By Kristian Serge Skov-Larsen
ksl@adm.au.dk
Is your department used to all this media attention?
We’re involved in atmospheric research and have a high international profile, carrying out research and consulting tasks as well as monitoring the rural and urban air quality in Denmark. So every now and then we do have to cover a story that catches the attention of the media – when the threshold values for air quality in Denmark are exceeded, for instance. Normally a single station or newspaper gets hold of a story and the media cover it for two or three days. But we’ve never had the kind of media focus generated by the Icelandic volcano before. We’ve been talking to them all: TV, radio, newspapers, the internet – you name it! And it’s been going on for more than a week now.
Has it had a negative impact on the rest of your work?
I and my colleague Jørgen Brandt – who’s probably been in the media even more than I have – have a number of research applications that simply had to be completed and sent off. So we had to make sure we managed that even though the media kept calling. And there’s a good reason why you’re talking to me today and not to Jørgen – he’s simply pulled the plug and gone off to finish all these applications. The papers I was working on have been gathering dust all week, and I’ve had to get my colleagues to help me with research applications and to chew over the questions asked by the journalists before I answered them.
What’s it been like dealing with the media?
In general I think we’ve managed to get our message through loud and clear. But sometimes the media have their own agenda – an interest in making the story a bit more dramatic, perhaps. When they do this, it’s important to hang on to the statements that you know are supported by hard evidence. It’s also a good idea to check the things you’re supposed to have said before they come out in print – although it’s sometimes hard to check everything when you have to deal with ten inquiries from the press at the same time.
Have the media been sticking to the facts?
We have tried hard to explain our research as simply and briefly as possible. But there was one journalist who knew nothing about our research area. When that happens you have to take one step back and start from scratch so your research can be communicated as correctly as possible. Fortunately we’ve written a lot of popular-science textbooks about our research area for upper-secondary schools – and we teach as well, of course. The same kind of skills as those you need when talking to journalists.
