{"id":16564,"date":"2026-09-16T11:20:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T01:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=16564"},"modified":"2026-09-16T11:20:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T01:20:59","slug":"is-science-journalism-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/16\/is-science-journalism-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"Is science journalism dying?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When two popular science magazines \u2013 out of about 17 in circulation \u2013\u00a0ceased publication in the same year<\/a>, one commentator said: \u201cThe science magazines didn\u2019t shake out. They fell apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The general manager of one of the failed magazines said: “There was a perception that they were irrelevant.” One of the publishers remembered being in a “state of shock” as the failures emerged.<\/p>\n

The year? 1986. What just a few years earlier had been called a \u201cscience boom\u201d in the media industry was\u00a0now dubbed a “science crash<\/a>“. Cries of despair came from the science and science journalism communities, worried that interest in science “was a fad”.<\/p>\n

The same worries have now reappeared 40 years later, as publishers have cut the science and environmental reporting staff at many newspapers and magazines. Perhaps the biggest shock came in late June 2026, when Scientific American<\/em> was\u00a0sold to new owners<\/a>, who immediately\u00a0laid off 15 staff members<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0cut salaries of many others<\/a>. But it followed layoffs of science and environment writers at\u00a0The Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(where one of us, Chris Mooney, worked for nearly 10 years),\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0National Public Radio<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One longtime science writer recently worried he was\u00a0writing a eulogy for science journalism<\/a>. Another said: \u201cWe\u2019re in a greatly diminished journalistic enterprise<\/a> in this country.\u201d On Bluesky, one commenter said: “The media mass extinction rolls ever onward<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

So,\u00a0as scholars of<\/a>\u00a0science journalism<\/a>, we wondered: Is this just a cyclical repetition of worries that appear anytime there\u2019s a setback in this field? Or is something new and more troubling happening?<\/p>\n

The answer is a mix of both.<\/p>\n

Scientists have complained about media coverage of science for more than a century, calling it both\u00a0inadequate<\/a>\u00a0and, frequently,\u00a0inaccurate<\/a>. Despite many years of\u00a0increased coverage and better-trained science journalists<\/a>, scientific organisations routinely call for more and better science journalism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Less clear is whether nonscientist adults actually want more and will pay to consume science content to a greater extent than they already do \u2013 at least when not delivered by celebrities like astronomer\u00a0Carl Sagan in the 1980s<\/a>\u00a0or, in the current era, the former NASA engineer turned award-winning\u00a0YouTuber and Netflix star Mark Rober<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1987, one of us, Bruce Lewenstein, analysed the crash of the science boom. Bruce concluded then that an audience clearly did exist at the time for science journalism, though it might not have been as large as some commentators \u2013 and publishers \u2013 had hoped.<\/p>\n

The commentary about a crash, in Bruce\u2019s analysis, represented a\u00a0moral panic<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a real concern, but one where interested parties often exaggerate how serious or widespread a problem is. In reality, science journalism\u00a0continued to thrive<\/a>\u00a0in the decades after the 1980s science boom, as new programs developed to train science journalists, new outlets appeared, and new formats arrived as the internet grew.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the current concerns are again a moral panic: real, but not quite what people are claiming. As it happens, the other of us, Chris Mooney, has been collecting data to update the earlier analysis.<\/p>\n

It appears today\u2019s doomsayers have some points in their favor. Out of 29 prominent popular science magazines created in the United States since the 19th century, only 11 remain. And eight of the closures have happened since 2000.<\/p>\n

Unfurl the caveats. This preliminary effort only tracks print magazine closures. And it only includes magazines covering broad scientific areas \u2013 not just one field, such as astronomy \u2013 and targeted at a general, popular audience. For instance, it largely excludes educational, alumni or membership publications. But we feel the main titles are here.<\/p>\n

And the message is unavoidable. In science media, many efforts fail. They always have. For instance, McGraw-Hill launched an ill-fated mass media science magazine, Science Illustrated<\/em>, back in 1946 \u2013 and saw it fold by 1949<\/a>. There are many other such stories across the decades.<\/p>\n

