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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
A One-Stop Shop for Climate Information?
Princeton startup attempts to pair journalists’ yin with scientists’ yang
By Curtis Brainard Dec 8, 2008 at 06:30 AM
When it comes to improving the coverage of climate change, critics often suggest some variant of the idea that journalists... More
CNN Cuts Entire Science, Tech Team
Despite network’s intention to launch wire service, compete with the AP
By Curtis Brainard Dec 4, 2008 at 06:30 AM
CNN, the Cable News Network, announced yesterday that it will cut its entire science, technology, and environment news staff, including... More
The Local Climate
Regional papers invest in multi-part series on warming
By Curtis Brainard Dec 3, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Last week, the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media posted an interesting column by Tom Henry, environment reporter... More
Global Cooling, Confused Coverage
Politico article demonstrates gross misunderstanding of climate science, journalism
By Curtis Brainard Nov 26, 2008 at 09:38 AM
Proving that old misunderstandings are not easily resolved, Politico published an anachronistically bad article about climate science yesterday. The piece,... More
Trimming the Hedges
Web jungle, Web garden—you decide
By Curtis Brainard Nov 24, 2008 at 10:07 AM
It may seem like people have been gawking at the proliferation of online news sources for ages now, but it... More
On Genes and Cures, Separately
NYT, Newsweek find hooks for important stories
By Curtis Brainard Nov 12, 2008 at 04:04 PM
Science aficionados should have appreciated yesterday’s Science Times in The New York Times. The section always does a good job... More
Crystal Balls Glow Green
Press speculates (responsibly) on key Obama environment/science picks and policies
By Curtis Brainard Nov 7, 2008 at 04:24 PM
Reporters wasted no time this week in their rush to speculate about who president-elect Barack Obama will tap for key... More
Coal’s Curtain Call
A late spate of news as the campaigns wind down
By Curtis Brainard Nov 4, 2008 at 05:18 PM
This morning, my colleague Liz Cox Barrett posted a brief comment about Kevin Drum’s argument that the press has “ignored”... More
Xunlight Shines on Palin
Blogs drill into governor’s speech at solar energy plant
By Curtis Brainard Oct 31, 2008 at 02:36 PM
On Wednesday, I had a column about a number of energy and environment reporters’ reflections on their beat’s novel significance... More
Energy: Fueling the Campaign
Three reporters reflect on their beat’s novel and significant role in the election
By Curtis Brainard Oct 29, 2008 at 09:00 AM
With less than one week to go before the most fiercely contested presidential election in recent memory, it’s time to... More
Five Questions for SEJ’s New Prez
CJR talks with Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Christy George
By Curtis Brainard Oct 24, 2008 at 10:58 AM
At its eighteenth annual conference last week, the Society of Environmental Journalists elected Christy George, of Oregon Public Broadcasting, to... More
Transparency at Federal Science Agencies
WaPo gets marks for covering UCS “report card,” but misses important details
By Curtis Brainard Oct 22, 2008 at 07:35 AM
Last Friday, The Union of Concerned Scientists released a “report card” grading fifteen federal agencies’ records on disclosing scientific information... More
Anchorage Daily News Traffic Soars
By Curtis Brainard Oct 20, 2008 at 04:58 PM
When the McCain campaign announced that Sarah Palin would be the Republican vice-presidential nominee in late August, few reporters knew... More
Candidates’ Medical Records Lack Transparency
NYT’s Altman makes the most out of scant information
By Curtis Brainard Oct 20, 2008 at 04:29 PM
The New York Times’s Lawrence K. Altman, one of the few reporters in the this country who holds an M.D.,... More
Hollow Criticism from MarketWatch
Friedman’s attempt to bash environmental journalism lacks meat
By Curtis Brainard Oct 16, 2008 at 07:16 AM
Given that I am currently at the annual Society of Environmental Journalists conference, it seems an opportune time to comment... More
ABC Declines Renewable Power Ad
Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection launches petition
By Curtis Brainard Oct 10, 2008 at 05:52 PM
The We campaign, launched by Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection last spring, has already attracted a lot of attention... More
Obama’s Projector
Cosmic Log explains McCain’s misleading criticism
By Curtis Brainard Oct 10, 2008 at 09:47 AM
During Tuesday night’s presidential debate, John McCain attempted to skewer Barack Obama by criticizing an earmark Obama had requested for... More
From Green to Greenbacks
More journalists investigate clean energy as a solution to (or victim of) the economic crisis
By Curtis Brainard Oct 7, 2008 at 03:27 PM
Environmental journalists have long called for greater connectivity with the political and business beats — that objective has never been... More
Covering NASA’s 50th Birthday
Anniversary provides an opportunity for wide-angle reporting about the agency’s purpose
By Curtis Brainard Oct 2, 2008 at 04:43 PM
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration turned fifty yesterday, and if articles are like birthday cards, most journalists sent their... More
Republicans and Bears, Oh My
By Curtis Brainard Sep 30, 2008 at 01:35 PM
Charlie Petit, who runs the Knight Science Journalism Tracker, has had it with John McCain using a scientific study of... 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?
This is the best moment to be in journalism (25)
The WSJ editorial page hits rock bottom (19)
Obama DOJ formally accuses journalist in leak case of committing crimes
Yet another serious escalation of the Obama administration’s attacks on press freedoms emerges
A rare peek into a Justice Department leak probe
Court documents in the Kim case reveal how deeply investigators explored the private communications of a working journalist — and raise the question of how often journalists have been investigated as closely as Rosen was in 2010
Reporter deemed ‘co-conspirator’ in leak case
The Reyes affidavit all but eliminates the traditional distinction in classified leak investigations between sources, who are bound by a non-disclosure agreement, and reporters, who are protected by the First Amendment as long as they do not commit a crime
“At some point you have to say, a law that people don’t obey is a bad law”
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.
