>"Their "scientific expert" source list looks suspiciously like a group of the loudest voices on Twitter."
That's probably where the journalists find people to interview, likely because a large majority of journalists are active on Twitter.
This definitely isn't the only place, because there are free services like SciLine by the AAAS (source: https://www.sciline.org) and many others for connecting journalists to researchers. Many universities also have their own expert directories set up, and journalists can also find papers and contact their authors.
However, for many journalists on deadline, it's just far less effort to message vocal professors on Twitter, so this may be a reason for this effect if it's true. The people who market their research more on Twitter may be more likely to get covered in the press, and thus interviewed.
What really sucks is some funders are becoming interested in metrics that track social media engagement and other forms of attention, rewarding Twitter punditry.
That's probably where the journalists find people to interview, likely because a large majority of journalists are active on Twitter.
This definitely isn't the only place, because there are free services like SciLine by the AAAS (source: https://www.sciline.org) and many others for connecting journalists to researchers. Many universities also have their own expert directories set up, and journalists can also find papers and contact their authors.
However, for many journalists on deadline, it's just far less effort to message vocal professors on Twitter, so this may be a reason for this effect if it's true. The people who market their research more on Twitter may be more likely to get covered in the press, and thus interviewed.