Valeria Román Archives - Knight Science Journalism @MIT

by Knight Science Journalism / November 2nd 2020 / Alumni News

Alumni Notes: An Essay Goes Hollywood, an Author Reimagines Pests, and More

Pagan Kennedy’s (‘11) June New York Times piece, “The Rape Kit’s Secret History,” landed like a heavyweight punch to the gut. The 8,000-word essay told the gripping story of Marty Goddard — the Chicago activist who was the driving force behind the 1970s invention of the rape-kit — and the men who would ultimately take most of the credit for her work.

The story was featured in Longreads and within weeks became the subject of a TV and film bidding war, says Kennedy, who fielded more than a dozen inquiries from actors and companies interested in adapting the piece. During one whirlwind week, she took calls with Amy Schumer, Rachel Wiesz, the producers of Law and Order, and several other Hollywood players.

Ultimately, Kennedy struck a deal with Touchstone/Disney for a TV series produced by a team that includes showrunner Sarah Treem. Golden Globe winning actress Claire Danes is set to star in the series, and Kennedy will be an Executive Producer.

Brookshire. Photocredit: Lanver Photography

Bethany Brookshire (’20) has signed a deal to write her debut book, “Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains.” Brookshire’s signing was selected as the “Deal of the Day” at Publisher’s Marketplace, where the forthcoming book was described this way:

“… a study that combines science, journalism, and narrative in exploration of a new big idea: that those animals we deem to be pests — such as mice, rats, deer, pigeons and many more — are considered such not as a result of the animal’s behavior, but because of our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, and what this reveals about ourselves and our impact on the natural world.”

Pests will be published by Ecco, a New York-based imprint of HarperCollins. Brookshire is currently a staff writer at Science News.

Mićo Tatalović (‘18) was named a runner up for the 2020 European Science Journalist of the Year award, finishing behind Russian journalist Maria Pazi. The announcement was made in Trieste at this year’s European Conference of Science Journalism. A press release announcing the award lauds Tatalović as “one of the most prominent figures in European science journalism in recent years both as a writer and editor.”

Tatalović, who has previously worked for New Scientist, Nature, and SciDev.Net, is now a news editor at Research Professional News.

Valeria Román (´04) was recently named head of a new science-focused news section at Río Negro, a Spanish-language newspaper serving the Patagonia region of Argentina. Called Bio, the science news section brands itself as “journalism for the right to science.” Among the stories that have run so far is one about Fran Bubani, the first openly trans researcher at the Bariloche Atomic Center, a leading Argentine science institution. Watch Román’s interview with Bubani here.

Here’s what other alumni are writing, a compendium from Federico Kukso (‘16):

Betsy Mason (‘16): “Election Maps Are Everywhere. Don’t Let Them Fool You.” The New York Times.

Ibby Caputo (‘15): “A Perfect Match: The inequalities in US healthcare exposed through a deeply personal story,” BBC.

Herton Escobar (‘07): “‘Another piece of populist propaganda’: Critics slam the Brazilian government’s new COVID-19 drug,” Science.

Andrada Fiscutean (‘20): “How Indiana Jones, Rambo, and others ended up in 1980s Czechoslovak text-adventures,” Ars Technica.

Federico Kukso (‘16): “White memory: The fight for the search, rescue and restoration of the audiovisual material registered in the Argentine Antarctica,” La Nación (in Spanish).

Teresa Firmino (‘09): “Seven doctors face disciplinary proceedings for spreading disinformation about Covid-19,” Publico (in Portuguese).

Amina Khan (‘19): “Coronavirus Today: The sacrifices of nurses,” The Los Angeles Times.

Valeria Román (‘05): “The pandemic can be an opportunity to deal with mental health problems that were not previously treated,” Río Negro (in Spanish).

Jason Dearen (‘19): “White House puts ‘politicals’ at CDC to try to control info,” The Associated Press.

Thiago Medaglia (‘20): “SMOKE SCREEN: An in-depth analysis of fire and deforestation data in the Amazon,” Ambiental Media.

Steve Mirsky (‘04): “Nobelist Talks CRISPR Uses,” Scientific American.

Wycliffe Muga (‘07): “Nothing matters more than agriculture policy,” The Star.

Chris Mooney (‘10): “After a college town’s coronavirus outbreak, deaths at nursing homes mount,” The Washington Post.

Richard Friebe (‘07): “The non-Nobel Prize winners: An unknown Lithuanian and a biotech wunderkind,” Der Tagesspiegel (in German).

Rowan Philp (‘10): “Tracking the Superspreader Events Driving the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Global Investigative Journalism Network.

