line of professional specialization (Herrero & Herrera-Damas, 2021) and arises as a necessary tool for considering the credibility of a news story (Lobato et al., 2021), permitting it to be checked whether it is true or false as it spreads over the social networks (Blanco-Alfonso et al., 2021). And it is here where the duty of science journalism has been revealed, especially due to its role as verifier of information in this age of media manipulation via the internet (Kitsa, 2021). A report from European Cooperation in Science & Technology (2021) revealed how there is now more than ever a need for effective science communication. Science journalists play a crucial role in raising awareness of the importance of the field in the turbulent times society is going through (Liskauskas et al., 2019). Starting out from the premise that playful and educational elements can be increasingly used to develop fact checking actions within science journalism, this study is set out taking into consideration the crisis of trust affecting journalism, especially content emerging online (Morales-Vargas et al., 2021) and with the responsibility of professionals from the field to inform rigorously and with a critical eye (Cassany et al., 2018). The fundamental axis on which this work rests comprises the knowledge and experience of prominent specialists in journalism and communication. These experts have been consulted taking the horizon of innovations and challenges involved in transmedia narratives as an example. We propose in this way to explore and determine how to take advantage of the opportunities that the digital and transmedia environment can bring in order to combat misinformation. To this end, the following research questions are posed. Q1. How is science journalism tackling the problem of misinformation in the digital realm? Q2. What are the main strategies and challenges that should be considered by both science journalism and the users that consume it in the face of the misinformation problem? Q3. What transmedia techniques have been employed in science journalism as tools for combating misinformation? 2. Methodology To carry out this study a qualitative methodology has been applied based on the creation of a corpus of semi structured interviews (Díaz-Bravo et al., 2013) aimed at prominent experts in journalism, with both academic and professional profiles. Despite the existence of different techniques that help to approach social phenomena, interviews with specialists occupy a relevant space. They have permitted the compiling of their opinions on the way in which science journalism has been developing in the digital realm, with special emphasis Science journalism against disinformation: decalogue of good practices in the digital and transmedia environment Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 7 on opportunities for dissemination on social media. Furthermore, they have facilitated the establishing of a dialogue wherein the interviewees have been able to express their opinions and put forward their proposals. Specifically, the following questions were asked: i) In your opinion, how should science journalism tackle the problem of misinformation in the digital realm? and ii) Which transmedia strategies can be used as fact-checking tools in science journalism? In addition, the work presented here puts the spotlight on the notable international repercussion that Spanish research into communication has had over the last five years (Trabadela-Robles et al., 2020; Trillo-Domínguez & De-Moya-Anegón, 2022). Thus, the interviewees were selected via judgmental sampling where “the variables that define the structural composition of the sample are defined theoretically by the researcher” (Mejía Navarrete, 2000, p. 169). The selection criteria for the sample were delimited to specialists of recognized standing, native to or working in Spain, and who furthermore fulfilled one of the following criteria: i) researchers or academics who have authored works that have had an impact published in the last 5 years on digital communication, be they on social networks, transmedia narratives or science journalism; ii) professionals with more than 5 years of professional experience in the area of digital, science or transmedia journalism. The interviews carried out respond to a global work, with two lines of research and complementary methodology, but with their own entity and development. These were a) The development of science journalism on TikTok and the transmedia board (Martin-Neira et al., 2023) and b) how science journalism is tackling the problem of misinformation, which is the research material published in this study. 2.1 Collection and analysis of responses The semi-structured interviews were carried out between March and April 2022. Firstly, potential participants were contacted by email, social networks, telephone and personal websites, which resulted in 55 professionals fulfilling the previously established requisites. It is worth drawing attention to the fact that, in this interviewee sample confirmation process, 60% of those contacted had a connection with the academic-university world and the other 40% were professionals linked to institutions, media outlets or were consultants in private organizations. A 42% of those contacted were women and 58%, men, to thus find the greatest possible gender parity as regards possible participants. However, of the total number of specialists who were initially asked to participate in the study, 33 (60% of the original proposal) were ruled out of the interview process, either because they openly stated it was impossible for them to participate in the study, or there was no feedback, or it was not possible to arrange a meeting, despite making contact on two separate occasions with one week between each attempt. 8Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 22 experts were eventually recruited to be part of the study (Figure 1). These interviews, the content of which was communicated in advance by the research team, were carried out online and recorded with the consent of the participants, having an average duration of 27 minutes. In some particular cases, and in order to adapt to the conditions of the participants’ availability, it was necessary to either hold the interviews by telephone or the questions were responded to by email. Figure 1. Characterization of the participants in the interviews Source: Own creation Taking into account the work by Vernal-Vilicic et al. (2019), in their study on perception and teaching of journalism in Chile, we decided to process the responses of their interviewees with the code “En”, where the letter . is directly related to the name of the interviewee and . refers to a number randomly assigned by the research team, in order to observe their responses with agility and uniformity. The responses were processed using the program NVivo. In this way, we were able to identify the most frequently used words, enabling the creation of a word cloud, and applied a sentence analysis technique via a simple text query (Trigueros-Cervantes et al., 2018), in order to highlight the main reflections of the experts in the sample. The two branches of research can be appreciated in this word cloud (Figure 2). On the one hand, when speaking about how science journalism should tackle misinformation, the concepts they highlight are those associated with the value of education, along with the importance of the media and propriety of sources, all of which are relevant aspects Science journalism against disinformation: decalogue of good practices in the digital and transmedia environment Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 9 when acting against false content. On the other hand, in the face of the question that draws knowledge on what transmedia strategies can support the task of fact checking, they draw attention to concepts that stress the importance of the construction of a story and of having a strategy to combat misinformation, as well as recognizing how communities can collaborate to dispel these fallacies circulating in the digital realm. Figure 2. Word cloud with the main concepts present in the interview responses Source: Own creation from results obtained 3. Results At a time of an infodemic such as the one in which modern society currently finds itself, journalism becomes a strategic ally of science for combating fakes, but also a space for opportunities in the mid to long-term given its obligatory adaptation and evolution in the digital ecosystem. The results of the interviews carried out in the context of our study are testament to this. Effectively, a number of participants indicate (E11) that “science journalism has the duty to promote the field as a response to information confusion” and that, furthermore, it corresponds to this profession (E7) “to make the difference in the era of misinformation we’re living through”. Nevertheless, science journalism also needs to adapt to the new environments and the development of strategies for effective communication. In this regard, the interviewees warn that what is crucial is to not become swept up in immediacy, stating (E22) that “the times of science are different to those of communication and it is extremely dangerous to demand that science be dictated by news times, because this leads us to errors” and, likewise, (E17) “it is not about replicating an ambitious and striking headline that quickly 16 Icono14 |Enero-Junio 2023 Volumen 21 N° 1 | ISSN: 1697-8293 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v21i1.1949 Califano, Bernadette. (2015). 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