Surveys find scientists who appeared frequently in news media were most likely to report personal attacks or trolling.
, published in October. In this survey, 81% of respondents said that they had experienced personal attacks or trolling — even if only rarely — after talking to the media about COVID-19. And 70% reported at least one kind of negative impact after speaking to the media or posting on social media, ranging from receiving physical threats to experiencing emotional distress.
Fox adds that the high numbers are, in part, a reflection of scientists becoming bigger players in public discourse during the pandemic. “I now think the focus has to be on preparing scientists whom we ask to speak in the media for this possible outcome and supporting them such that they can manage it,” she says.
The two surveys drew their samples from different sources, in different ways, and asked different questions, so can’t be compared in detail, notes Kevin McConway, a statistician and emeritus researcher at the Open University, headquartered in Milton Keynes, UK. But, he says, “I don’t think they detract from the overall picture that both surveys provide: that, even though harassment of scientists is nothing new, some of the harassment and threats related to COVID-19 research have been extreme, and both surveys found an association between the amount of media involvement scientists have and the level of harassment they suffer.”
“If, as seems likely to me, the results might mean that good research is not pursued for fear of the harassment consequences, or that scientists are deterred from communicating their findings, that can only be bad for science and for the public,” he adds.
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