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News Feature

Nature 443, 392-393 (28 September 2006) | doi:10.1038/443392a; Published online 27 September 2006

Open Innovation Challenges

Science journalism: Fighting a reporting battle

Mike Shanahan1

  1. Mike Shanahan, a journalist based in London, is news editor at SciDev.Net. The reporters interviewed are all freelance contributors to the site.

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Science journalists in the developing world face unique stumbling blocks, even as some of the biggest science stories unfold around them. Mike Shanahan reports.

Bennen Buma Gana, a freelance science journalist in Yaoundé, Cameroon, says he often learns about discoveries in his country from media outlets thousands of miles away. "African scientists are unknown at home," says Buma Gana, who has covered topics from tuberculosis to tropical agriculture in his three years of reporting.