The article traces the intensifying media orientation of universities and research organizations first by referring to early diagnoses of the spread of mutual observation and attention seeking as defining societies after WWII. This development provides the background for the unlikely, yet massive turn of scientific organizations to the general public, the media and more recently social media. Details are analyzed on the interactional, organizational and systems levels, and are followed with a focus on the reasons motivating universities. A closer look reveals the self-referentiality of institutional communication deriving its rationale from ‘imagined publics’. The politically sponsored ‘engagement of the public’ has been derailed to become marketing, branding and public relations exercises. The unintended consequences of the establishment of communication units and the blurring of science communication and persuasion are conflicts between faculty and management and possibly a loss of trust in science.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Lo, Yin Yueh;
Huang, Chun-Ju;
Peters, Hans Peter;
(December 2019)
Do Organizational Interests Interfere with Public Communication of Science? An Explorative Study of Public Relations of Scientific Organizations in Taiwan
Article
Ryuma Shineha;
(2016)
Attention to Stem Cell Research in Japanese Mass Media: Twenty-Year Macrotrends and the Gap between Media Attention and Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues
Article
Ren, Jie;
Peters, Hans Peter;
Allgaier, Joachim;
Lo, Yin-Yueh;
(2014)
Similar Challenges but Different Responses: Media Coverage of Measles Vaccination in the UK and China
Article
Asayama, Shinichiro;
Ishii, Atsushi;
(2014)
Reconstruction of the Boundary between Climate Science and Politics: The IPCC in the Japanese Mass Media, 1988--2007
Article
Elizabeth Frances Caldwell;
(2017)
Quackademia? Mass-Media Delegitimation of Homeopathy Education
Book
Ben Epstein;
(2018)
The Only Constant Is Change: Technology, Political Communication, and Innovation Over Time
Chapter
Jones, Morris;
(2013)
Mainstream Media and Social Media Reactions to the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life
Article
Nahia Idoiaga Mondragon;
Lorena Gil de Montes;
Jose Valencia;
(February 2017)
Ebola in the Public Sphere: A Comparison Between Mass Media and Social Networks
Chapter
Webster, Frank;
(2005)
Research, Universities and the Knowledge Society
Article
Frijhoff, Willem;
(2013)
Honderd jaar universiteitsgeschiedenis in Nederland
Chapter
Barnett, Ronald;
(2005)
Re-opening Research: New Amateurs or New Professsionals?
Book
Daniel Rich;
(2023)
The Biden School and the Engaged University of Delaware, 1961-2021
Article
Michael Gastrow;
(December 2015)
Science and the Social Media in an African Context: The Case of the Square Kilometre Array Telescope
Article
Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick;
Benjamin K. Johnson;
Nathaniel A. Silver;
Axel Westerwick;
(October 2015)
Science Exemplars in the Eye of the Beholder: How Exposure to Online Science Information Affects Attitudes
Article
Tania Ouariachi;
María Dolores Olvera-Lobo;
José Gutiérrez-Pérez;
(February 2017)
Analyzing Climate Change Communication Through Online Games: Development and Application of Validated Criteria
Article
Nicole M. Lee;
Matthew S. VanDyke;
(August 2015)
Set It and Forget It: The One-Way Use of Social Media by Government Agencies Communicating Science
Article
Niveen AbiGhannam;
(August 2016)
Madam Science Communicator: A Typology of Women’s Experiences in Online Science Communication
Article
Ashley A. Anderson;
Amy B. Becker;
(August 2018)
Not Just Funny After All: Sarcasm as a Catalyst for Public Engagement With Climate Change
Article
Ashley A. Anderson;
Heidi E. Huntington;
(October 2017)
Social Media, Science, and Attack Discourse: How Twitter Discussions of Climate Change Use Sarcasm and Incivility
Article
Leona Yi-Fan Su;
Dietram A. Scheufele;
Larry Bell;
Dominique Brossard;
Michael A. Xenos;
(October 2017)
Information-Sharing and Community-Building: Exploring the Use of Twitter in Science Public Relations
Be the first to comment!