The Open Notebook has waded into a debate that has been going on since the early days of modern science journalism: do you need a science degree to be a science journalist? This great piece by journalist Aneri Pattani tackles the question nicely, by outlining the advantages – and disadvantages – that a science degree confers in various aspects of science reporting.
In my experience and world, I know excellent science journalists both with and without science degrees, and with and without journalism degrees (for the record: I have a science degree, but never studied journalism). The bottom line, according to Pattani, is choose your own path; there is no one right way to become or be a science journalist, which will hopefully comfort everyone. Read about it here.