freelance science journalist and author
From The Brilliant, 31 January 2024: In 2023, Australia’s pre-eminent journalism awards – the Walkleys – included two new categories that had science journalists cheering: ‘specialist and beat reporting’ and ‘explanatory reporting’. It wasn’t the slam-dunk that science journalists – and particularly those who report on climate change –were hoping for. We’d hoped for a … Continue reading Why does science journalism matter?
I’ve been at this science journalism thing for nearly a couple of decades now, but I’m still – perhaps even more than ever – fascinated by how writers write; where the ideas come from, how they decide who to interview, how they research, how they structure, how it all comes together, and what they take … Continue reading How I write
I’ve just listened to the first Longform podcast interview with legendary science journalist Ed Yong, which took place in the first weeks of the pandemic in New York, when the honks and rumbles of ordinary traffic had been replaced by the banshee wails of sirens, and temporary morgues were being set up in New York’s … Continue reading What now?
(An edited version of this was delivered as a speech at the 2016 Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival) So I’m a huge nerd, both in the writing sense and the science sense. In highschool, I used to write essays … for fun. I used to read books about science, purely for the delight I took in learning … Continue reading The privilege and responsibility of being a science journalist
Am I a science journalist or a science communicator? It might seem like a pointless question to ask, but as someone whose day-to-day living kinda of revolves around this issue, it’s actually quite important. Contemplating this led me to realise that I actually don’t really know what the point of difference is between a science … Continue reading The demise of science journalism and rise of science communication?
I wrote my first astronomy story recently. It was one of those stories where the journal/research organisation press release sounds amazing and you think, ‘wow, this story is going to write itself’. Then you look at the actual paper and you can’t even understand what the title means. Reading the abstract makes your brain leak … Continue reading Do you need a science background to write about science?
I’ve had a few professional titles over the years, and a few unprofessional ones too (Office Monkey in the 1995 student newspaper office being a notable one), but the one that has always been there and I hope will always be there is science journalist. I’m very proud to be a science journalist and I … Continue reading Why science?
Bianca Nogrady 