Knowledge broker, trust broker, value broker: The roles of the Science Media Center during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In the communicative figuration of science communication (Hepp & Hasebrink, 2017), a variety of actors, practices and orientations contribute to the mediation of scientific knowledge and expertise. By curating scientific content for a journalistic audience, Science Media Centers (SMCs) can take up a powerful intermediary position. In this paper, we apply a figurational framework to understand what roles SMCs can take in science communication. Building on ethnographic material gathered during January and October 2020, we analyze through which practices, communicative relations, mission and normative assumptions SMC Germany has shaped its position in science communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Doing so, we follow the “cultural turn” in science communication research. Building on the concept of brokerage, we conclude that SMC Germany has taken on roles as a knowledge broker by providing journalists with curated scientific content, a trust broker by facilitating relationships between journalists and scientists, and a value broker by promoting the status of scientific expertise in the social knowledge order.

Keywords

• science media center
• covid-19
• expertise
• science journalism
• science communication
• ethnography