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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
How to improve environmental coverage?
Project sets broad goals, learns to adapt
By Curtis Brainard Jun 4, 2012 at 06:50 AM
Fixing the news is a tall order, or so the Project for Improved Environmental Coverage is learning. The effort launched... More
CBS News hires M. Sanjayan
Lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy to cover science, environment
By Curtis Brainard Jun 1, 2012 at 06:50 AM
Network news got a little better this month. CBS News announced in early May that it had hired M. Sanjayan,... More
Evolved for exhibitionism?
Wired column makes weak claims about human behavior, psychology
By Curtis Brainard May 25, 2012 at 02:21 PM
“Sound the evo-psych bullshit klaxon!” British science journalist Ed Yong tweeted on Thursday. He was right to be concerned. Yong’s... More
Reparative journalism
Reporter sinks a controversial paper on “ex-gay” therapy
By Curtis Brainard May 23, 2012 at 05:20 PM
It’s not often that a journalist convinces a prominent scientist to recant a controversial study that he has tenaciously defended... More
The western frontier
KQED Quest, Pacific Standard keep their eyes on the other coast
By Curtis Brainard May 21, 2012 at 11:00 AM
American media may cluster in the east, but the west is still the land of pioneers, even in the domains... More
USA Today’s oily, gassy rainbow
Detailed cover story a bit too rosy about ‘energy independence’
By Curtis Brainard May 17, 2012 at 06:50 AM
USA Today sees an oily, gassy rainbow on America’s energy horizon. “Energy independence isn’t just a pipe dream,” read a... More
Attachment parenting, detached debate
Time’s titillating cover overshadows article’s substance
By Curtis Brainard May 15, 2012 at 02:15 PM
Time touched a nerve this week with its provocative cover photo of 26-year-old Jamie Lynne Grumet and her 3-year-old son... More
The ice melt cometh
But flawless coverage about happenings in Antarctica has been rare
By Curtis Brainard May 11, 2012 at 03:45 PM
A variety of news outlets has covered two papers published this week indicating that the Weddell Sea area of Antarctica... More
Biotech bogeymen
The San Francisco Chronicle’s muddled swipe at GE crops
By Curtis Brainard May 9, 2012 at 02:30 PM
If you’re worried about pesticides, then the San Francisco Chronicle has a sweeping indictment of genetically engineered (GE) crops to... More
Mad cow, sane coverage
Most media treat BSE discovery with appropriate concern
By Curtis Brainard May 3, 2012 at 12:35 PM
A few days after the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement last month that it had discovered a case of... More
Brain waves
Articles about neuroscience push ideology, inflame divisions, study says
By Curtis Brainard May 1, 2012 at 12:13 PM
From advice about “exercising your mind” to treatises on “the gay brain,” media coverage of neuroscience in the UK often... More
Obama promises climate talk
But reporters will probably have to keep asking
By Curtis Brainard Apr 26, 2012 at 05:26 PM
Three cheers to Rolling Stone cofounder Jann S. Wenner for getting President Barack Obama to utter the words “climate change”... More
NYT Obscures Wal-Mart, EDF Link
Article overlooks green group’s close ties to Walton Family Foundation
By Curtis Brainard Apr 25, 2012 at 06:59 AM
A recent New York Times article about the Environmental Defense Fund’s efforts to help Wal-Mart “cut waste” painted an incomplete... More
Equivocal Efficiency?
Some articles fail to stress bottom line of electric-vehicles report
By Curtis Brainard Apr 18, 2012 at 12:30 PM
A new report outlining regional differences in electric cars’ contribution to climate change is drawing a lot of media attention,... More
Titanic Proportions
The 100th anniversary of one of the world’s most-covered stories
By Curtis Brainard Apr 16, 2012 at 03:00 PM
You can’t sink a good story. The past few months have produced countless articles, columns, photo galleries, videos, and sundry... More
Nutrition Coverage Under Fire
From red meat to white rice, not enough skepticism of observational studies
By Curtis Brainard Apr 9, 2012 at 02:30 PM
The incessant coverage of nutritional studies that make tenuous claims about the harms or benefits of consuming various foods and... More
Q&A: The NYT’s Justin Gillis
The recent Oakes Award winner talks about how to keep climate on the front page
By Curtis Brainard Apr 2, 2012 at 11:00 AM
At the end of March, Columbia University awarded the 2011 Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism to New York Times... More
Little Context for Obama Energy Speech in Ohio
Local reports present a war of words without much fact checking
By Curtis Brainard Mar 27, 2012 at 05:43 PM
Unchecked accusations about gas prices and oil production defined local coverage of President Barack Obama’s speech at Ohio State University... More
Reporter’s Toolbox: Oil and Gas Prices
Resources to help journalists stop the spin
By Curtis Brainard Mar 22, 2012 at 02:00 PM
Every year, news stories about US gasoline prices appear in the early spring and remain popular until the end of... More
Heartland, Gleick, and Media Law
Experts weigh in on leaks and deceptive tactics
By Curtis Brainard Mar 1, 2012 at 02:00 PM
When, if ever, are deceptive tactics legally or ethically permissible in journalism? An old debate over that question has raged... 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.
