My friend and I were at the bookstore, walking through aisles of school supplies. We stopped in front of a table full of discounted books. He grabbed one then asked if I read a lot.
Before I answered, I thought of the books and magazines I’ve recently read. I could remember the last book I finished reading three years ago – The Good Earth. And the last magazine I read was Reader’s Digest.
I don’t always read. Sometimes I can’t find time to read books besides those required by professors, which I already find hard to finish.
So I told my friend the truth.
“Journalism course mo ‘di ba?” he asked.
I expected that reaction. I’m a journalism student but I seldom read.
Reading is important especially if you’re a writer because it nourishes you with facts and ideas. It also helps you view things from different perspectives.
Journalists always need to read newspapers to keep them updated with the happenings in the world. Science journalists must read different science publications because science and technologies evolve fast.
But being in the know is not the only reason why science journalists should read. And they shouldn’t only be reading scientific magazines or publications.
There are scientific journalists or bloggers who write well about scientific topics. Coturnix, for example, who used to write in Scienceblog.com. Based on his last article there, his style of writing is easy for any reader to understand. Meanwhile, Dr. Stanton Peele’s style in his article is interesting but hard to understand if you’re not familiar with the terms he used.
William Zinsser is right about simplifying words, getting straight to the point, and observing a style to make scientific reading less difficult. Not all readers are like Michael Silverblatt after all.
Science journalists should always know more than their readers. And they should write well so their readers will learn more.
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