2003 Communications Committee Report
The 2000 Strategic Plan did not lay out specific goals
for the Communica-tions program, but it recommended communications aspects
in a number of goals and objectives specified for other Society activities.
It is within this framework that we have derived our main goal as a
committee: to provide the public with more information about physiology and
the APS through media and public outreach. Five objectives (implied but not
stated in the strategic plan) are critical to achieving this goal:
Objectives:
To attract attention to APS programs and the science
published in APS journals, and presented at APS meetings and conferences; to
educate people about achievements in physiology and the contributions of the
APS; to teach APS members how to communicate their work to the public and
the media; to develop public outreach materials concerning physiology; to
oversee APS-AAAS Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellowship.
In the following report, Communications activities have
been divided and explained according to these objectives.
To meet its communication goals the APS engaged the
services of public relations consultant Donna Krupa in 2000 and APS
Communications Specialist Stacy Brooks in 2001. Krupa focuses on the APS
journals and APS conferences, while Brooks focuses on internal awards
programs, fellowships, committee issues, internal routing and agency
support. An interdepartmental Communications team deals with day-to-day
issues and consults the Communications Committee when its input is needed.
The in-house team is comprised of Martin Frank, Marsha Matyas, Margaret
Reich, Alice Ra’anan, Sue Sabur, Linda Allen, Stacy Brooks and Donna Krupa.
The Communications Committee is chaired by Andrea
Gwosdow. The members of this six-person committee are Gwosdow, Gregory Fink,
Judith Neubauer, David Harder, Kawanza Griffin and Hannah Carey.
Objective 1. To attract attention to APS programs,
science published in its journals, and presented at its meetings and
conferences.
Journal Release Program. The Communications Office
publicizes the science published in APS journals through the “journal
release program.” Each month, abstracts are selected according to their
newsworthiness. These abstracts are summarized and compiled into press
releases that are sent out to science writers and media outlets. Since APS
journal editors and peer reviewers have a first look at the scientific
findings submitted to our journals, they have been asked to identify
newsworthy articles as have the APS staff copy editors. APS journal
supervisors review draft releases from their respective journals for flaws
that may have occurred while synopsizing the full articles.
To date, featured journals have included:
- American Journal of Physiology
- Gastrointestinal and Liver
Physiology
- Regulatory, Integrative and
Comparative Physiology
- Endocrinology and Metabolism
- Heart and Circulatory Physiology
- Renal Physiology
- Lung Cellular and Molecular
Physiology
- Journal of Applied Physiology
- Physiological Genomics
- Advances in Physiology Education
- Journal of Neurophysiology
Meetings and Conferences. The Communications program
also highlights research presented at APS-sponsored meetings and
conferences. Krupa works with the conference organizers to identify
abstracts likely to be of media interest. Press releases are developed for
chosen abstracts and are then distributed to local and national media. For
some of the smaller conferences, related journal article releases are
distributed along with the conference releases to underscore the connection
with APS.
This year, we have done media outreach for the
following APS conferences: “The Power of Comparative Physiology: Evolution,
Integration, and Application” (August 2002); Experimental Biology 2003.
APS Awards Program Publicity. APS provides hundreds of
thousands of dollars in fellowships each year to programs that benefit
scientists, students (kindergarten through postdoctoral levels), teachers
and the lay public. These programs have the potential to draw positive
attention to APS. Since June, we have highlighted several APS programs
geared to students, the educational community and the discipline of
physiology. Releases on APS programs are typically distributed locally to
both the scientist’s hometown media and their institutional press offices.
The following programs have been highlighted: Lazaro J. Mendel Young
Investigator Award; Giles F. Filley Memorial Awards; Arthur C. Guyton Award;
Frontiers in Physiology, Summer Research Teachers Program; and 2003
Distinguished Lectureship Awards.
APS also promotes its annual elections by distributing
a press release announcing its new President, President-Elect and
Councillors.
Measuring Results. The APS now subscribes to a clipping
service that searches newspapers, magazines, internet publications and other
media outlets for articles that mention APS. The clips received enable us to
track the source of APS media coverage, be it from Communications Office
promotional efforts or from another source. The number of clips that each
story receives also helps us gauge trends in media topics of interest as
well.
Objective 2. To educate people about achievements in
physiology and the contributions of the APS.
Timeline of Physiology. The APS Timeline of Physiology
was originally created by Krupa as a general marketing tool for the media.
The Communications Committee helped identify defining events and discoveries
in the history of physiology. At EB 2002, APS members contributed nearly 50
suggestions for additional entries to be included on the timeline. The
Communications Committee and Office reviewed all the suggestions and chose
25 major achievements to feature on the main timeline. The History of
Physiology group reviewed and commented on the document following EB 2003.
