Navigating the Media as Early Career Academics

Background

The pressure for academics to appear in the media is fostered by motives as diverse as increasing expectations for public engagement, the individual desire to promote research findings to a wider audience, beyond the academic community, and career advancement opportunities tied to visibility and reputation. Media appearances by academics have a range of advantages: they enhance the visibility of academic research and expertise, thereby helping bridge the gap between academia and the broader world. Media engagement may also enable academics to contribute to the public discourse on critical issues and societal challenges. Additionally, media exposure has a representational dimension insofar as it impacts the public perception of research and of researchers. However, there are also risks for academics when engaging with public-facing media. For instance, the simplified and engaging communication of complex scientific concepts may be judged negatively by one’s academic peers. It can also be difficult for researchers to communicate on politically sensitive or emotionally charged subjects. Scientific knowledge may be misunderstood, misrepresented or sensationalized by journalists or media organizations. At its reception, the message of academics may be distorted or instrumentalized politically. Moreover, female scholars and academics from marginalized backgrounds are disproportionately affected by stereotypes and harm, both in relation to media appearances themselves and regarding potential public reactions after media exposure.

It is therefore no surprise that academics, especially those at an early stage of their career, often feel unprepared and left alone to navigate the contemporary media landscape. Scientific communication training is usually not included in academic curricula (see Recommendation 2 of the Expert Group “Communicating Sciences and Arts in Times of Digital Media”), and the topic is rarely addressed outside specialized communities focusing on communication and public engagement. Currently, in Switzerland, common ways to learn about science communication and media engagement consist in learning-by-doing, informal exchanges with peers, and ad hoc participation in outreach events for researchers, such as “FameLab” or “3-minute thesis”. Although media training is offered and/or supported by various institutions, it is often geared towards the optimization of individual communication and does not deal with the systemic issues at stake.

This project therefore sought to offer a platform for members of the Swiss Young Academy and other interested early career academics to engage in dialogue, discussion, and critical reflection regarding their relation to the media, provide the opportunity for hands-on training, as well as collect and share the learnings gained on these systemic issues.

Objectives

The goal of this project was to explore the systemic challenges faced by early career academics in the media, such as:

• Representational biases, marginalization, imposter syndrome, and similar obstacles;

• Criticisms within, but also beyond, the scientific community in connection to one’s presence in the media;

• Risks for early career researchers, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds and/or working on controversial and highly politicized topics;

• The issue of institutional support, or lack thereof, knowing that institutional support is especially necessary, and also especially tricky, at the beginning of an academic career;

• The question of whether and, if so, how the media can support academics (and not just the opposite).

Moreover, the project aimed to help SYA members and other interested early career academics to familiarize themselves with various media formats (print, radio, TV, but also other formats, such as social media, podcasts, etc.) and to reflect upon the following issues:

• Specificities of different media formats;

• Responses to media requests, including considerations like timeframes, text review, and off-the-record responses;

• Techniques for dealing with (live) media interviews, especially regarding politically charged or controversial research topics;

• Links between systemic and individual challenges, such as imposter syndrome, precarity, institutional support etc., and useful strategies to overcome them.

Activities

The project consisted of two activity streams, which were interlinked throughout the duration of the project.

The first stream focused on a critical reflection and discussion of what engaging with the media means for academics, especially early career academics and academics from marginalized backgrounds and/or working on controversial and highly politicized topics. Through literature research and the gathering of best practices, the project explored systemic issues related to media engagement. This work provided the conceptual foundation and background material for the media training retreat (see second activity stream below).

The second stream and culmination of the project consisted in a two-day media training retreat held on January 24-25 2025 in Bern. which provided tailored media training and an overall focus on systemic issues linked to media appearances (cf. first activity stream above). It was hence distinct from existing offers, the primary aim of which is to optimize individual communication, as it also created space for critical reflection on media appearances themselves. The retreat combined theoretical knowledge and hands-on tips, as well as practical exercises for those wishing to address specific skill sets or issues.

The first day of the retreat consisted of two parallel media training sessions in German and French, led by Dr Daniel Saraga and Ms Esther Coquoz (RTS), respectively. They were followed by a group session aiming to reflect on the insights gained. The first day ended with a roundtable discussed chaired by Dr Aimée Zermatten and Prof. Dr Odile Ammann (co-speakers of the project) including journalists and academics with extensive media experience, namely Dr Cornelia Eisnach (Republik Magazin), Ms Nicole Lamon (Le Temps), and Prof. Dr Cesla Amarelle (University of Neuchâtel).

The second day began with a presentation of the literature review by project members Dr Anna Jobin and Lea Briguet. This presentation was followed by contributions by SYA members Prof. Dr Stefanie Boulila (“The Science/Activism Dualism in Public Discourse”) and Prof. Dr Alexandre Bovet (presentation of the “Spark” podcast project). A roundtable then brought together several early career academics with media experience, including Dr Ahmed Ajil, Prof. Dr Stefanie Boulila, Dr Madeleine Pape, and Dr Aimée Zermatten. The retreat closed with a peer workshop chaired by Dr Anna Jobin.

The interdisciplinary project team was led by co-speakers Dr Aimée Zermatten (University of Bern, Federal Office of Justice) and Prof. Dr Odile Ammann (University of Lausanne). It also included Dr Anna Jobin (University of Fribourg) and Ms. Lea Briguet (SYA student assistant and Master student in Educational