Local members of the media should seek the true and verified information, deplore censorship, and value the quality of published information, especially in science related fields. This appeal was made yesterday by Professor Kathryn O’Hara of the Rwanda Science Journalists’ Association (RSJA) at the closure of a two-day conference at Alpha Palace, Kigali. “Researcher-journalist relationships are crucial for accurate and ethical news coverage of such complex health topics,” she said emphasizing the responsibility for ensuring constructive news coverage. Despite the deadlines and space limitations, Professor O’Hara who doubles as Senior Lecturer in Science journalism at Carleton University in Canada, discouraged journalists’ assumptions on audiences and their anti-science attitude. She dismissed allegations that the job of a Science Journalist is just to translate or transcribe research, and to educate the public saying that they should endeavor to add context and analysis to give meaning in a social sense. O’Hara pledged the association’s support in disseminating relevant information on science issues in Rwanda and its impact on the whole sub-region and Africa. “Without the awareness of critical interface between science, our society and journalism, science writing becomes an essentially meaningless catalogue of events or worse, a vacuous fan letter,” O’Hara who is also the president-elect of the Canadian Science Writers Association said. Tharcisse Musabyimana, a lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication- National University of Rwanda (NUR) said that the communication of science has other purposes which are perhaps less noble but not less important. “Telling science stories helps convey the value of a scientific way of thinking and a rational attitude to problems,” said Musabyimana. “The kind of communication scientists are used to is very far from what should be used to communicate with the rest of society,” he added. Vedaste Minani a researcher at the Rwanda Institute of Science and Technological Research (IRST), regretted that in addition to being a country where literacy is not fully developed, Rwanda has a population that does not demonstrate a lot of interest in reading. Ends
