Sound-bite science: on the brevity of science and scientific experts in Western European television news

Science forms an integral part of our daily lives and plays an important role in democratic deliberation and decision making. One would expect this omnipresence of science to be reflected in television news programs in public broadcasting because of its responsibility to preserve the diversity and openness of the media. For this study, a representative sample of six Western European news programs was analyzed. The results show that science has a marginal presence and that "science news" is about technology or the natural sciences. In national, foreign, or economic news items, "embedded" scientists rarely comment on the issue at hand.