SciLine is a philanthropically funded, editorially independent, free service, whose primary mission is to connect U.S. journalists to knowledgeable, articulate scientific experts and science-based resources.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
SciLine reaches out to our network of scientific experts and poses commonly asked questions about newsworthy topics. Reporters can use these responses in news stories, with attribution to the expert.
A large body of rigorous science has clearly and repeatedly shown that vaccines in use today are exceedingly safe, with benefits greatly outweighing risks for individuals in groups recommended to get them. Contrary to widely disseminated misinformation about the purported dangers of vaccines, serious adverse health effects are very rare, while public health benefits are vast.
A large body of rigorous science has clearly and repeatedly shown that vaccines in use today are exceedingly safe, with benefits greatly outweighing risks for individuals in groups recommended to get them. Contrary to widely disseminated misinformation about the purported dangers of vaccines, serious adverse health effects are very rare, while public health benefits are vast.
A large body of rigorous science has clearly and repeatedly shown that vaccines in use today are exceedingly safe, with benefits greatly outweighing risks for individuals in groups recommended to get them. Contrary to widely disseminated misinformation about the purported dangers of vaccines, serious adverse health effects are very rare, while public health benefits are vast.
Vaccines have delivered enormous public health benefits including the global eradication of smallpox, the near eradication of polio, and greatly reduced incidence of measles, meningitis, and other serious and potentially fatal diseases. Even before the approval of vaccines to protect against COVID-19, which in its first year killed about 2.5 million people worldwide, vaccines were regularly preventing two million to three million deaths per year. A large body of rigorous science has clearly and repeatedly shown that vaccines in use today—which rely on several different strategies to impart immunity—are exceedingly safe, with benefits greatly outweighing risks for individuals in groups recommended to get them.
With several COVID-19 vaccines now making their way toward marketing approval, a number of difficult questions loom. Who should have access to the first available doses? How will companies and regulators assess safety and efficacy, including over the long term? And what does research say about the best ways for public health experts—and journalists—to communicate about the benefits and risks of COVID-19 vaccination? SciLine's on-the-record briefing addressed these issues and provided journalists with an opportunity to ask questions.
Science and technology are increasingly central to the news of our day and to societal decisions of potentially enormous consequence. But with economically challenged newsrooms reducing the number of reporters with backgrounds in technical areas, and the pace of news ever increasing, the world today is one in which there is more science-related news than ever but fewer reporters with the expertise or time to distinguish between methodically derived evidence and speculation or hype. This problem is only exacerbated by the growing proliferation of online information sources that can, inadvertently or intentionally, disseminate misinformation around the globe in an instant.
SciLine strives to be valuable to even the most experienced science journalists, but can be especially helpful to those writing or producing stories about health, medicine, or science who are not beat reporters, so don’t have deep science backgrounds or relationships with credible experts.
SciLine’s ultimate mission is not only to make the best scientific evidence easily available to reporters and other communicators, but also to inform journalists and the public about how reliable evidence is rationally obtained, organized, and verified. In doing so it is hoped that the expertise it provides will be recognized as not merely another voice in the endless “he said/she said” of assertive discourse but rather as a documented body of derived knowledge, and that readers and viewers will, over time, better appreciate how to interpret and judge evidence for themselves.
SciLine also aims to help scientists become more comfortable and effective in their interactions with print, radio, and television journalists, through a variety of media training opportunities.
Science and technology are increasingly central to the news of our day and to societal decisions of potentially enormous consequence. But with economically challenged newsrooms reducing the number of reporters with backgrounds in technical areas, and the pace of news ever increasing, the world today is one in which there is more science-related news than ever but fewer reporters with the expertise or time to distinguish between methodically derived evidence and speculation or hype. This problem is only exacerbated by the growing proliferation of online information sources that can, inadvertently or intentionally, disseminate misinformation around the globe in an instant.
SciLine strives to be valuable to even the most experienced science journalists, but can be especially helpful to those writing or producing stories about health, medicine, or science who are not beat reporters, so don’t have deep science backgrounds or relationships with credible experts.
SciLine’s ultimate mission is not only to make the best scientific evidence easily available to reporters and other communicators, but also to inform journalists and the public about how reliable evidence is rationally obtained, organized, and verified. In doing so it is hoped that the expertise it provides will be recognized as not merely another voice in the endless “he said/she said” of assertive discourse but rather as a documented body of derived knowledge, and that readers and viewers will, over time, better appreciate how to interpret and judge evidence for themselves.
SciLine also aims to help scientists become more comfortable and effective in their interactions with print, radio, and television journalists, through a variety of media training opportunities.
SciLine's matching service, through which we connect journalists to scientific experts on deadline or as needed, is available only to U.S.-based reporters or overseas reporters producing stories for news outlets whose primary audience is in the United States. All of our web-based resources are free for use by journalists, fact checkers, and others around the world.
