Science journalism in developing countries needs to be more relevant locally if it is to have any impact, delegates at a science communication conference have been told.

Speaking at a conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST)in Malmo, Sweden, Luisa Massarani, SciDev.Net's Latin America co-ordinator, presented a study tracing science and technology reporting in 12 major Latin American newspapers in 2006.

The study revealed that in seven of the 12 newspapers more than 40 per cent of science news came from developed world.

Marina Joubert from Southern Science, a South African science communication consultancy, told of a similar situation in science reporting in South Africa. She cited a study conducted in March 2008 by Cape Times newspaper, which showed that 51 per cent of science news in the paper was about research from other countries, primarily those in the developed world.

"The larger amount of international science news makes readers think science is irrelevant to their life, especially among those in extreme rural poverty," Joubert said.

Massarani also found that articles were reluctant to criticise information sources, particularly those from the developed world. A high percentage of stories were also reprinted from news agencies, without any attempt to add local context or double check the accuracy of the information.

Joubert says it is difficult for the developing world to establish enough science news sources to feed local media, but there were still ways to make science journalism in these countries more locally applicable.

"Comments from local scientists or members of the public, for example, about the local applications of research will shorten the distance between science and local readers," she told SciDev.Net.

According to Joubert, some [traditional medicine] might be wrong, but telling the readers how science comes to this conclusion, or how scientists are researching traditional medicine could be an effective way to spread scientific knowledge among people familiar with this form of indigenous knowledge.