Astronomy and the Media: a love story?

TL;DR

Despite the appealing visuals and stories, astronomy's media coverage is limited and often confined to specialized outlets, challenging the assumption of its widespread popularity.

Contribution

This paper critically examines the actual extent and nature of astronomy's presence in the media, revealing gaps between perception and reality.

Findings

Astronomy is less covered in mainstream media than expected.

Media coverage of astronomy is mostly confined to specialized publications.

Public attraction to astronomy may be based more on imagery than on comprehensive coverage.

Abstract

With the availability of nice images and amazing, dramatic stories, the fundamental questions it addresses, and the attraction is exerces on many, it is often assumed that astronomy is an obvious topic for the media. Looking more carefully, however, one realises that the truth is perhaps not as glamorous as one would hope, and that, although well present in the media, astronomy's coverage is rather tiny, and often, limited to the specialised pages or magazines.