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Long abstract:

In recent years, momentum around the importance of correcting scientific literature, has given rise to a group of academics, who engage in advocacy and practical initiatives, oriented towards improving the system and processes of scientific research.

Sometimes referred to as “epistemic activists”, this group of scientists not only advocate for better standards of research, but also expose and attempt to curb the many ways in which the reliability of scientific knowledge becomes compromised.

Along the various means and modes of communication that epistemic activists employ, they often can draw (considerable) attention from both specialised and mainstream news media, obtaining a powerful platform to communicate about systemic problems in science to the academic community and beyond. This makes it interesting to explore epistemic activists as actors in the public science communication landscape.

This talk will present work in progress for a project investigating news media content featuring epistemic activists. This project uses media content analysis as a way to investigate the causes and concerns of epistemic activists, as well as representations of systemic problems in science that epistemic activists communicate. In this regard, it explores how systemic problems in science are framed in terms of issues, solutions and actors involved. Moreover, what imageries of science may emerge from these discourses and how epistemic activism and epistemic activists themselves are portrayed?

In the process, this project attempts to understand epistemic activism as a genre of science communication.