Selection and Construction in the Science News Cycle: A Belgian Case Study of University Press Release Newsworthiness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Science news articles remain important for science communication. Science journalism is however under pressure due to cost-cutting, diminishing expertise, and increasing workload, making it more source-dependent. In this context, university press releases are frequently consulted sources, as they are deemed trustworthy and easy to use. Through a quantitative content analysis of all research-focused press releases (271) sent out by one Belgian university during the COVID-19 pandemic and all associated news articles (763), we studied how news factors present in press releases influence both selection and construction throughout science news production. This study indicates that university press releases successfully make the news, as approximately 80% of all press releases are incorporated into news articles. In addition, news selection is indeed partially influenced by both the amount of news factors and individual news factors (continuity and trigger) rather than the topic (COVID-19). Most surprising was the amount of copy-pasting found, with all news articles based on press releases entailing some verbatim copying and multiple being identical to the press release. We argue that the power of science news construction largely lies with press offices and stress the importance of deontology and support for (science) journalists and press officers.