From science journalism to educating a pandemic-wise public: Inquiries into the “NDR coronavirus-update” podcast

Abstract

This paper examines how a public radio podcast initially reported on SARS-CoV-2 in a science journalistic way and then, as the pandemic and the podcast progressed, gradually moved into an educational format. The focus is on how the science journalists in public radio NDR’s “Coronavirus Update” ask questions, how these are modulated by virologists and how the latter give listeners insights not only into scientific results but also methods. The educational format becomes evident in the journalists’ recontextualisations, the addressings of the listeners and especially in the construction and rearticulations of a fictitious interaction memory.