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INTERVIEW: John Davidson, Chief Press Officer, Medical Research Council (MRC)

Claire Bithell (CB) What was your job before you started as Head of Press at the MRC?

John Davidson (JD) I was a senior broadcast journalist at the BBC - which is a rather uninspiring way of saying that I wrote the news. The job involved keeping across news wires, breaking stories before they appeared on other radio or TV stations but making sure that the reports were accurate and understandable.

CB What made you decide to move from journalism to the MRC?

JD I wanted a fresh challenge. The problem with a lot of journalism at the BBC is that it is deskbound. As Jeremy Paxman pointed out in Edinburgh, rolling news is very restrictive. You have to retell the same unmoving story in different ways for hours on end - a process that gets a little wearing. I've always been fascinated by science - rarely understood any of it - but found it absorbing. I thought this job at the MRC would be very challenging in many ways but there is clear support for communications here which makes most working days enjoyable.

CB What has surprised you about this role - and how does it differ from journalism?

JD I think working in a press office is journalism - or at least it should be. A lot of journalism in broadcasting is simply fixing, for instance setting up interviews and filling time slots without real focus on the story. Press offices can't work like that - you have to get to know the story you are dealing with, understand and talk to the characters involved. Press officers have to have skills that journalists don't need for their day-to-day work - a thorough understanding of the media and the knowledge and skill to influence the way a story is told.

CB Does being a journalist in an earlier life make you a better press officer - and if so what are the main things you wouldn't have known had you not worked in journalism?

JD I think working in a newsroom helps. I suppose the most important lesson from working in news has been that a story has to be told for it to be interesting, so a press release has to be simple and engaging. I don't understand the point of some releases I've seen which are simply corporate memos to the outside world. We try to take advantage of another sad development in the industry which is that many papers and programmes don't have resources to hunt for new stories - so we do it for them. Media outlets are desperate to hear interesting tales and if they happen to be tagged MRC, that doesn't worry them. Hazel Morris and Laure Thomas in our press office secured the front page of the Sun by finding an untold story and selling it in an interesting way.

CB How does the MRC encourage scientists to communicate with the media and the public?

JD All sorts of ways. We do the usual - media training and face to face meetings. But we also try to ensure a really good service to scientists who work with us. We're now getting lots of scientists coming back with new research because they've had a good experience. Others have told their friends and colleagues and they come to us now too.

CB Do you think that medical science is good at getting its voice heard by the public, policy makers and the media?

JD Yes. Science Media Centre, The Wellcome Trust, The Royal Society and The Academy of Medical Sciences all engage effectively and proactively. Science communicators rarely miss a trick. And being on the ball leads to increased confidence which means issues that could cause difficulty like foot and mouth disease, or clinical trials going wrong, are taken by the scruff of the neck and communicated properly.

CB As a research funder, how difficult is it to make sure the MRC gets a name-check in news pieces?

JD We don't worry too much about it. We have a fairly good public profile so journalists are happy to name-check us because we are an organisation their readership or audience recognises. And we maintain that because we're prepared to talk about issues that others may shy away from, for instance the use of animals in medical research. Maintaining our reputation is the most important thing we can do and the name-checks follow.

CB What do you think are the main challenges for research councils, and the MRC in particular, in the next five years?

JD There's a lot to do. We still need to argue the importance of communications to our organisations, we have to persuade more scientists to engage with the public and we have to be prepared for disease outbreaks, wonderful discoveries and unpredictable funding. We also have to find a way to deal with the burgeoning media which is going through its own revolution with the rise of free papers, the slow decline in circulation (if not influence) of the national press and the proliferation of on-demand TV. To do this, we'll need to work ever more closely with other organisations and be creative. But it'll be fun!

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