Large technology companies now reap the advertising revenue that used to flow to journalistic outlets, which has caused the massive contraction of the traditional media industry.
Yet, science and environmental journalists today are producing more and better journalism than ever before, often publishing in a new generation of science-focused digital magazines.
Many of these publications are funded by foundations, but maintain their editorial independence and often syndicate content to more traditional for-profit publications. Examples of this model include Hakai (focused on coastal science and culture; supported by the Tula Foundation), Sapiens (anthropology; the Wenner-Gren Foundation), and Spectrum (autism research; the Simons Foundation). Others, such as BioGraphic (biodiversity science; California Academy of Sciences) are supported by science institutions, while still others are supported by some mix of subscriptions, crowd funding, venture capital, and advertising. Notably, none are fully supported by paying readers and advertising alone (Gutierrez, 2017).
The rise of foundation and philanthropic support for science journalism has engendered a concomitant concern about a loss of editorial independence (Rosenstiel et al., 2016). But, at the same time, the field of science journalism broadly has become more skeptical of the science and scientists it covers, rather than less so (Borel, 2015).
Many science journalists are drawn to the field by their own passion for science and increasingly are informed by their own education and experience in science. In 1963, for example, science journalists on average reported having just a few semesters of college courses in math and basic science (Small, 1963). It is now common for science journalists to come to the field after completing advanced degrees in science.