Really enjoying @SpeakUpforBlue's latest episode about how Science Communicators should react to controversial documentaries. I did not like #Seaspiracy as a scientist. A lot was wrong with it, above all things the racist approach to the issue.

But while my watch party discussed it afterwards, I was reminded of where I started and the reason I am where I am today. I watched Sharkwater at the age of 13 and came out of it determined to help sharks. It was the start of my journey to becoming a shark scientist.

Of course, as I went off and learnt more and more about sharks and the issues they face, I realised how much more complex it all was than the documentary had presented it. I made mistakes along the way but I don't know if I'd be where I am without it

Now, I'm not saying everyone who watched Seaspiracy are going to become fisheries scientists. I'm saying that after I watched it, I learnt and corrected my mistakes and misconceived ideas by redirecting my attention to other avenues.

I was only able to do so because I felt welcome and these avenues were accessible to me. And they were engaging. And most of the time, were not social media. (in fact, I'd say most of my mistakes came from social media because of the echo chambers I fell into)

And one of the things that has become very apparent to me is that there is a disconnect between the way (and places) some scientists *think* they do scicomm and the way/places the public actually seek and find it and the way it is received and perceived.

"As scientists we still need to stand for the truth, for real science and in-depth information. We have to drive that home. But not right off the bat." said @podLewin in the episode.

We fought the movie, and rightly so in many cases, but we need to make the effort to understand how people are reacting to the movie and what they want to do and achieve after seeing it. they were inspired to help and do more, we should, of course, not be discouraging that.

And once we've listened, work to make the information accessible and helpful so that they don't make the same mistakes we've all made. Listening is an element of SciComm we seem to often forget about, yet is crucial to our success.

We can fight the misinformation by providing people with the real, factual info to make better decisions all while decentering the source of said misinformation. And also carefully think about where we are sharing this information to make it accessible to the most people possible

(I'm not saying this isn't what people are doing, just thoughts the podcast provoked for myself, please don't come at me )