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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
Energy and the Economic Bailout
Crisis begins to crop up in recent climate coverage
By Curtis Brainard Sep 30, 2008 at 12:37 PM
News of the $700 billion economic bailout plan, which failed in Congress yesterday, has eclipsed some notable developments in energy... More
Calif. Academy of Sciences Reopens!
As journalists recount its fascinating history
By Curtis Brainard Sep 26, 2008 at 01:07 PM
As a native of northern California, I can safely say that it’s easy to envy anybody living in or visiting... More
Same Ol’ Science Platforms
Points for trying, but Nature gets nothing new from the candidates
By Curtis Brainard Sep 26, 2008 at 01:03 PM
With the economy going to pot, it’s not surprising that the presidential candidates haven’t devoted much time to issues of... More
Old Carbon Capture Strategy, New Story
Journal reintroduces underground coal gasification to U.S. media
By Curtis Brainard Sep 22, 2008 at 12:22 PM
On Tuesday, I wrote a column about the media’s failure to cover the opening of the world’s first coal-fired power... More
Media Obstruction in Galveston
Press denied access in the wake of Hurricane Ike
By Curtis Brainard Sep 18, 2008 at 09:07 AM
It was a rough week for the Galveston County Daily News. On Saturday, Hurricane Ike tore off its roof and... More
“Clean Coal” and the Campaigns
Despite centrality to election, first CCS coal plant fails to impress the press
By Curtis Brainard Sep 16, 2008 at 12:21 PM
When the world’s most powerful particle accelerator opened along the French-Swiss border last week, it drew reams of press. But... More
The Black Hole of Publicity
Media coverage of LHC produces bigger bang than new collider
By Curtis Brainard Sep 11, 2008 at 02:59 PM
The biggest bang to come out of the Large Hadron Collider, which began operating in Europe yesterday, was the media... More
Obama and McCain on Energy
Washington Post wrong to say there is “not much difference”
By Curtis Brainard Sep 8, 2008 at 03:00 PM
On Sunday, The Washington Post published an editorial criticizing Sen. John McCain’s decision, carried out over the last few months,... More
“The Killa from Wasilla”…
And other coverage of Palin’s environmental record
By Curtis Brainard Sep 4, 2008 at 01:41 PM
Yesterday, I posted a column arguing that Sarah Palin’s record on energy and environmental issues is perhaps the best place... More
Palin and the Environment
Plenty of record for the press to dissect; Anchorage paper shows the way
By Curtis Brainard Sep 3, 2008 at 04:08 PM
Yesterday, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert advised Democrats to “Take the High Road” with Sarah Palin and focus on... More
Public Opinion and Climate: Part II
Where’s the consensus, and where does it end?
By Curtis Brainard Aug 27, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Last week, a reader, Jeff Huggins, asked me to address why the media have failed to explain climate change in... More
Public Opinion and Climate: Part I
Have the media failed to help people “get” it?
By Curtis Brainard Aug 26, 2008 at 01:29 PM
Last week, a reader, Jeff Huggins, asked me to address why the media have failed to explain climate change in... More
The Future of Science Journalism Fellowships
CJR chats with new Knight, MIT director Phil Hilts
By Curtis Brainard Aug 18, 2008 at 10:29 AM
On Friday, the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships' class of 2009 arrived for orientation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the... More
Quashing Climate Dissent?
The media’s role in covering the (wide) spectrum of skepticism about global warming
By Curtis Brainard Aug 14, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Last week, Slate columnist Ron Rosenbaum criticized the July/August issue of Columbia Journalism Review for what he perceived as an... More
Engineering Body and Earth
NYT grasps, and misses, the ethical dimensions of science
By Curtis Brainard Aug 12, 2008 at 04:12 PM
The cover of today's New York Times Science Times section carries two stories, a feature and a column, concerning the... More
Missing the Bottom Line
Celebrity status and race distract from campaign ads’ real message: energy and the economy
By Curtis Brainard Aug 1, 2008 at 03:14 PM
This week, campaign trail chatter has been all about ads—John McCain's ads, and their accuracy, to be specific. On Monday,... More
“Whiplash” Climate Journalism
Revkin investigates the media’s tendency to ricochet from one global-warming study to another
By Curtis Brainard Jul 29, 2008 at 03:34 PM
Anybody who has been following Andrew Revkin's New York Times blog, Dot Earth, closely may have already heard of "whiplash"... More
Can GM Crops Solve the Food Crisis?
UCS says journalists overstate potential for higher yields
By Curtis Brainard Jul 21, 2008 at 03:41 PM
With global food prices up eighty-three percent over the last three years, world leaders are looking for any means available... More
The Shallow Coverage of Candidates’ Energy Policies
Reporters must use events, not ads, to leverage information
By Curtis Brainard Jul 15, 2008 at 03:45 PM
Last week, energy issues made their way back to the forefront of presidential campaign coverage with a pair of "dueling... More
How Much Are You Worth?
The AP gets the scoop on the EPA’s decision to devalue a “statistical life”
By Curtis Brainard Jul 11, 2008 at 01:23 PM
Last month, I wrote a column about the challenges journalists face in covering the ethical decisions that affect humanity's response... 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)
What was James Rosen thinking?
How much of Rosen’s trouble is of his own making?
Cat Fall: A modern tragedy
Max Fisher and the problem with foreign-affairs blogging
“I hope my nudity doesn’t bother you. We’re completely committed to openness here”
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.
