Q&A With Communications Expert Neil Hrab

Here are Neil’s answers to the questions that were shared in the Youtube comments:

Q – How do you think the expansion of who is able to disseminate information has impacted public perception of “expertise”? Do you think there is an argument to be made that the ease of setting up a blog or youtube channel has led to a delegitimization of expertise, where anyone can be considered an expert. This could contribute to problems like climate change denial and anti-vaccination.

A – I’ve thought about this myself from time to time, and I wish I had a more articulate answer to share!

Social media has definitely made it easier for anyone with a particular point of view to publicize that point of view, and then build create powerful networks by cultivating people with similar views, potentially on a global level. On the other hand, social media also gives the same power of amplification to experts and other authorities, which in turns means they too can build similar-sized networks and reach similar-sized audiences.

But I am not sure if this has led to a complete “delegitimatization” of experts, however – I think the mainstream media, for example, continues to respect, seek out and publish the views of people with academic/scientific credentials, regardless of how many people follow them on Twitter. Same with governments.

From my admittedly limited knowledge of the history of science, it appears to me that the dialogue between scientific authorities and those who doubt them goes back a long time – and with social media and the beliefs you identified in your question, I think we’re just seeing the latest chapter in a long-running story, rather than something completely new.

Q – How do you envision the continuously expanding role of technology impacting professional and amateur journalism over the next few years?

A – One development I think we’ll see is that journalists take more advantage of opportunities not only to blog events as they happen, but also to “vlog” and integrate more video into their online posts.

As the bandwidth available to all journalists increases, so do the skills one needs to make the most of the bandwidth – people will need not only how to write and how to interview, for example, but also how to create and edit videos and podcasts. It’s exciting to see how many additional ways technology allows us to present and share stories and information. The best, I suspect, is yet to come!

Q – What would you suggest to a student/new graduate hoping to gain experience and eventually work as a (medical) journalist?

A– Even if you are “new” to the field, don’t be shy about networking with people who are already established in medical journalism (or any sort of journalism). Many are eager to

share their experiences. Get in touch with them and try to meet face to face if possible, even if just for a brief coffee, to talk about how they got started. Get involved with groups like www.caj.ca to assist in your networking. And if you haven’t already, start trying to pitch and sell some freelance pieces – start building up your clips file.

Q – How do you strike a balance between formal vs. informal style when writing a blog?

A – Good question! A blog needs to be “formal” in the sense that it’s a piece of writing you’re going to share with other people and needs to be checked for spelling and grammar, formatted into paragraphs so the reader can follow your points, etc. At the same time, it isn’t an academic paper, so it doesn’t necessarily need, for example, the elaborate “introduction-proof 1/proof 2/proof 3/conclusion” format that a typical liberal arts undergraduate paper follows. A blog can be more conversational in tone and less formal that way.

And I don’t think there is such a thing as a mandatory minimum length for a blog. Is there a maximum length? I suspect there is; my own totally unscientific hypothesis is that the average reader’s patience wears thin after the first 500 words or so, because reading for a long time on a screen is hard on the eyes. (I must confess I have not often observed this limit myself!) So one trick to good blogging could be to break up an idea for a long blog into a series of shorter pieces, as a courtesy to your readers.

Q – Do you think it’s important for journalists to nurture a social-media presence?

A – You’re asking me a tough question here – because I don’t actually have a blog of my own, and I don’t even have a website! 🙂 If I was still working in journalism these days, I think I’d probably need to have my own website as a place to archive my work.

Q – Where do you get your ideas for blog posts?

A – Since high school, I’ve enjoyed reading a variety of magazines and newspapers – including those with points of view that I don’t necessarily agree with, but which are well written and cover interesting topics. The greater the variety of publications that you regularly read, the more ideas you’ll have for blogging. I have to imagine that, for someone who wants to be a science-oriented blogger, the vast number of lectures and panel discussions that get posted to YouTube and so on would probably be a fruitful source of blog ideas.