Some academics can\u2019t get enough attention from the media. Others prefer a life in the shadows.<\/p>\n
Usually, it is a matter of personality, but in the case of researchers from Aalborg University, it is also a matter of money: If researchers are quoted in the media, their salary goes up.<\/p>\n
This is according to Danish newspaper Politiken.<\/p>\n
University of Aalborg is the only Danish university that pays its researchers to speak with the press. <\/p>\n
Rector of Aarhus University, Lauritz Holm-Nielsen, is sceptical about the arrangement.<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe would never even dream of doing anything like this. A financial reward is a wrong incentive to speak in public. You should speak because you have something to say,\u00ab he says to Politiken. <\/p>\n
For rector of Aalborg University, Finn Kj\u00e6rsdam, the bonus arrangement is logical: \u00bbWe are obligated to encourage our academic staff to participate in the public debate,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n
\u00bbSpeaking with the press is extra work. We would rather have that the researchers were always ready to speak with the press \u2013 and then pay them for this service \u2013 than having them saying that they don\u2019t have the energy for it,\u00ab he explains to Politiken.<\/p>\n
The Aalborg researchers that appear most often in the media are rewarded between DKK 10,000 and 35,000 a year, according to Finn Kj\u00e6rsdam.<\/p>\n
ginsberg@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n