Escalating health and climate crises mean all journalists must now know the science behind the story

Reporters used to dealing with elections and wars are suddenly finding themselves being called upon to understand the intricacies of subjects never studied before, writes Borzou Daragahi

The recent outbreak of coronavirus across the world has forced us all to become quick studies on epidemiology (AFP)

Over the past year or so, I have attended a workshop on climate change journalism in The Hague and another week-long training on reporting about nuclear technology and weapons in Vienna.

Both the effects of rising temperatures on our planet and the mechanics of nuclear science are highly technical subjects. Before we as journalists explain to readers the effects of drought on the Middle East or the Sahel, or the finer points of what it means that Iran is spinning 300 vs 1,000 centrifuges, we want to make sure we have a rudimentary understanding of the science.

Certainly we can also just rely on experts when we’re reporting on a topic beyond our own areas of expertise, which for international correspondents tend to include the political and social dynamics of the nations we’re covering.

But relying on “experts” can backfire. I remember once a nuclear scientist told me that there was no way that the kind of water-cooled nuclear reactor being built in the Iranian port city of Bushehr could suffer a meltdown because of an earthquake or a tsunami.

Six months later, after the meltdown of the water-cooled reactor in Japan’s Fukushima, I called up to question his science. “Aha,” he said, “But I didn’t say an earthquake and a tsunami at the same time.”

There have long been science journalists whose main job is to report on new discoveries in the cosmos and in laboratories. But as public health and ecological emergencies across the world have escalated, reporters used to dealing with elections and wars suddenly find themselves being called upon to understand the intricacies of microbiology, weather patterns, soil content, and public health.

The recent outbreak of coronavirus across the world has forced us all to become quick studies on epidemiology. The other day I found myself attempting to decipher a research paper on why the flu kills so many people in some countries and not others.

“Our finding that baseline respiratory mortality and access to health care are associated with influenza-related mortality in persons over 65 years suggests that health care improvements in low and middle-income countries might substantially reduce seasonal influenza mortality,” it read.

I was just beginning to gain an understanding of the topic when I realised my deadline was approaching.

I quickly assembled what I had and filed the piece to the editors, hoping I did justice to an important topic that is at the outer edges of my experience and understanding.

I call myself a foreign correspondent or an international correspondent, but we are all also science journalists now.

Yours,

Borzou Daragahi

International correspondent for The Independent