Maryn McKenna (‘14): “In the US, 50 States Could Mean 50 Vaccine Rollout Strategies,” Wired.

by Zain Humayun / June 25th 2020 / Alumni News

A New, Science-Savvy Voice for Argentine Radio

Editor’s Note: Since this interview was conducted, Román’s CNN Radio Argentina program was temporarily suspended due to advertising losses affecting much of the station’s programming. CNN Radio Argentina is currently looking for new advertisers to continue the program.

This March, when much of society was grinding to a halt in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Argentine science journalist Valeria Román was making a new start. After 20 years of covering science mostly through her writing, Román, a former Knight Science Journalism Fellow, accepted an offer to become host of CNN Radio Argentina’s new science and environment radio show.

For a journalist who’s long been passionate about demystifying science and the scientific process for the public, the timing couldn’t have been better. Within a month of the show’s launch, Román co-hosted — alongside sports journalist Hernán Castillo — a three-episode special on the coronavirus that gave listeners the opportunity to have their questions fielded by specialists. Since then, her weekly radio show has tackled topics ranging from geology to virology to sociology. And she’s been highlighting the often-overlooked work of Latin American scientists at every turn.

I spoke with Román about the experience of doing journalism in a new medium, the challenges of getting a national radio show off the ground, and her approach to finding fresh story angles on a crowded Covid-19 beat. (The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

Zain Humayun: Let’s talk about your new radio program. What inspired it?

Valeria Román: Well, I’ve worked on different radio programs, in 2011 and 2015. But last year, CNN Radio Argentina was founded. I liked [CNN Radio Argentina’s] values because their main value is information. Other programs in Argentina put more attention on opinions, but CNN Radio Argentina prioritizes good information. So it’s aligned with my views: The public can decide whatever they want, but my mission as a science journalist is to share good information based on scientific evidence.

ZH: And could you say a little bit about the program?

VR: It’s a weekly science radio program. We started the program last March, in the middle of the pandemic, and we had three special programs about the coronavirus.

[The show] is about different sciences. I have interviews with scientists of different fields — social sciences, physics, biotechnology. I have been interviewing not only scientists and researchers, but also, for example, executive directors of private foundations that support science, Argentine Science Ministry, and other science authorities. I include female scientists because as you know, they are underrepresented in the media. So I try to make sure I include the female voice.

ZH: Did you have any challenges in getting the show off the ground?

VR: Well, one of the challenges is that we were living with, we were facing a pandemic. All the media was covering the pandemic and talking about health and science issues. So my science program had a challenge: What should we cover every week if other media outlets are talking about the pandemic at the same time?

But I think we have been developing a unique perspective — a different approach. We have been talking with different researchers and [having] deep conversations, with different perspectives. We share how the scientific information and scientific knowledge is produced. Many media mass media outlets don’t inform their audiences about how scientific results are made.

In my program, for instance, we’ve talked about how vaccines for Covid-19 are made — the different challenges and the uncertainties. We have this approach for every topic. We show the complexity. It’s not only black or white. Every scientific issue has complexity.

The public in general doesn’t know what scientists are doing in Argentina, for Covid-19 or for other things. They don’t know. So we focus on Argentine science too.

ZH: Writing for radio is quite different from print. Did you face any challenges going from one to the other?

VR: Yeah, it’s another medium. I’m learning because I’ve worked in radio twice before, but it’s my first time as a radio host. So I’ve been learning a lot. I practice at home. It’s a big challenge for me, but I like it because I like to learn something every day.

The thing is, I have a good team at the radio show. The producer, she works with me and she’s very collaborative, so after every program she gives me recommendations. I’ve been listening to her every week and improving a lot. Her name is Rosalía Giuffré.

ZH: What is your hope for the program?

VR: I hope we can reach a larger audience, and I hope we can [create] more interest in science in [Argentine] society.

ZH: You’ve also been reporting on the coronavirus in Argentina. What kind of topics have caught your eye?

VR: I have been covering the stigma about Chinese people in the world, and I have been covering the information about clinical trials for Covid-19 — disinformation about treatment. I have also been covering cost and benefits of social distancing measures. So I’ve been covering different aspects of Covid-19, including ethical guidelines [for dealing with] limited-resource settings.

ZH: You’ve been a science journalist for two decades now. Looking back, how do you feel about your career?

VR: Even though there are a lot of barriers to working as a science journalist in a developing country, science journalism is my passion. When you have a passion, it allows you to follow your desires, to remain committed despite the difficulties, the barriers.

I feel lucky. I discovered this passion when I was a teenager. Not all people discover what they want to do so early. But for me it’s a way of life. I live as a science journalist every day. It allows me to look for questions and answers every day, to meet a lot of different people. It’s opened my mind.

by Knight Science Journalism / November 25th 2019 / KSJ News & Events

Five Questions: Exploring the Transgender Experience in Latin America

Knight Science Journalism alumni Iván Carillo, Valeria Román, and Debbie Ponchner contributed to an international reporting project that paired interactive features with narrative storytelling.

