SIS, in partnership with the Alumni Association, is hosting an exciting public lecture on the evening of Thursday October 3 at McMaster Innovation Park:  

Why the Media Can’t Tell Their Asteroid from Their Ebola

As more and more mainstream media cut back, downsize, and (in many cases) fold up completely, among the first people to be let go, bought out and retired are the specialised beat reporters, especially the science writers. That leaves the general assignment reporters to cover the science stories that are dominating our news these days: climate change, alternative energy, drought, fracking, forest fires, Ebola, GMO labeling, etc. This presentation examines the Top 10 reasons why they so often get the science wrong.

Jim Handman is Executive Director of the Science Media Centre of Canada. Before joining the SMCC in 2017, he spent 17 years as Executive Producer of the award-winning CBC Radio science program, Quirks & Quarks. During that time, Jim won numerous prizes for science journalism, including the prestigious Walter Sullivan Award from the AGU. He has also taught broadcast journalism at Ryerson University, was Science-Writer-in-Residence at the Journalism School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was the CanWest-Global Fellow in Media at Western University, where he taught a graduate seminar in science journalism. 

You can register for the public lecture here: http://alumni.mcmaster.ca/s/1439/17/event.aspx?sid=1439&gid=1&pgid=8687&cid=15712&ecid=15712&crid=0&calpgid=737&calcid=1522

 Students are encouraged attend.