Astrobiology Workshop, Macquarie University July 12-13 2001

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Astrobiologists and journalists: Closing the communication gap

Carol Oliver (University of Western Sydney)

Life in the universe - from complex molecules to the possibility of intelligence elsewhere - is perhaps one of the hottest topics in science.

However, astrobiology, like any other branch of science, suffers from the well-documented issue of an uneasy relationship between scientists and journalists in their communication. This issue has been characterised as the failure of scientists to understand the needs and goals of journalists and vice versa, especially during a high and concentrated demand for information.

A classic case of such failure in astrobiology was the announcement in August 1996 by NASA scientists that they had discovered what appeared to be microfossils deep inside a meteorite that indisputably came from Mars. The study of ALH84001 and various claims to date reveal some of the key issues in communicating with the public via the media. This paper outlines those issues and discusses communication strategies that might help close the gap between science and the media both in Australia and elsewhere and at a point where the Australian astrobiology community is about to move forward as a coherent group.