JOE PALCA
Science Correspondent, NPR
Keynote Speaker
November 16, 2019
Journalism in the Post-Factual World: Is Telling the Truth Enough?
The role of the journalist is to seek out facts, and then share them with readers, listeners, and viewers. There’s a common belief, however, that many people seem indifferent to facts, or if they use them at all to make decisions, they use them selectively. My talk will explore the question of whether this is really happening, and if it is, what can or should journalists do about it. Palca will also present his thoughts about the future of science communication.
Biography
Joe Palca is a science correspondent for NPR. Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered a range of science topics — everything from biomedical research to astronomy. He is currently focused on the eponymous series, "Joe's Big Idea." Stories in the series explore the minds and motivations of scientists and inventors. Palca is also the founder of NPR Scicommers – A science communication collective.
Palca has won numerous awards, including the National Academies Communications Award, the Science-in-Society Award of the National Association of Science Writers, the American Chemical Society's James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Prize, and the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Writing. In 2019, Palca was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in journalism.
With Flora Lichtman, Palca is the co-author of Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us (Wiley, 2011).
He comes to journalism from a science background, having received a PhD in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he worked on human sleep physiology.