Supporting National Science Journalism through International Organization: The Creation of the Ibero-American Association of Science Journalism

ABSTRACTScience journalism associations at a national and international level have aimed to form networks of support for the professionalization of the field. In this article, we focus at the process of consolidation of one of the first of such international organizations: the Ibero-American Association of Science Journalism (AIPC), created in Medellín in 1969, which sowed the seeds for the creation of new national associations across Latin America and connected these national organizations in Latin America and Spain through international conferences, exchange programs, and training initiatives. Through the analysis of historical documentation from the personal archive of one of its main leaders, the Spanish Manuel Calvo Hernando, we explore the dynamic between the AIPC and the national associations in Latin America during this formative period.KEYWORDS: Manuel Calvo Hernandoscience journalismhistory of science journalismLatin Americascience journalism associationsscience communication AcknowledgementsThis paper was written in the scope of the Brazilian Institute of Public Communication of Science and Technology. The first author thanks FAPERJ for the Cientista do Nosso Estado grant and CNPq for the 1B productivity grant.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The Argentinian, Brazilian, Chilean, Columbian, Haitian, Mexican, and Peruvian associations. Accessed May 18, 2023. https://wfsj.org/membership/associations-partners/.2 James Cornell (Citation2010, 409) considers the creation of AIPC in 1969 as “the first step toward [science journalism] internationalism”. However, Cornell himself (Citation2010, 410) notes that two years earlier, in 1967, the International Science Writers Association (ISWA) was established in Montreal, Canada. Unlike the Ibero-American Association, ISWA was formed as an organization of individual membership and may have had a more limited reach in its early years. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that the late 1960s and early 1970s can be observed as a moment of intense international organization among science journalists and writers.3 At the time of writing this article, in 2022 and 2023, we note the twentieth anniversary of his death and the hundredth anniversary of his birth—important markers leading us to review this historical process in his homage.4 There is still no precise data on the exact number of courses, exchange programs, and training initiatives conducted by AIPC. A more in-depth analysis of the Association's actions shapes up as an important agenda to understand the paths of science journalism in the region.5 Latin America is a territorially vast region that contains an enormous cultural diversity, has a history of colonization and authoritarianism, marked socioeconomic inequality, low Human Development Index, and an economy based on the export of agricultural and mineral products. The term Ibero-America refers to the countries in the Americas that have Spanish and Portuguese as official languages, along with the Iberian countries Portugal and Spain, forming a group of countries with historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. Science communication in these countries directly interacts with these socio-economic particularities that need to be considered in its formulation and evaluation. For example, due to their recent democratization, science communication actions still carry the strong tradition of top-down policy making (Polino and Castelfranchi Citation2012).6 “Global North” and “Global South” are terms used to refer to groups of countries grouped based on socio-economic and geopolitical criteria, rather than their actual geographical location, and separated by a significant gap. While “Global North” is used for industrialized countries with high Human Development Indices, “Global South” seeks to refer to developing or underdeveloped countries, heterogeneous among themselves but characterized by insufficient industrialization, poor infrastructure, dense population, low income, low life expectancy, low educational attainment, political and cultural marginalization, historical similarities (such as the colonial past), among other criteria (Wolvers et al. Citation2015). These differences are fundamental to consider the role and possibilities of science journalism in each context (Nguyen and Tran Citation2019).7 We would like to express our gratitude to the family of Calvo Hernando and to the two institutions (AECID and MuNCyT) for granting access to the documents and for providing time and resources for their analysis.8 Source: brochure of the Round Table on Science and Educational Journalism in Bogotá in 1969, stored in the archive under the custody of AECID. Translated from Spanish by the authors.9 The context analyzed—the 1960s and 1970s in Latin America—is a period marked by the establishment of military regimes in some countries. In these regimes, science and technology held a specific place within a technocratic and development-oriented logic. Science communication during this period interacts with this context, but not merely passively and reproducing. The topic is too complex to be fully addressed here, and it is not the objective of this article. However, for those interested in a comprehensive view of the history of science communication in Latin America in the second half of the tweentieth century, delving into this issue is crucial.10 Source: interview with Jorge A. Ibarra in 1977 on the development of science journalism in Guatemala and Latin America, published in the July-August-September edition of the journal Historia Natural y Pro Natura from Guatemala, stored in the archive under the custody of AECID. Translated from Spanish by the authors.11 Jacobo Brailovsky was a medical doctor and journalist, collaborator at the Argentinian newspaper La Nación since 1924 where he maintained a science section called La ciencia en pocos trazos (Science in a Few Strokes). He was the founder and president of the Argentinian Association of Science Journalism and a founder and vice president of AIPC.12 Lawyer and journalist, Carlos Romero worked for the newspaper El Diario in La Paz. He was a founder and president of the Bolivian Association of Science Journalism and one of the founders and directors of AIPC.13 Journalist Marco Antonio Filippi worked at the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, from São Paulo, where he maintained the column Atualidade Científica (Scientific Current Affairs) for decades. He was one of the founders of the Brazilian Association of Science Journalism and of AIPC, and served as one of its vice-presidents.14 Source: text by Calvo Hernando, titled Encuentro entre científicos y periodistas (Encounter between Scientists and Journalists), from 1966, published in the Gaceta de la Prensa Española, stored in the archive under the custody of MuNCyT. Translated from Spanish by the authors.15 Arístides Bastidas was a journalist considered a pioneer in Venezuelan science journalism. He was the director of the science section of the El Nacional newspaper and wrote the column titled La Ciencia Amena (The Light-hearted Science) from 1971 until his death in 1992. The founder of the Venezuelan Science Journalism Circle in 1971 and its president during the 1970s and 1980s, he was also the winner of the Kalinga prize in 1980. Without a college education, Bastidas became a journalist through self-education and taught courses at universities. He organized and chaired the first AIPC congress in Caracas in 1974 and was president of the Association from 1974 to 1979, being considered honorary president from 1979 onwards. He passed away in 1992.16 Arturo Aldunate Philips was an engineer, writer, and science communicator in newspapers and on television.17 Based on the information available in the analyzed documentation, it is not possible to make statements regarding the creation or existence of associations in Costa Rica, Cuba, Guyana, French Guiana, Haiti, Panama, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and other Caribbean countries.18 Source: letter from Misael Acosta Solís to Calvo Hernando on 22 April 1974, stored in the archive under the custody of AECID. Translated from Spanish by the authors.19 Source: letter from Arturo Aldunate Philips to the Venezuelan Circle of Science Journalism written on 23 October 1973, stored in the archive under the custody of AECID.20 Source: letter from Javier Vega Cisneros to Calvo Hernando written on 24 July 1992, stored in the archive under the custody of MuNCyT. Translated from Spanish by the authors.21 José Reis was the foremost figure in Brazilian science communication. A scientist himself, he worked as a journalist for the Folha de São Paulo newspaper from 1947 until his death in 2002, writing about science, technology, and science policy. He was also one of the founders of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science and the Brazilian Association of Science Journalism, of which he served as the first president. The expression “mobilize science” was used by Reis as a way to convey the type of coordinated effort between scientists and science communicators needed to foster a favorable environment for investments in Brazilian scientific research during the same period.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Supporting Research in the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).