How to determine whether a new science finding is "interesting"

Why is it that we hear everywhere about some research results, while others, perhaps published in a journal with a higher impact factor, obtained with more effort, do not seem to interest the public or the press?

The potential interest that a scientific article or research result can arouse can be defined by its so-called "newsworthiness" - that is, whether or not that information is interesting enough to be brought to the public.

The journalistic criteria for measuring newsworthiness guide newsrooms in choosing and communication specialists in filtering all the information they receive and suggest only a few to be covered.

The criteria from below are adapted after Lars Lindberg Christensen in The Hands-On Guide for Science Communicators: A Step-by-Step Approach to Public Outreach.

• Temporal and spatial proximity: it has happened close and it has happened recently
• Relevance: the subject matter has a direct or almost direct influence on readers' lives
• Impact: The more profound the consequences of a research result, the more likely it is to be picked up by the media
• Conflict: a topic that traditionally drives opposing reactions (global warming, cloning, etc.) will get more attention than the rest
• Human interest: life stories that audiences can empathise with
• Mystery: Mysterious phenomena, strange details, unexpected results are taken up without much insistence by the press
• Important discovery
• Records (topics about oldest, biggest, fastest, etc.)
• Topics unconditionally loved by the press: solar system, black holes, planets that can host life, aliens, etc.
• Beautiful images: especially in astronomy
• Publishing in a truly prestigious journal: topics published in Science and Nature are viewed with more interest by journalists
• Relatedness to a "hot" topic, possibly in a parallel or related field

Photo credit: Isaac Quesada on Unsplash

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