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When science
hits the headlines

When and how the editorial office becomes active

The SMC acts as an intermediary between science and journalism, between researchers and media professionals. Our mission is to help inform the public in a more comprehensive and informed way - so that the findings of science carry more weight in debates. 

The occasion:

     

  • A current event related to science is reported without the expertise of researchers.
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  • A research result is published and also makes headlines in the media.
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  • A scientific topic is hotly debated in politics and the public, but leaves journalism cold.
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  • In short, when science makes it to the front pages or when voices from science can foreseeably make a difference in the reporting, the SMC editorial team takes action.
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The process:

     

  • The SMC editorial team proactively monitors topic careers and researches who really has domain-specific expertise in the respective topic area. Over a thousand researchers are already accredited in our database; others are currently researched if necessary and motivated to participate in the SMC.
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  • We also research which scientific evidence is decisive and which is available in the relevant sciences. 
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  • We then contact the selected experts and ask them for an assessment and a statement. In doing so, we usually ask some guiding questions. These relate, for example, to the quality of the research result or to technical aspects of the topic. The experts can use these guiding questions as orientation for their assessments. 
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  • The requested researchers provide a scientifically sound statement - and they do so promptly, within a few hours if it is a daily event, or a little later if, for example, it is a specialist publication with a cut-off date in a few days.
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  • We bundle these expertises, add further research recommendations if necessary and then immediately pass on our offers to accredited media professionals who work in journalism as their main profession and for media in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. 
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  • We organise virtual press briefings with researchers on publicly relevant topics, where media professionals can put their questions to experts. 
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In all of this, we work editorially free and independent - as befits our journalistic professional ethos and in accordance with the statutes of our non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH). We follow the principles of journalistic independence, diligence and neutrality of interest.

And we live our values. 

The result:

     

  • Editors use our offerings as a source of research and as a pool of quotations for their reporting. In this way, the SMC contributes to bringing more science into the media. Also in non-scientific sections such as economics, politics, culture, education and current affairs.
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  • The SMC publishes all offers on a time-delayed basis on the SMC website under ALL OFFERS. This creates a freely accessible archive of scientific expertise that can be searched by topic and researcher.
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