http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/lyndal-byford/ Lyndal has an Honours Degree in biotechnology from Flinders University and a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication from the Australian National University. She has ten years experience in communicating science in a range of settings including science museums, within the pharmaceutical industry and in media relations. Moving to the UK in 2005, Lyndal joined the UK Science Media Centre as its sole engineering press officer. She returned to Australia in November 2007 to take up the Media Manager role at the Australian Science Media Centre, an independent not for profit organisation that works with the news media to inject more evidence-based science into public discourse. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/declare-conflict-of-interest-or-risk-public-confidence/ Would knowing an academic has shares in a mining company affect how much trust you place in their comments on climate change? How about if the academic sat on the board? Or owned the company? All of these are potential conflicts of interest and all might influence how much weight the media and the public place on that expert’s opinion. Yet sadly, as a new study just published in the Medical Journal of Australia shows, actually getting hold of this information about academics at universities around Australia is often not a simple process. The survey of Australian universities by Simon Chapman and his colleagues showed that of the 25 institutions who responded, none required their academics to state their conflicts of interest on their website profile. Perhaps more importantly, although the researchers found public comment policies for 21 universities, “none required that staff declare potential conflict of interests to media when making a public comment”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Lyndal Byford) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/declare-conflict-of-interest-or-risk-public-confidence/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/declare-conflict-of-interest-or-risk-public-confidence/#item8253 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:35:03 +0000 Lyndal Byford | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/swine-flus-birthday-should-we-have-reacted-differently/ One year ago this weekend, the World Health Organisation issued its first Disease Outbreak Notice on swine flu, confirming the infection of a number of people in Mexico and the US. A few weeks later the previously unknown virus had Australia holding its breath when the first cases hit our shores. The World Health Organisation went on to declare their first pandemic in more than 40 years and the media went into overdrive. A year on you could argue the hype was all a bit excessive and that experts keen to get their names up in lights were crying wolf and playing into the hands of news editors who think the biggest numbers make the best headlines. But ultimately if a new virus was to emerge again this flu season, should we react differently? Probably not. The reality is most viruses don’t mutate into deadly killers; but it has happened before and it will happen again. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Lyndal Byford) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/swine-flus-birthday-should-we-have-reacted-differently/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/swine-flus-birthday-should-we-have-reacted-differently/#item2911 Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:50:04 +0000 Lyndal Byford | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/balance-in-climate-change-science-reporting/ In what was an unprecedented move, Australia’s two leading climate science agencies, the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, combined this week to release a statement of confidence in Australian climate change science. No doubt this “climate snapshot” will have the blogosphere buzzing and the skeptics up in arms but I for one am glad to see these institutions taking a stand. Only a few days ago around 200 scientists from all over the country descended on parliament house for face-to-face meetings and forums with politicians in Canberra. Everything from new research on facial tumours in the Tasmanian Devil to concerns over biodiversity loss were brought to the attention of the folks on the hill. Not surprisingly, climate change figured prominently and especially the need for politicians and the public to focus on the evidence based science. Interesting then, that on the very same day, the Chairman of the ABC, Maurice Newman, would publicly criticise journalists over their lack of critical coverage of climate science. On the need for critical coverage of all topics we wholeheartedly agree. The media should provide balance. But this should not be balance for balance’s sake. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Lyndal Byford) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/balance-in-climate-change-science-reporting/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/balance-in-climate-change-science-reporting/#item2624 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:30:19 +0000 Lyndal Byford | Author bios | The Punch