Science Media Centre - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Science Media Centre is an organisation which formed following to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

Select Committee on Science and Technology's third report on "Science and Society" in 2000.

This report stated that while science was generally reported accurately in the mass media, there was a need for the promotion of more expert information at times when science is under attack in the headlines.

Functions

In order to promote more informed science in the media, the Centre's main function is as a service to journalists, providing background briefings on current scientific issues and facilitating interviews with scientists. Its director is Fiona Fox

Fiona Fox (UK press officer)

Fiona Fox is a British writer. She is the director of the Science Media Centre and a former leading member of the Revolutionary Communist Party.-Early Professional career:Fox started her career at Thames Polytechnic as an assistant PR officer...

Aims

The SMC's stated aim is to "facilitate more scientists to engage with the media, in the hope that the public will have improved access to accurate, evidence-based scientific information about the stories of the day".

Structure

The setting up of the Science Media Centre was assisted by Susan Greenfield

Susan Greenfield

Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, CBE is a British scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords. Greenfield, whose specialty is the physiology of the brain, has worked to research and bring attention to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.Greenfield is...

, the director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. While the Centre is still based in a specially refurbished wing of the Royal Institution, full independence is claimed from all funders and supporters.

Australian division

During Professor Greenfield's term as Thinker in Residence

Thinker in Residence

Thinkers in Residence is a program in Adelaide, South Australia, that brings leaders in their fields to work with the South Australian community and government in developing new ideas and approaches to problem solving, and to promote South Australia....

in South Australia, a new Australian Science Media Centre

Australian Science Media Centre

The Australian Science Media Centre is an independent, non-profit service for the news media, giving journalists direct access to evidence-based science and expertise....

was set up in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, Australia in August 2005.

Funding

The Science Media Centre is funded by over 60 organisations, with individual donations capped at £12,500 per annum. The SMC receives sponsorship from a range of funders including media organisations, universities, scientific and learned societies, the UK Research Councils

Research Councils UK

Research Councils UK is a strategic partnership between the seven UK Research Councils. It enables the Councils to work together more effectively to enhance the overall impact and effectiveness of their research, training and innovation activities, contributing to the delivery of the Government's...

, government bodies, Quango

Quango

Quango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...

s, charities, private donors and corporate bodies. For an up-to-date list of funders, see http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/funding.htm.

Controversy over links with Living Marxism and the Revolutionary Communist Party

Director Fiona Fox is a former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a former contributor to its magazine Living Marxism
Living Marxism
Living Marxism was a British magazine, originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the British Revolutionary Communist Party . It was later rebranded as LM and folded in March 2000 following an adverse ruling in a libel lawsuit brought by the British news corporation, Independent Television News...

and a current contributor to Spiked
Spiked (magazine)
Spiked is a British Internet magazine focusing on politics, culture and society from a humanist and libertarian viewpoint.- Editors and contributors :...

, a website set up by former members of the RCP.

Other SMCs

Science Media Centres exist in other countries; Canada

Science Media Centre of Canada

The Science Media Centre of Canada was formally opened on September 27 2010. It is located in Ottawa.The purpose of the centre is to serve journalists with accurate information on scientific matters. The centre has a Research Advisory Panel of 20 Canadian scientists who will make their expertize...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. Except for the relation between the Science Media Centre in UK and the Australian Science Media Centre, these centres are independent of each other.

External links

Audio clips

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