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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
A Life Less Ordinary
After speculation about aliens, arsenic-eating microbe stirs wide coverage
By Curtis Brainard Dec 3, 2010 at 01:23 PM
A bacterium trained to substitute arsenic for phosphorus—one of six elements considered essential for life—in some of its basic cellular... More
Close Encounters of the Media Kind
NASA press release leads to wild speculation about alien discovery
By Curtis Brainard Dec 1, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Over the last two days, bloggers at a few of the country’s top news outlets have engaged in wild and... More
Drop Out?
Suggested closure of Colorado journalism school sparks controversy
By Curtis Brainard Nov 19, 2010 at 01:39 PM
The University of Colorado at Boulder kicked up a cloud of dust when it announced in August that it had... More
How to Place a Story?
Survey finds top environmental newsmakers still target traditional media
By Curtis Brainard Nov 18, 2010 at 10:00 AM
Despite disruptive changes in the media industry, which have made it more difficult to place stories and develop relationships with... More
Echoes of Grit and Humor
Great Lakes news startup brings on an inspiring new voice
By Curtis Brainard Nov 16, 2010 at 02:30 PM
If all goes as planned, Tom Henry’s decision to take on more work—in the form of a monthly column for... More
Press Pass Problems
Cetacean Society’s decision to deny a reporter raises questions about access
By Curtis Brainard Nov 12, 2010 at 04:30 PM
On Tuesday, the American Cetacean Society denied a freelancer’s request for a press pass to attend the society’s annual meeting... More
A Future for Cooperative Politics?
New York Times story on candidates’ psychology is overly optimistic
By Curtis Brainard Nov 3, 2010 at 02:49 PM
Thankfully, the days of “neuropunditry,” which sought to decipher voters’ thoughts with brain imaging and which blighted coverage of the... More
Paint it Green
Why it’s been left to reporters to bring up environmental issues on the campaign trail
By Curtis Brainard Oct 28, 2010 at 02:37 PM
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, “In much of the nation, ‘cap and trade’ has... More
Red, White, and Blue, but Not Green
Energy and environment issues lacking in mid-term election coverage
By Curtis Brainard Oct 21, 2010 at 02:26 PM
Remember the 2008 presidential campaign, when candidates and voters alike couldn’t seem to get enough of energy and climate issues... More
Q&A: Miles O’Brien, Back in Action
Ex-CNN correspondent talks about the NewsHour’s new Science News Unit
By Curtis Brainard Oct 4, 2010 at 04:35 PM
Bucking the trend in science journalism, the PBS NewsHour announced last Tuesday that it has created a new Science News... More
“This is Our Beat”
Breaking news and the big picture in Audubon’s special report on the oil spill
By Curtis Brainard Sep 16, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon sank and oil began erupting into the Gulf of Mexico in late April, the 105-year-old... More
Q&A: Covering the IPCC
Perlman award-winner Pallava Bagla talks about courage and tough questions
By Curtis Brainard Sep 14, 2010 at 10:45 AM
[Editor’s Note: The American Geophysical Union recently awarded this year’s David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism to Indian... More
The Oil Plume Paradox
Coverage of various studies engenders frustration
By Curtis Brainard Aug 26, 2010 at 11:54 AM
Pinpointing the amount of oil lingering in the Gulf of Mexico continues to be a source of frustration for journalists... More
Gulf Coast Guessing Game
Fresh wave of articles highlight uncertainty about lingering oil
By Curtis Brainard Aug 19, 2010 at 05:15 PM
More scientific criticism of a government report that attempted to calculate the amount oil left in the Gulf of Mexico... More
More on Extreme Weather
Day Two stories go a step farther in drawing connection to climate change
By Curtis Brainard Aug 17, 2010 at 01:40 PM
Stories exploring a possible connection between climate change and extreme weather around the world continued over the weekend, with some... More
Temperate Coverage of Extreme Weather
Media put heat, floods in proper climatic context
By Curtis Brainard Aug 12, 2010 at 03:56 PM
More and more, reporters have been asking whether or not climate change could be responsible for this summer’s extreme weather.... More
Media Scrutinize Spill Report
Day Two coverage quotes wider array of scientists
By Curtis Brainard Aug 5, 2010 at 04:02 PM
Many marine scientists lack complete faith in a federal report tracking the fate of the roughly 4.9 million barrels of... More
Risky Business
Times jumps the gun, irresponsibly dismisses threat of remaining oil
By Curtis Brainard Aug 4, 2010 at 01:45 PM
On Monday, I posted a story complaining that, following federal authorities’ announcement that the oil slicks on surface waters were... More
Blazing Trails, Changing Paths
Lessons from the first year in the life of Investigate West
By Curtis Brainard Aug 3, 2010 at 12:48 PM
When Investigate West, an investigative journalism site, sprung up last summer after the virtual collapse of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, we... More
“Missing” the Point
Absence of evident oil is not evidence of absent oil
By Curtis Brainard Aug 2, 2010 at 09:24 AM
Last week, the news media was awash with stories giving readers the impression that the Gulf of Mexico is no... More
‘See you on the other side’ - Meet Jessica Lum, a terminally ill 25-year-old who chose to spend what little time she had practicing journalism
#Realtalk: This is the best moment to be in journalism - The old stuff isn’t coming back, but that’s okay
Streams of consciousness - Millennials expect a steady diet of quick-hit, social-media-mediated bits and bytes. What does that mean for journalism?
Sticking with the truth - How ‘balanced’ coverage helped sustain the bogus claim that childhood vaccines can cause autism
An ink-stained stretch - Can Aaron Kushner save the Orange County Register—and the newspaper industry?
What to do if you find a baby bird
Expert advice
Inside Google’s secret lab
We might deplore the practice, but posting pictures of our food online is a way to bring everyone to the table
How the ‘World’s 50 Best’ list changed the way elite restaurants do business
“Every time the restaurant switched up its format, it got plenty of accompanying media coverage that let judges know they needed to return to see what was going on”
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
Uptown Messenger – Hyperlocal news for a neighborhood in New Orleans
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
