Professor Joan Leach, who heads up the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, wrote a great article for The Conversation about the need for good science journalism in Australia, why science journalism and science communication are different endeavours, and the challenges currently facing science journalists in Australia today:
“Specialist science journalists are vital in our society in a few key ways. These include as public disseminators of sound science that can lead to policy, as identifiers of flawed journalism and “dodgy” (even life-threatening) science, and as gatekeepers between public relations departments in research institutions and the general media.”