Science Journalism and Advocacy: disseminating, facilitating, defending, shaping, terrorizing, or usurping science?

Science journalism has an illustrious history of service to science and society, but it has also faced many challenges. These challenges have escalated further in the interface with advocacy for and about science. The power to do good but also to do harm, not only to science but to the broader community, must be fathomed carefully. This article dissects different roles that science journalism has assumed, including the traditional ones of disseminating, facilitating, and defending science, as well as evolving roles, in which science journalism and advocacy become more active in shaping science. At the extreme, science journalism and advocacy may exert tyrannic power, even to the point of terrorizing scientific fields or usurping science. Potential ways to improve the current situation include more clearly separating journalism/communication and advocacy from science; giving priority to science over opinion; improving accountability in authorship/contributorship, other types of transparency, and documentation of information sources; and endorsing and honoring ethical standards.