Symposium # 13: Ecology in the Media.

Organized by: P. Alpert and A. Gillespie.
Sponsored by: Public Affairs Committee.
Tuesday, August 8, 2000
8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Ballroom I - Cliff Lodge

The most important way of communicating ecology to the public today is through the mass media. This symposium will showcase some of the best examples of media coverage of ecology, compare the advantages of the different media for communicating ecology, and discuss how most effectively to interest and inform people about ecological issues. For example, the "fireside not pulpit" proposition holds that, to avoid public fatigue with environmental programming, ecology in the media should tell more stories and deliver fewer sermons. The symposium speakers are science journalists, producers, and writers who have translated the work of ecologists into newspaper stories, magazine articles, radio broadcasts, and television shows, plus an ecologist who has experienced translation. Communicating ecology through the media is a two-step process, from scientist to journalist to the public. By assembling two of the parties to this process, this symposium hopes to provide a practicum as well as an analysis of how to communicate ecology through the media.