Connecting scientific and expert thinking to an engaged public https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2019/connecting-scientific-and-expert-thinking-to-an-engaged-public https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Connecting scientific and expert thinking to an engaged public

Additional Information
Used for	The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists respectfully requests $10,000 from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation to support its goals of: ensuring that nuclear issues are a regular part of the political debate among Presidential candidates, in local political forums, town halls, and in civic conversations; and, connecting the best scientific and expert thinking on nuclear risk and climate change to a growing audience eager to engage the most consequential issues facing the planet. The grant will be used to: 1. Support the work of the Bulletin’s Chief Digital Officer to reach and retain new, younger readers who, as market research confirms, will use their voices, or shares, to demand political change. 2. Curate and publish a Special Issue of the Bulletin focused on nuclear policy and the US presidential election and publish extended and timely coverage of nuclear policy to support the Bulletin’s push for debate on these issues among presidential candidates, in town hall meetings and throughout the campaign trail throughout the 2020 Presidential debate season.
Benefits	There is no magazine, new-media platform nor think tank that is recognized as a go-to site for exploring the intersection of science/technology and global security. The importance of Bulletin content on political debate, scientific advancement, and policy recommendations is evident in pages visited: nearly 70% of the Bulletin’s total visitors visited Bulletin news and analysis while 30% visit the Doomsday Clock pages almost exclusively. With its presence in thousands of research universities and centers worldwide, and its growing website traffic that is young and global, the Bulletin is firmly positioned as a leading resource for global conversations about issues facing the wellness of the world.
Proposal Description	Today’s headlines argue for a robust and vibrant Bulletin. The nuclear landscape is fraught and will remain so for years to come. Relations between the United States and Russia, the two countries that own 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, have deteriorated. The nuclear arms control architecture that has helped keep the planet safe for the past five decades is under duress. The Korean Peninsula’s nuclear future is precarious, relations between nuclear armed India and Pakistan are unstable, and nuclear states around the globe are investing heavily in their nuclear arsenals. The likelihood of a nuclear accident or blunder seems to be growing by the day. While today’s nuclear landscape argues for an active and assertive Bulletin, advances in science and a variety of technologies demand it. Current debate on mitigating the effects of climate change involve controversial technologies like geo-engineering, akin to what some have called “hacking the planet.” The dilemma of how to manage “Pandora’s box of modern science,” as our founding editor referred to it, echoes what Manhattan project scientists faced after the invention of the atomic bomb. There must be a global conversation that engages scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers, ethicists, journalists, artists, and the broader public. Yet it is precisely when the need for such debate has become urgent that scientists and experts have come under assault, as has the free press and the tools needed to distinguish rigorous analysis from casual opinion and “fake news.” This does not bode well for the health and safety of our planet. The Bulletin was created to serve as a guide through such times as we face today—to provide evidence-based, rigorously-sober solutions to man-made existential challenges. But to be a successful guide in today’s fast-changing environment, in which the meaning and effectiveness of nearly all institutions are being questioned, is no easy task. The media landscape in which the Bulletin operates is changing. Every think tank maintains its own platforms to disseminate information to a large audience. Issue-based organizations can dive deep on each of the Bulletin’s core issue-areas and often have resident experts who can produce content and address constituent queries. Support from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation continues to bolster the Bulletin’s efforts of reaching a growing, younger audience. Moving forward, a continuing goal will be expanding partnerships with more general interest magazines and niche science and foreign policy platforms to place Bulletin content in front of new audiences. Partners like The New Yorker, Mother Jones, The Nation, are partners helping to place Bulletin content in front of a wider audience. Recent strategic content partnerships include the Climate Desk and the Covering Climate Now initiative. Climate Desk is a consortium of publications managed by Mother Jones. Partners are The Atlantic, Atlas Obscura, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, CityLab, Grist, The Guardian, High Country News, HuffPost, Medium, Mother Jones, National Observer, Newsweek, Reveal, Slate, The Weather Channel, Undark, Wired and Yale Environment 360. The Bulletin includes content from Climate Desk on its website and provides a majority of its climate change coverage to the partners in the consortium. In September, 2019, the Bulletin participated in Covering Climate Now, an initiative of over 300 partner outlets organized during the run-up to the UN Climate Summit. Similar to the partnership with Climate Desk, the Bulletin includes content from Covering Climate Now partners on its website and provides a majority of its climate change coverage to the partners in the initiative. The Bulletin Audience: In 2017 the Bulletin drew 4.2 million-page views per year. There were fewer visitors in 2018 compared to 2017 which is not surprising as 2017 was a uniquely dangerous year in global politics with reckless diplomatic rhetoric between the United States and North Korea that drove unprecedented traffic to the Bulletin. In the first 6 months of 2019, the Bulletin reversed the 2018 decline and added an additional 30K visitors over the same period in 2018. Overall, there has been a 292% increase in total web visits over the past five years (comparing 