It's worth pursuading

Another interesting post from Mark Powell at blogfish. It raises the topic of persuasion in science and the scientific community's reaction to Ben "Bueller" Stein's latest opus.

My takeaway quote of note:

I've spent the last 15 years learning how to do conservation work. I’ve learned a lot about persuasion in that time, and it was a long, hard learning process. Not unlike my science training.

As a communications person myself (keep the snickers to a minimum), I've often noticed a wall of apprehension go up between writers and scientists. On the reporter side it's "oh no this scientist is going to be dull." On the scientist's side it's "oh no this reporter is going to get it all wrong."

It's a tale as old as time, and I think both sides are within their rights to feel that way.

After all, the reporter's job is to attract readers and the scientist's job is to research fact.

However, something that has become clear to me in my brief time at the Aquarium, both sides need to work together to accomplish absolutely essential things. Living things are dying. Species are being wiped off the face of Earth.

So at the end of the day it's fine to be careful, reasoned and skeptical ... but it's also important to locate the core message and present it clearly in the cultural context of our world. I don't think of that as beguiling an audience or resorting to trickery. I think of that as telling the truth in the way it needs to be told for people to listen.