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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
Columbia Presents 2007 Oakes Awards
Winners cover radioactive pollution, coastal erosion, and melting ice caps
By Curtis Brainard Feb 12, 2008 at 12:55 PM
For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Times carried home the annual John B. Oakes Award for... More
Beware of “Neuropunditry”
Slate keeps tabs on a flimsy new trend
By Curtis Brainard Feb 11, 2008 at 12:22 PM
On Super Tuesday, CNN broadcast a weak science news segment about a brain-imaging machine that the reporter called a "neurological... More
Obama’s Energy Equivocations
NYT follows up on another flip-flop
By Curtis Brainard Feb 5, 2008 at 08:52 AM
A little more than a year ago, Barack Obama caused a bit of an uproar when he introduced legislation in... More
GOP Candidates Back Emissions Waiver
Who saw that consensus coming?
By Curtis Brainard Feb 1, 2008 at 03:14 PM
Earlier this week, I posted a column about an editorial in The Sacramento Bee, which pressed all the presidential candidates... More
A “Slow-Blog” Movement?
Clinton’s cryptic quote causes frustration
By Curtis Brainard Feb 1, 2008 at 03:06 PM
A cryptic quote from Bill Clinton about how dealing with climate change will affect the economy is causing quite a... More
WSJ Launches New Environment Blog
Is this Murdoch’s influence?
By Curtis Brainard Jan 31, 2008 at 12:40 PM
The Wall Street Journal launched a new environment blog yesterday, called Environmental Capital. It stirred some immediate debate over at... More
The Candidates on California’s Emissions Waiver
The SacBee gets some answers, sort of
By Curtis Brainard Jan 29, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Since the Iowa caucuses, campaign-trail discourse about climate change and energy has waned. "Media consign global warming to back burner,"... More
News Director Quits Over Hospital Deal
WEAU-TV in Wisconsin’s arrangement called unethical
By Curtis Brainard Jan 25, 2008 at 09:37 AM
A week and a half ago, Glen Mabie resigned as news director for WEAU-TV in Eau Claire, Wisconsin after one... More
Bismarck Tribune Walks a Tightrope
Carbon series balances concerns for climate and local economy
By Curtis Brainard Jan 24, 2008 at 11:55 AM
Global warming, as the name implies, is a whole-Earth problem. The climate does not differentiate between greenhouse gases produced in... More
The MRSA-Gay Connection
Press slaps its own wrist for mischaracterizing research
By Curtis Brainard Jan 22, 2008 at 09:00 AM
The press performed a minor mea culpa over the weekend, explaining that a new multidrug-resistant and especially virulent strain of... More
Journalism 2.0 on Science 2.0
How the Web is shaping next-generation reporting
By Curtis Brainard Jan 17, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Web 2.0 - the "second generation" Internet of user-oriented social networks, wikis, blogs, and information-tagging devices - has spawned at... More
Pushing for a Science Debate
Journalists join effort to convince the candidates
By Curtis Brainard Jan 15, 2008 at 08:00 AM
The day after the New Hampshire primary, the CEO of Clean Air-Cool Planet, an environmental group, contributed an op-ed to... More
CJR Launches The Observatory
A new department to critique the coverage of science and the environment
By Curtis Brainard Jan 15, 2008 at 07:00 AM
Columbia Journalism Review is proud to announce the launch of The Observatory, a full-time department dedicated to critiquing the press... More
Rolling Craps in New Hampshire
The storied prediction markets fared little better than the polls
By Curtis Brainard Jan 11, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Journalists, politicians and statisticians continue to scramble to figure out why, exactly, the polls predicting an easy victory for Barack... More
“Pundits, Savants and Gurus,” Oh My!
The slow dissolution of conventional wisdom at CNN
By Curtis Brainard Jan 9, 2008 at 03:46 PM
Two minutes before the polls closed in New Hampshire on Tuesday night, CNN's Jeff Toobin said to Anderson Cooper, "I'm... More
Weighing the Environmental Vote
From Iowa to New Hampshire, more enthusiasm than action
By Curtis Brainard Jan 7, 2008 at 04:47 PM
On New Year's Eve, three days before the Iowa caucuses began, The Des Moines Register published a campaign story under... More
Science And Religion
Journal’s survey delivers best reporting yet on presidential hopefuls and a host of scientific issues
By Curtis Brainard Jan 3, 2008 at 01:37 PM
As Iowans prepare to go caucusing, the journal Science offers a ten-page special report* on four Democrats and five Republicans'... More
No Such Thing as Dumb Questions?
League of Conservation Voters says TV news overlooks climate
By Curtis Brainard Dec 19, 2007 at 04:05 PM
The League of Conservation Voters has issued a challenge to the top cable and network TV news reporters: quit asking... More
Climate Goes Prime-Time with Couric
CBS candidate interviews lack substance, but the time slot’s hard to beat
By Curtis Brainard Dec 12, 2007 at 12:28 PM
Global warming went prime-time last night as CBS's Katie Couric asked each of the presidential candidates to answer a single... More
Iowa Hog Farms and Presidential Politics
MSNBC.com delivers unique report on local campaign issue
By Curtis Brainard Dec 11, 2007 at 03:32 PM
With less than month until the first presidential caucus, the media are turning more of their attention to Iowa, where... 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)
The completist guide to Star Trek
Matt Yglesias watched every Star Trek movie and every episode of every TV show in the franchise
The uncomfortable questions not raised by Benghazi
The press and Congress are asking the wrong questions
Rob Ford in ‘crack cocaine’ video scandal
A video that appears to show Toronto’s mayor smoking crack is being shopped around by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade
Why the underwear-bomber leak infuriated the Obama administration
The threat of even grander leaks
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.
