By Nicola Jones
I have lost track of how many times I have received emails from hopeful high school students who read one of my news articles and wanted help with their project on sea level rise, or climate change, or volcanoes or earthquakes or the ongoing effort to grow enough food for the planet and keep emissions in check.
While I applaud these students for reaching out to a real person for help (as a journalist I find this the most efficient way to learn something new), I can’t help wonder what the heck their teachers are thinking, presuming that their teachers suggested this avenue of research. Sure, I have written news stories and features about sea level rise, climate change and all the rest, sometimes for authoritative publications like Nature or Yale Environment 360. Some of these articles must sound very convincing, chock full of facts, telling examples and compelling conclusions. I’m flattered, really I am. But I am NOT an expert in these subjects. I am an intermediary.
These emails I get are symptomatic of a bigger problem. Kids today aren’t being taught (or aren’t learning) how to vet information and expertise. Yes, I delved into each topic, for a while, and spoke to some leading experts about their research. But some of these articles are years old. And I never did the research myself; I’m a journalist who spoke to people, heard their stories, and tried to make sense of it all, briefly, and entertainingly, for my audience to read. As the saying goes, scientists know an awful lot about a little; journalists know very little about an awful lot. If these students want the current facts, they should go straight to the research papers, summary reports and people that I go to, not to me.
Re-used under CC BY-SA 2.0 licence.
This is important. In today’s information deluge, there are ever-more people spreading their theories as facts and hiding behind a cloak of apparent expertise (think Wikipedia, which has the sheen of an encyclopedic authority but actually can be, and often is, biased or just plain wrong). People seem ever-more-willing to Google things like “should I vaccinate my kids” and follow the advice they find in Yahoo answers rather than on the pages of the World Health Organization. Particularly when it comes to science, people can be befuddled by a cloak of fancy jargon into thinking that something must be true. Take the famous case of the sad disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a resort in Portugal in 2007 – newspapers reported that a “forensic analysis” by Danie Krügel of the University of Bloemfontein, based on a “DNA sample and GPS satellite technology”, had traced the missing child to the beach. After some further investigation, it was noted that Krugel was director of security at the university rather than a researcher, and the “device” in question couldn’t possibly do what it claimed to do (read more here).
We need to be teaching our kids (and university students / journalists / scientists) how to weigh information in the information age. What’s the so-called expert’s background? Do they have a real medical degree or a PhD from a credible institution, or is “doctor” just a nickname? How many years’ experience do they have, and what sort of experience? Do they have financial motivations? Where does the funding come from for that website that looks like a newspaper but is actually the front for an advocacy group? I’d love for these high school students who reach out to me, and my kids, to have the skills to critically evaluate information, know who to turn to for facts, and generally not be swayed by uninformed voices.
I admit there are blurry lines here. I probably do know more than these students about the given subject. (I’m not cruel; I tell them politely what I know, which is pretty much whatever I wrote in the article they read in the first place, and point them in the direction of further, more robust information.) Some journalists become authoritative experts on a subject by dint of following one specific story for years, or literally writing the book on an obscure topic. Some scientists have good pedigrees but wacky ideas outside the consensus view. All the more reason to teach people how to assess expertise for themselves.
So, should you listen to me on this subject? I can tell you I have been a journalist since 2000, and I did a science undergrad before that. I have worked for UBC teaching science journalism (for which I was paid), and I am friends with Eric Jandciu who asked me to write this blog post (for which I was not). You could check all that, and maybe you should.
About Nicola Jones
Nicola is a freelance science journalist, writer and editor living in the mountains of Pemberton, BC, where she splits her time between finding interesting stories and being a mom.
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People really struggle to grasp the difference between a science journalist and an actual researcher. It’s wild that they expect you to be the primary source for their assignments.
People seriously need to learn how to check citations instead of just emailing the first author they find on Google. It’s wild that students are being taught to treat journalists like primary sources.
People really need to learn how to check a source list instead of just emailing the person who wrote the summary. It’s wild that students don’t get that journalists are just middlemen.
Teachers really need to start explaining the difference between a secondary source and a primary researcher. It’s wild that students think journalists are the ones actually running the models or digging up the soil.
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I relate to the point about being a journalist who talks to experts rather than doing the original research myself. The line about not being an expert in these subjects, but an intermediary, really resonates with how I’ve viewed source material in the past.
I think it’s honest to say I’m not an expert either; I’m more of a translator who connects researchers with readers. The line about me being an intermediary, not the researcher, really resonates after years of covering science stories.
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This hits hard. The McCann case is a perfect warning—jargon can masquerade as authority. I love that you model transparency by listing your own credentials and biases at the end. That’s exactly what we need to teach: not just “who to trust,” but how to check. Students should be tracing claims back to primary sources, not stopping at a journalist’s summary. Your honesty about being an “intermediary” is refreshing and desperately needed in today’s misinformation landscape.
You make a strong case, but isn’t there value in approaching journalists as entry points? A high school student doesn’t know where to start reading primary literature—your articles give them context and names of real experts to chase. Instead of dismissing their emails, maybe we should frame this as a teachable moment: “Here’s how I found my sources; now you go do the same.” That turns you from a shortcut into a springboard for real research skills.
I was that student once. I emailed a science writer about ocean acidification, expecting all the answers. She politely redirected me to IPCC reports and told me to read the footnotes. It stung, but it taught me more than any article could. Your piece crystallizes why that lesson mattered: credibility isn’t inherited from a byline—it’s earned through verification. I now teach my own students to always ask, “Says who?” and then check their sources too.
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