Recherche scientifique et médias : enjeux et tensions

The idea of making science public and sharing scientific knowledge is not new. According to the work of Baudouin Jurdant, this idea, in Europe at least, dates back to the Enlightenment. The need to popularize science is also reflected in the European Charter for Researchers (2005), which encourages “social dialogue between researchers and stakeholders in society as a whole”.Today, various types of technical devices such as “open access/science ouverte” encourage dialogue between knowledge and society. However, the simple fact that many scientific publications benefit from free and open access does not always enable researchers to take a real active role in the social and political arena. This is all the more true given that scientists generally do little to popularize their work. It's true that this is relatively little recognized by the bodies that manage their careers (Boure, 2016). As Elsa Poupardin and Mélodie Faury (2018/2015) suggest, popularization and, in particular, the involvement of researchers in informal, non-scientific spaces such as public debates, or even publications outside the places reserved for and recognized by the scientific community, can be perceived as a form of symbolic capital, but this is “worth nothing” from an academic point of view if the authors. e.s don't play “the game of the field” and acquire a certain legitimacy within the discipline to which they belong”.However, according to Dominique Wolton's analysis, “neither is mediatization the equivalent of popularization, despite the place of the media in society and the simple and false idea that the more the media talk about science, the more popularization there will be” (1997, 11); in other words, “access to knowledge alone does not make it possible to develop a knowledge society”. L’idée de rendre la science publique et de partager les connaissances scientifiques n’est pas nouvelle. Selon les travaux de Baudouin Jurdant, cette idée, en Europe du moins, daterait des Lumières. La question de la nécessaire vulgarisation scientifique se retrouve également dans la charte européenne du/de la chercheur-e (2005) qui encourage : « le dialogue social entre les chercheurs et les parties prenantes de la société dans son ensemble ».Aujourd’hui, différents types de dispositifs techniques comme « l’open Access/science ouverte » favorisent le dialogue entre savoirs et société, cependant, le simple fait que de nombreuses publications scientifiques bénéficient d’un accès libre et gratuit n