We’ve seen and heard more from scientists in the last 20 months of this pandemic than on any other issue in living memory.
Shaun Hendy, Michael Baker, Rod Jackson and columnist Siouxsie Wiles are now household names. Many others who wouldn’t consider themselves natural communicators have stepped out of the lab to talk to the public, directly via Twitter and Facebook, or through media outlets like Stuff.
The result of this largely voluntary work is that we’ve had the opportunity to be incredibly well-informed about the scientific aspects of Covid-19, even if we might disagree about what we should do in response to the evidence these experts present.
Unfortunately, a good number of the scientists fulfilling what they see as their duty to inform the public, have faced horrible abuse and harassment in response. This is not a New Zealand thing, it has happened all over the world.
The network of Science Media Centres in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany, Taiwan and the UK partnered with the journal Nature to survey scientists who have fronted to the media on Covid-19.
Of the 321 survey respondents, more than two-thirds reported negative experiences as a result of media appearances or social media comments, 22 per cent had received threats of physical or sexual violence, 15 per cent had received death threats, and six scientists had been physically attacked.
I fear this sort of abuse is only going to escalate as we enter this new phase of dealing with the delta variant, where lockdown fatigue grows and the government faces increasingly difficult decisions based on the scenarios experts present.
I know many of these scientists personally. A lot of them shrug off the abuse. But the cumulative effect of being exposed to belittling comments and deeply personal insults will eventually get to even the most thick-skinned scientist.
We’ve leaned heavily on a small group of experts during the pandemic. They are exhausted. Abuse could have a chilling effect, seeing some of them opting out of engaging with the public, rejecting media interviews and dialling back their social media presence.
I was the founding director of the New Zealand Science Media Centre. Over nearly 10 years with the SMC, I worked with many scientists who put their heads above the parapet on issues such as genetic modification, climate change and animal testing.
Some were so shaken by the resulting personal attacks, they retreated back to the safety of academic journals and lectures.
We don’t want a repeat of that, but we can help avoid it by calling out abuse of scientists when we hear it from family and friends.
We can report an abusive post to Facebook or Twitter or if it is a threat against a scientist’s personal safety, inform the police.
It’s not about stifling debate, it’s about ensuring scientists feel safe enough to inform the debate. And our scientific institutions could step up with more proactive and public support of their academics.
We aren’t out of this crisis yet and we need our experts more than ever.
Originally published on Stuff.co.nz.
Photo credit: Clay Banks, Unsplash
PETER GRIFFIN 