Roughly three out of four trans people in Latin America were kicked out of their homes as children. More than half have faced discrimination by healthcare providers. If you are transgender in Latin America, you can expect to live only about half as long as your cisgender peers.

Those are just a few of the startling statistics reported in “Transgender in Latin America: Unfolded from Otherness,” an international reporting project published this month by Tangible and the Spanish-language newspaper El Universal. (The package was originally published in Spanish.)

Edited by Knight Science Journalism alumnus Iván Carillo and reported by journalists from Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Argentina, “Transgender in Latin America” combines text and interactive graphics to paint a portrait of the stigmas associated with being trans in Latin America, the legal barriers that trans people face throughout the region, and the shifting science behind treatments of gender dysphoria. Four profiles, including two by Knight Science Journalism alumnae Debbie Ponchner and Valeria Román, give readers an intimate, layered glimpse into the lives of transgender men and women in different countries across the region. Journalists Carmina de la Luz and Margaret López also contributed reporting.

As it turns out, this ambitious look at the trans experience in Latin America can be traced back to a small gathering of journalists an ocean away, in Lausanne, Switzerland. To learn more, we reached out to project editor Carillo and contributors Ponchner and Román. (The conversation has been edited for clarity and concision):

KSJ@MIT: This project was a far-reaching collaboration, spread across several countries in Latin America. How did it come about?

Carillo: The project is the result of a proposal launched in a workshop that I gave during the World Conference on Science Journalism in Lausanne. The idea of the workshop was to connect journalists from various Latin American countries to focus on science journalism issues. The transgender topic won among 12 ideas because of its social, political, legal and scientific relevance. The four countries represented in our reporting (Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica and Venezuela) — although they offer a partial vision of the phenomenon — at the same time capture similarities and differences in the handling of an issue that undoubtedly demands the attention of governments and the public. The project was carried out entirely through virtual meetings and a group of WhatsApp.

KSJ: The report contained a figure we found startling: The average life expectancy of a transgender person in Latin America is just 35 to 41 years, compared with the 75-year life expectancy for the region overall. Do you think most people in Latin America — and in other parts of the globe, for that matter — are aware of the challenges and injustices that transgender people face?

Ponchner: I also found that figure startling, it’s the reason I was drawn to pursue this topic. I believe that, just as I was before reporting the topic, most people are unaware of the struggles and injustices transgender people face.

Carillo: The majority of people in Latin America not only are not aware of this injustice, but in one way or another suffer from some injustice. We are talking about a region that suffers great inequalities. The transgender community, unfortunately, is not the only one. But the form of exclusion they live is dramatic and must be visualized, discussed, and addressed.

KSJ: In addition to the interactive feature, the project includes a powerful series of profiles of transgender men and women living in different countries across Latin America. Can you tell us about the reporting that went into producing this project?

Carillo: Actually, my work as editor in this report was quite easy, because of the professionalism and the great experience of the four women reporters who participated in it. Two of them [Ponchner and Román] are KSJ fellows and are undoubtedly among the best and most experienced science journalists in Latin America. The interesting thing about the experience was the way they got involved, not only in the stories or profiles of the characters but in the social and health problems that the phenomenon represents. Suddenly the WhatsApp group was having a high-level and highly specialized conversation regarding what was happening in each of the countries. At least two of the reporters came to conclude that this story “had changed their lives.”

KSJ: What do you hope this project will achieve?

Román: We hope to increase the visibility of transgender people in Latin America. We want to push the public conversation about how the human right to health of transgender people is not being protected. We hope to note the healthcare system is not meeting the needs of the transgender community.

Ponchner: I believe the project has given voice to people that have been ignored by society, for many of the transgender people we interviewed, this has been the first time they’ve been able to tell their story. The project also offers the reader scientific facts regarding the transgender population, and explains the different paths a transgender person can follow to be more congruent with their gender identity. All of this, I hope, will contribute to create a better understanding of the needs of transgender people by the general population, and move forward the struggle for equal rights for this population.

[KSJ] What, if anything, do you hope that audiences outside of Latin America will take away from this piece?

Carillo: It was decided to translate this report into English to double its scope and, perhaps, find other allies who can show solidarity and help bring awareness to the topic. Many times, we see big international media publish news about Latin America that’s confusing, inaccurate, or out of context. I believe that the fact that this report has the signature of specialized science journalists who are immersed in the reality they cover is an important contribution. The English-speaking reader may, quite possibly, understand from a more documentary and involved perspective, the complexity of the phenomenon and of Latin American societies.

Román: We hope to raise this question for audiences outside of Latin America: Does my country protect the right to health of my transgender community?