Stories my meteorologist told me: how journalists craft popular understanding of weather, oceans, and the sciences

The atmosphere and ocean affect practically everyone every day. From a purely journalistic perspective, then, the weather and the ocean generate tremendous popular interest and respect. This makes meteorology and oceanography unusual among sciences. They have become public disciplines. Meteorologists, in particular, have a higher profile than most of their scientific colleagues: they use their specialized skills every day on television before millions of people.

Yet media stature and popular appeal by themselves are insufficient for disseminating scientific knowledge. In an age when the climate system is assuming increasing public importance, meteorological and oceanographic information continue to generate popular confusion, endangering lives. The benefits of improved forecasts are often unrealized.

Part of the problem is that the media in general rarely cover developments in meteorology or oceanography. There thus remains great untapped potential for using the media to convert the evident popular appeal of weather and oceans into better public understanding.

This paper is a journalist's perspective on how the media, particularly the print media, craft the popular understanding of the atmosphere, the ocean, and the scientists who study them. The paper will examine historical trends in newspaper, magazine, and book coverage of atmospheric and oceanographic sciences and compare this coverage to that given to other sciences. Particular attention will be given to the evolving coverage of atmospheric phenomena in the magazine Weatherwise. The magazine's 52-year history and its current contents yield insights into the changing popular perception of meteorology and weather.

The paper will demonstrate ways in which scientists, through the media, can help shape popular perceptions to yield better public understanding of the weather. The paper will identify some basic rules for writing about science for a popular audience and will suggest ways in which scientists can interact with journalists or write for the public directly.