THE OVER-RELIANCE ON FOREIGN SCIENCE NEWS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: Causes, consequences and solutions
Authors: Nguyen, A. and Tran, M.
Pages: 105-120
DOI: 10.4324/9781003326724-9
Abstract:Developing countries rely heavily on the developed world not only for scientific expertise but also for science news output. From Africa and the Middle East to South America and developing parts of Asia, a large proportion of science news consumed in the Global South has been found to be translated or synthesised from foreign sources, especially global media outlets based in the Global North. Although this structure of dependency bears many long- and short-term implications for local and global development, it has rarely been studied in any depth. Using Vietnam as a case in point, this chapter reviews the causes and impacts of such over-reliance on foreign sources and offers some thoughts on potential solutions to the problem. Drawing on the authors' observations from a decade of empirical research into the state of Vietnamese science journalism, the chapter argues that the one-way flow in science news from the Global North to the Global South should be seen as part of a neo-colonial structure of knowledge dependency that might, in part, be addressed by building capacity for science journalism in the countries of the Global South.
Source: Scopus
