The PerCientEx Project
The PerCientEx project (Excellent Scientific Journalism) gathered last Wednesday at the CosmoCaixa three proposals for journalistic communication that explore new ways of communicating science. And as it could not be otherwise, two of the three were about “the subject”: the difficult coexistence of our species with the ecosystem.
Federico Bianchini i l’Obra de Teatre ‘Antàrtida’
The Argentinian journalist Federico Bianchini explained the process of creating the play “Antártida” of which he is co-author. The work focuses on the conversations of four characters in a scientific base in the middle of the ice of the polar continent: a biologist, a geologist, a glaciologist and a journalist, represented by Bianchini himself. His role is to insist on wanting to understand what he does not understand, repeatedly asking for explanations in order to convey them as a journalist. He does not allow using his voice to repeat phrases from experts who speak for a minority. He wants to be able to communicate for all audiences and works hard until he achieves it. It is the motto of all teachers, including myself: you can only explain it when you have understood it.
We Are Very Green: A Different Videopodcast
Estamos muy verdes is the name of the video podcast conducted by physicist and meteorologist Isabel Moreno and journalist and publicist Irene Baños. The differentiating fact is not the format but the insistence on finding positive models and successful actions in the ecological emergency. In street interviews they note that the concern for the climate emergency is universal, and the attitude is limited in many cases to “I recycle”, which as they say, is actually “I separate”.
The Proposal of Maricarmen Climént
The third proposal was that of the Mexican Maricarmen Climént, who did not focus on the climate crisis, but on health stories that she presents in the podcast called Pan pa’l susto. This is a Mexican expression resulting from a health myth, and it is Maricarmen’s wish to provide enough data so that it is the listener who wants to debunk it. The programs explain from two sides, the scientific and the social, what happens to diseases beyond the patient’s body. The strength of his proposal is in the personal testimonies.