Satyagrah

The word "Satyagrah" (insistence/plea for the truth) is used mainly in the context of a series of peaceful non-cooperation movements in Indian history led by M.K. Gandhi.

However, satyagrah can be extrapolated to the field of journalism. Journalism is a satyagrah of sorts. Ek agrah, satya ke liye. For journalism is the pillar on which a vibrant democracy rests. Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth and for truth to prevail, journalists must make clear to whom they owe their first loyalty. They owe their first loyalty to their readers.To citizens. The journalism profession comes with a strong sense of social responsibility and the responsibility of being the watchdog for society.

Science journalism then serves to bring democracy to science. This is much needed given that science has traditionally been the exclusive domain of scientists. There is a yawning gap between the layman and the expert in scientific field. To add to this, the advent of potentially dangerous bio-weapons and bio-tech borne products further makes the need for public understanding and public policy to govern these issues critical.

There are at present only four schools in the United States, and one school in the UK that offer a graduate level degree in science journalism. None of these institutions offer an undergraduate degree in the field. These institutions are University of California-Santa Cruz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, New York University,University of Wisconsin-Madison and Imperial College of London. There are no rankings available for the science journalism program specifically across these schools, but the Journalism and Mass Communication Department at University of Wisconsin-Madison is widely regarded as the # 1 journalism school in the world based on a variety of statistics over time.

Whipee !

As an aside, journalism as a profession evolved in pubs. Pubs (shortened from public houses originally) were the centers of heated political debate and some dude in the corner would pencil the thought currents flying across the room.