Discerning Readers Are the Key Lever

The most powerful force that could improve science journalism is more discerning readers: if people paid attention to and rewarded material that went the extra mile to provide context and verification, and ignored content that merely rehashes press releases, the incentives would shift—otherwise audiences get the low-quality media they deserve, and scientists and science communicators are as guilty as the public because of their tendency to want science presented as uniformly exciting and fun.