SOD OFF AND FIND US A BOFFIN - JOURNALISTS AND THE SOCIAL-SCIENCE CONFERENCE

Social scientists perform a multi-functional role as researcher, teach er and expert. The academic conference provides an opportunity for all these roles to be engaged and as such is a political and social site where meaning is debated and new research born. The conference is also attractive to journalists as news fodder. This article considers the relationship between journalists and social scientific organizations i n the context of a professional conference and seeks to explain the te nsions that exist. It concludes that the two cultures of journalist an d academic are in conflict where they converge.