Specifically for our members we organise workshops, debates and further training sessions – a major current theme being the role of AI in editorial offices and journalism in general. And we organise visits to universities, research institutes and firms at home and abroad, giving our members the opportunity to conduct independent research on a topic or set of topics not so easily researched alone with the aim of reporting on their findings and experience in newspaper articles, online forums, tv and radio programmes, and podcasts.
WPK is the largest association of science journalists in Germany. We have a growing membership of over 260 freelance and salaried colleagues working for the leading media in the country. Membership is restricted to science journalists, although we have a very supportive circle of friends in press offices, at universities and in other organisations. The association’s mission is to promote quality science journalism and encourage dialogue between science, business, policymakers and the public.
To this end, we run or co-run many different activities both for our members and for those interested in promoting good science journalism, such as “WISSENSWERTE”, a major annual conference on science journalism which brings together science journalists, researchers and science organisations for three days of panel discussions, lectures, workshops and ideas-sharing. Through our Innovation Fund, which helps to kick-start und reinforce forward-looking projects, we play an active role in promoting innovative journalistic ideas by providing funding and support. We monitor developments in science journalism and, during and after Covid, we organised two online lecture series and an in-person international conference on “Science Journalism in the Digital Age II”. Here we focussed on topics that are relevant for the digital transformation of journalism and gathered practical ideas that could be developed and implemented in Germany and elsewhere.