Some of their comments were incorporated into the final version. The
timeline will be printed as a poster and will also be available
electronically on the APS web site.
Objective 3. To teach APS members to communicate
their work to the public and the media.
Communications Symposium at EB 2003. The APS
Communications Committee hosted a symposium entitled “Making Science News”
at EB 2003. Organized primarily by Gwosdow, Brooks and Krupa, the program
was intended to acquaint scientists with the media and to demonstrate the
steps involved in converting a research paper into a news story. The first
part of the program featured reporters from newspaper, radio and television
discussing the fundamentals of each medium and practical advice on
presenting scientific information to journalists. In the second section, APS
publicist Krupa led a workshop on how scientists can organize the components
of one’s research into a media-friendly format.
Gary Robbins, science writer for the Orange County
Register; Erik Anderson, science reporter at KPBS San Diego; and Barbara
Ware, formerly of FOX News in New York comprised the panel of journalists.
They gave their insight into what makes science news and the best practices
for getting scientific research covered.
The second part of the symposium was a workshop led by
Krupa. She reviewed media basics including the different types of reporters
and who should to receive information at different media outlets. Krupa also
gave examples of the coverage the APS media relations program has yielded
and how she frames stories in a way that will get the attention of a busy
reporter on deadline.
Participants followed her through an exercise in
messaging that converted their research into four media-friendly points.
These points can easily worked into a press release. Finally, she reviewed
“Interview Do’s and Don’ts” to acquaint participants with what happens on an
interview and the best ways to respond to reporter questions.
The Communications Committee was pleased with its first
symposium and believes there is value in having a communications/public
outreach presence more often than the one-every-three-year rotation
(alternating between the Communications, Public Affairs and Animal Care and
Experimentation Committees) that is currently allowed. The Public Affairs
Committee has given its EB 2004 symposium slot to the Communications
Committee. A similar symposium featuring DC-based science journalists and a
25-person, registration-only media workshop are planned as a follow-up.
Objective 4. Develop public outreach materials
concerning physiology.
Public Outreach “Tool Kit.” At the EB 2003
Communications Committee meeting, the group discussed grass roots outreach
and the development of a public outreach “tool kit.” This tool kit could
include committee outreach write-ups along with links to other APS resources
from the Careers and Education web pages (powerpoint slides, related
presentation materials, etc.). It would also include links to state
societies for biomedical research.
Gwosdow developed a sample how-to sheet entitled
“Communicating with the Public: Parent-Teacher Organi-zations.” The
committee decided to research existing materials on the APS web site and
link relevant pieces along with Gwosdow’s sample. After evaluating whether
members utilize this resource, the committee will decide whether to expand
the tool kit for other audiences and topics.
Subsequent topics could include: how-to host a
journalist at your lab, how-to arrange/go on a media outlet visit, how-to
get involved in your state society for biomedical research, etc.
Objective 5. Oversee APS-AAAS Mass Media Science and
Engineering Fellowship
Mass Media Fellowship. The Communications Committee
oversees this program that encourages an exchange between science and
journalism. This year, the committee evaluated 18 fellowship applications
and recommended funding for Alison Burggren who will spend 10 weeks in the
newsroom of the Sacramento Bee this summer.
2003 marks the fifth year of APS support of a Mass
Media Fellow. Council has asked the Communications Office to perform a
follow-up evaluation of the program. To do this, the communications office
distributed a brief questionnaire to former APS fellows to solicit overall
opinions on the program.
Of the six former fellows (APS-supported or APS student
members), two responded. Both were very positive in their answers. Emily
Singer, supported in 2002, said, “My summer at the LA Times was the best
possible training I could get—what I learned there about the profession in
three months rivals what I learned at UCSC in nine months (in a graduate
level science writing program).” Singer is currently pursuing a career in
science journalism and will spend this summer as an intern at New Scientist
magazine in London. Rachel Davis, supported by the APS in 2001, said of her
mass media internship, “The fellowship has given me more confidence in my
writing and has taught me good reporting skills. It also opened my eyes to
the many ways one can enjoy writing, not only as full time writing job, but
in many aspects of life and work. My life has certainly been enriched by
this experience.” Davis returned to the research realm and is now working as
a lab manager at Rockefeller University.
The fellowship is now in its 28th year and boasts an
alumni roster of more than 400 scientists. According to AAAS: “The program’s
impact extends beyond the 10 weeks Fellows spend at their summer sites. A
significant number of program alumni have been encouraged by their
fellowship experiences to pursue careers related to science journalism.
Others working as scientists or engineers become more adept at describing
scientific concepts to reporters who call their institutions for
information. Some hire on as freelancers, or have otherwise incorporated new
activities related to public understanding of science into their academic or
professional work in science and engineering.”
Andrea Gwosdow, Chair
Council Actions
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