By far the starkest recent print loss is Popular Science<\/em>, a title that traces its origins back to the Popular Science Monthly<\/em> of 1872. As recently as 2011, Popular Science<\/em> had a total distribution of well over 1 million magazines each month. But it cut back\u00a0to bimonthly<\/a>, then\u00a0to quarterly<\/a>, and then\u00a0no print at all by 2021<\/a>. By the end of 2023, there was\u00a0no digital magazine<\/a>. It continues to publish online science content and two podcasts.<\/p>\n

National Geographic<\/em>, another of the magazine giants, has also struggled. In 2023, it laid off multiple staff writers,\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0reporting by The Washington Post<\/em>, and\u00a0ceased monthly newsstand sales<\/a>. The magazine continues to publish in print.<\/p>\n

That three of the oldest and best-known publications \u2013 Scientific American<\/em>, Popular Science<\/em> and National Geographic<\/em> \u2013 have all faced cutbacks in recent years surely points to something deeper afoot.<\/p>\n

Surveying the field of popular science publishing, two items of context seem relevant.<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s not just science journalism that\u2019s in trouble. The entire structure of journalism is changing. The struggle of print publications goes far beyond the science realm and fundamentally reflects the rise of the internet.<\/p>\n

The changes have arguably been even harder on print newspapers than print magazines. For instance, from 2000 to 2025,\u00a0data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a> shows a loss of roughly 80 per cent of US newspaper jobs, versus about 65 per cent of jobs in the publishing of periodicals. Just as we finished this article, the hedge fund-owned McClatchey chain of newspapers announced major cuts to its newsrooms<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 apparently between\u00a030-50 per cent of the editorial staff<\/a>\u00a0at some publications, at some even more. Both newspapers and magazines have suffered from\u00a0dramatic shifts in the market for advertising<\/a>, which has moved online, and from\u00a0how younger generations consume information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of journalism\u2019s challenges today are economic, some are political. And those are interrelated \u2013 the current fervor for profits encourages corporate consolidation and works against smaller outlets willing to forgo money\u00a0in favor of meeting other goals<\/a>.\u00a0Those goals<\/a>\u00a0can include recruiting young people into science, or presenting the value of expert knowledge, or expressing awe at the natural world.<\/p>\n

And second, in some ways, information and commentary about science is more widely available than ever. Web-only publications, social media feeds, YouTube \u2013 all offer those interested in science a much wider array of information than used to be available. It was over a decade ago now that the\u00a0internet surpassed television<\/a>\u00a0as the primary source of science information for the public, according to survey data compiled by the National Science Foundation. The most promising new online venue for science journalism and communication today\u00a0may be Substack<\/a>, where individual journalists or personalities can garner their own dedicated, paying audiences.<\/p>\n

So science communication is thriving, but that\u2019s different than science journalism. What growth there is tends to favor quick takes and attitude, rather than institutionalised journalism with its commitment to verifying information as well as its costly trappings, including reporters who can spend months on a single project, a gaggle of editors and, yes, lawyers.<\/p>\n

Much online science information remains unfiltered \u2013 pushed by corporations and institutions and some influencers for promotional purposes. Such communicators rarely dig deep for the errors, extended stories or conflicts of interest that are the lifeblood of journalism.<\/p>\n

Concerns about failures of science journalism really amount to concerns about the collapse of institutional journalism more broadly. The social role of journalism \u2013 in a classic phrase, to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable \u2013 remains vital. But as journalist and media critic Tom Rosenstiel writes in his new book, The Next Journalism<\/a><\/em>, new intellectual models need to emerge.<\/p>\n

So, to answer our own question: yes, some of the current concern may be overblown moral panic. But some of it is entirely justified. Still, we retain hope that science journalism will survive this economic, political and technological shakeout. To do so, it will need to be as innovative as the researchers it covers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Published 16 September 2026.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This article was co-authored by Chris Mooney,<\/em> Professor of Practice and Julia G. and Alfred G. Hill Chair of Excellence in Science, Technology, and Medical Writing, University of Tennessee. <\/em><\/strong>It <\/em><\/strong>was originally published in\u00a0<\/em>The Conversation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

P<\/strong>hoto by Trust “Tru” Katsande<\/a> on Unsplash.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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