Ivan Oransky discussed his career path in science writing. He started with internships and freelancing before obtaining full-time roles at various science publications. He noted the decline in science journalism as newspaper science sections dropped from 95 in 1989 to only 19 in 2012. However, trade publications and blogs provide strong business models and opportunities for niche writers. Oransky encouraged attendees to find their niche, use social media to promote their work, and leverage resources from science writing organizations.

1. So You Want to Be A Science
Writer…
NASW Mentorship Program
Boston, February 15, 2013
Ivan Oransky, MD
Executive Editor, Reuters Health
Co-Founder, Retraction Watch
Treasurer, Association of Health Care Journalists
Acting Director, SHERP, New York University
Twitter: @ivanoransky

2. How I Got Started

3. My First Mistakes

4. My Path
• Summer internship at local Gannett daily
• Med school (working at JAMA, writing op-eds)
• Psychiatry internship (writing regular columns
for American Medical News, the Forward)
• Freelancing ~ 1 year
• First full-time journalism job: Editor-in-Chief of
Praxis Post
• Followed by The Scientist, Scientific American,
Reuters Health

5. Who are Today’s Media, Really?
• 95 weekly science sections in newspapers
in 1989
Columbia Journalism Review:
http://www.cjr.org/currents/hard_numbers_jf2013.php

6. Who are Today’s Media, Really?
• 95 weekly science sections in newspapers
in 1989
• 34 in 2005
Columbia Journalism Review:
http://www.cjr.org/currents/hard_numbers_jf2013.php

7. Who are Today’s Media, Really?
• 95 weekly science sections in newspapers
in 1989
• 34 in 2005
• 19 in 2012
Columbia Journalism Review:
http://www.cjr.org/currents/hard_numbers_jf2013.php

8. Who are Today’s Media, Really?

9. Who are Today’s Media, Really?

10. Trade Publications
• Specialized magazines, websites
• Typically strong business model
• Have given rise to many lay media careers

11. Should You Find a Niche?
• What do you obsess about?
• What do you want to be the “go-to” writer
for?

12. Start Your Own Blog
http://skepticalscalpel.blogspot.com/

13. Start Your Own Blog

14. Getting the Word Out
• Use social media, including Twitter
• Forge relationships with other writers and
editors you admire
• Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn –
but also curate the best work of others
• Distinguish between personal voice and
privacy

15. Resources
• Organizations (and training): AHCJ, NASW, SEJ
• Science writing/journalism programs:
Columbia, CUNY, Hopkins, MIT, NYU, Texas
A&M, UC Santa Cruz, UNC-Chapel Hill, others
• AAAS Mass Media Fellowship
• Kaiser Media Internships in Health Reporting

16. Contact Info/Acknowledgements
ivan-oransky@erols.com
Twitter: @ivanoransky
http://retractionwatch.com
Thanks: Nancy Lapid, Reuters Health