When the news about the phosphine discovery on Venus was announced, I stayed up through the night to write this article, fearing media headlines declaring the discovery to be definite extraterritorial life.

The research was great to cover, but my concern was unfounded... cont. https://twitter.com/nexssmanyworlds/status/1305589845004177409

The Venus phosphine discovery mainly received nuanced and non-clickbait media coverage.

This was thanks to a clear press briefing by @jgreaves6, @ProfSaraSeager, and William Bains on the discovering team. Here’s Seager’s opening slide.

Briefing is here:

As someone who has picked fighting media responses to the discoveries of “habitable” planets as the hill to die on, I know click-bait.

The phosphine discovery on Venus is the poster child for responsible reporting & the resulting great coverage. The @IAU_org statement is wrong. https://twitter.com/mike_garrett/status/1313891539228258310