2018 to 2013), and a 20% increase in visitor traffic comparing only 2018 to 2016. There has also been a similar increase in visitor’s time spent on each page. 2019 is on pace to match 2017 totals, which surpassed all previous years’ total web visits. Further, through efforts listed throughout this report, the Bulletin is on target to increase long term retention of visitors, increase time spent on the site and page visits, and increase subscribers of the Bulletin’s newsletter. Activities Supported by the Grant: Over the last few years, the Bulletin invested heavily in updating its communications and outreach, expanding staff to meet objectives, producing more interactive content with a focus on reaching and retaining a younger audience, hosting targeted public events, and broadening the Bulletin’s leadership expertise to address current science and policy concerns. A six-month review of these ongoing efforts - designed to grow our audience, increase visibility and impact, and reach a younger audience - has resulted in a strategic framework to guide current and future actions. In the next year, the Bulletin will: 1. Through digital grassroots canvasing and new partnerships, the Bulletin will reach and retain new, younger readers who, as market research confirms, will use their voices, or shares, to demand political change. a. Fundamental to these efforts is the Bulletin’s new staff position of Chief Digital Officer (October 2019) who, based on the successes and direction of the past two years, will capitalize on past success and accelerate all digital marketing and communication efforts. b. The Bulletin is exploring new channels for publishing its content. In the past year, the Bulletin has created channels on Apple News and Google News. Today, the Bulletin is exploring and refining use of Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flipboard and other outlets where tens of millions of active users get their information. Such opportunities support the Bulletin’s efforts to meet audiences where they are, rather than wait for them to find the Bulletin’s website. c. Target and deploy advertising to connect with audiences interested in the Bulletin’s efforts. It is essential to keep the cost of acquiring new readers to a minimum through targeted advertising that reaches potential audience that have a high likelihood of responding to Bulletin content. Two past examples of recent advertising efforts yield the need for staff development, execution and oversight to maximize advertising ROI. “Call to Action” ads were placed in Mother Jones and also the Washington Post (online edition) targeting potential new Bulletin newsletter subscribers. Both placements cost the same, but the Mother Jones ad led to 400 new subscribers, while the Post ad was less effective. The Director of Digital Strategy will lead new targeted advertising efforts. d. To continue to expand its reach, and grow its crowd, the Bulletin will partner with more general interest magazines and niche science and foreign policy platforms to place Bulletin content in front of new audiences that we know are hungry for our content. Partners like Wired, Mother Jones, The Guardian, Reddit, NowThis (along with our many partners in Climate Desk and the Covering Climate Now initiatives, outlined above) are current partners helping place Bulletin content in front of a wider audience. A recent example of a strategic Bulletin partnership that benefited both parties occurred when long-time Bulletin contributor Ted Postol offered Newsweek his analysis on the range of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. Postol’s piece offered cautionary evidence that North Korean missile ranges were perhaps not as far as the emerging consensus believed. Newsweek liked the provocative piece but lacked the confidence to publish it without outside imprimatur. Working in coordination with Newsweek, the Bulletin published the piece and Newsweek covered it. The Newsweek coverage drove significant traffic to the Bulletin. Postol’s piece reached a larger audience due to the Bulletin-Newsweek alliance. e. The Bulletin is in early conversations with the New Yorker to develop an institutional partnership, and a first jointly produced piece is anticipated in the coming months. Such partnerships are vital, as audiences often find their way to even the most recognized brands through referrals and links. 2. Through a Special Winter Issue of the Bulletin, and extended and timely coverage of “No First Use,” “Sole Authority” and “De-alerting,” the Bulletin will push for debate on these issues among presidential candidates, in town hall meetings and throughout the campaign trail throughout the 2020 Presidential debate season a. The Bulletin will publish a Special Winter Issue of the magazine that will be open and free to the public for two months. This issue will focus exclusively on nuclear policy issues. The articles, written by distinguished nuclear security and policy experts, explore the crucial questions that should be brought to the 2020 Democratic primary and November election. Authors include Alexandra Bell, Bruce G. Blair, John P. Holdren, James N. Miller, Brad Roberts and Bulletin Editor-in-Chief John Mecklin. b. With the 2020 presidential year, the Bulletin will also provide extended coverage in the early spring on these issues on our website. As issue and debate points emerge, the Bulletin is prepared to be proactive and immediate in its coverage, giving our authors quick access to our audience and allowing our readers free access to this content for the duration of the anticipated debates. It is vital to the relevancy of these pieces to ensure they hit the new cycle with precise timing. These rapid response pieces will be analogous in thought and length to our long-form magazine pieces, but post to the website which offers the needed speed and flexibility. c. Extensive promotion through social media, direct email, content sharing, and media partners will significantly increase readership of the Special Issues and following coverage. Conclusion With support from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation, the Bulletin will engage experts, opinion leaders and the interested public through content created for the website and shared broadly, expanded digital marketing efforts and exclusive content dedicated to “No First Use,” “Sole Authority” and “De-alerting.” The Bulletin will continue to develop new platforms and partnerships for engaging and motivating wider, younger audiences.