From engaged citizen to lone hero: Nobel Prize laureates on British television, 1962–2004. (May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gouyon, Jean-Baptiste
• Other Names: Widmalm Sven guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Public understanding of science. Volume 27:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 446
• Page End: 457
• Publication Date: 2018-05
• Subjects: British television -- horizon -- neoliberalism -- Nobel laureates -- Nobel Prize -- politics of science communication -- science in public -- television; Science news -- Periodicals; Science -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 303.483
• DOI: 10.1177/0963662518760790
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-6625

Abstract

Between 1962 and 2004, Nobel Prize laureates appear in the British television science programme Horizon in various roles, denoting differing understandings of science in relation to society and culture. These representations are the outcome of an interplay of cultural and institutional factors. They vary with the broadcasting environment. Notably, the article establishes that the choice of presenting scientists as heroic characters in strongly determined storylines from the late-1990s onwards originates in a reaction to institutional imperatives as a means to preserve the existence of the Horizon series. The article shows that exigencies of the institutional context in which media professionals operate are major factors influencing the representation of science in public.