doxa.comunicación | 26, pp. 169-189 | 172

January-June 2018

Spanish Science Culture and Innovation Units (UCC+i) in digital press: a case study Cristina González-Pedraz, Ana Victoria Pérez-Rodríguez, Eva Campos-Domínguez, Miguel Ángel Quintanilla Fisac

ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978

the current context of science communication. For that purpose, three specific objectives are also considered: quantify the number of science news items released by the UCC + i have been published in the media over a representative period of time; Describe the predominant journalistic frames in those news items and, as far as possible, detect empirical evidence of the digital media dependence from institutional sources regarding science news, that have been raised in the literature.

The present study poses the following objectives:

Investigate the impact of the UCC+i in the Spanish digital press, considering the importance of the online environ-ment in the current context of science communication.

Quantify that presence over a representative period of time.

Describe the journalistic and cyberjournalistic treatment carried out by digital media and the representations of science and knowledge that they reflect.

Detect, as far as possible, indications of the informative dependence of organized sources raised in the literature.

1.1. Science Culture and Innovation Units (UCC + i) in Spain

Although some SCOs have been working in research centres in the United States and Europe for more than 50 years, they are relatively new in the Spanish-speaking world (Frías and Rueda, 2014). In Spain, the largest universities and research centres began to incorporate their communication offices in the 1980s (Onieva, 2016). Those new structures were mainly focused on institutional communication activities with an occasional involvement in science communication.

2007 was declared by Royal Decree the Year of Science in Spain. In that context, Spanish government promoted the figure of Science Culture and Innovation Units (UCC + I) through the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). The aim of this measure was to create offices for the dissemination of science culture embedded either in private or public Spanish research departments as key element for improving social engagement in science and innovation processes. In order to achieve that goal, it was crucial, as it was stated in the Royal Decree, to mitigate the lack of interest in science detected by Social Perception of Science surveys among Spanish citizens.

With this objective in mind, UCC + i have worked in the organization of scientific outreach activities of diverse nature such as open days, exhibitions, training activities, guided visits to research centres or activities to encourage young people pursuing STEM careers.

Since their launch, the UCC + I units have also assumed science communication activities as a fundamental task to bring science to the general public and increase their scientific culture. According to the White Paper of the Science Culture and Innovation Units (AA.VV., 2012), one of the main recipients of science communication actions are the media themselves. Given the scarcity of science journalists in the newsrooms and considering the privileged access to scientific sources held by the UCC + i, “they must work to offer rigorous, updated scientific contents, access to research sources and any other additional material, such as images, graphics, videos, recorded statements or statistical data, that may be useful for the media to compose high quality science news items (2012:16).