Negotiating the norms of science communication: Blogs by climate scientists and journalists

The traditional norms of scientists and journalists in science communication are beingchallenged in post-normal situations when values are involved, uncertainties are high, and thereis a need for political action. Animated meta-discourses, defined as reflections and discussions ofnorms and their practices, indicate a renegotiation of the norms governing sciencecommunication. This study explores if and how these norms are being renegotiated amongjournalists and scientists – focusing on climate research as a prime example of post-normalscience. We focus on high-profile blogs by eminent scientists and science journalists to analyzewhich norms are problematized or defended using a qualitative content analysis of six climatechange blogs from Germany, the UK, and the USA (n=3808 blog posts from 196 authors withn=439 posts on meta-discourses). The results show that the traditional norm of impartiality isbeing challenged in both science and journalism, especially as far as the journalisticunderstanding of “balance” and the scientific ideal of value-free science are concerned. At thesame time, other norms become more important both among scientists and journalists:transparency and contextualization of information. Discourses about advocacy reveal that thenorm is highly contested and that certain types of advocacy are legitimized in certain situations.