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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
Q&A: Eric Roston, Bloomberg’s sustainability editor
A new section tracks businesses’ response to the global “resource crunch”
By Curtis Brainard Feb 16, 2012 at 01:00 PM
At the end of November, Bloomberg News launched a Sustainability section “to uncover what businesses are doing, or what... More
“Economy Class Syndrome” Debunked
Personal blood-clot narrative makes for bad science writing in Washington Post
By Curtis Brainard Feb 10, 2012 at 04:55 PM
Telling a first-person story about a health problem is a popular frame in medical writing, and it can be effective... More
What Drives Public Opinion About Climate Change?
Politicians, economy more influential than media coverage, study says
By Curtis Brainard Feb 8, 2012 at 12:00 PM
The media influence public opinion about climate change, but not as much as national politicians and the state of the... More
Florida Roots
A native son discusses environmental journalism
By Curtis Brainard Feb 2, 2012 at 06:00 AM
On any day, there are six novels hiding in the pages of The Miami Herald, says Carl Hiaasen, the... More
The Presidential Energy Narrative
Campaign coverage takes on a green hue
By Curtis Brainard Jan 27, 2012 at 05:30 PM
In the last week, President Obama has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, focused his first campaign ad on clean energy,... More
Keystone XL Jobs Bewilder Media
Reporters still fumbling numbers in wake of pipeline’s rejection
By Curtis Brainard Jan 24, 2012 at 04:30 PM
God help the poor news consumers of America, especially the would-be voters. President Obama’s decision to reject the Keystone XL... More
Does Big Pharma Pay Your Doctor?
New federal database could be a boon for reporters … but it needs their input
By Curtis Brainard Jan 19, 2012 at 02:30 PM
How useful would a database cataloguing the money that doctors receive from medical drug and device makers—for speaking, research, meals,... More
Critical Juncture for HuffPo Science
With new section, David Freeman has an opportunity to raise the bar
By Curtis Brainard Jan 13, 2012 at 12:00 PM
The Huffington Post’s announcement last week that it had launched a new section intended to be a “one-stop shop for... More
Down, But Not Out?
A closer look at the quantity of climate coverage in 2011
By Curtis Brainard Jan 10, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Just how scarce was climate-change coverage in 2011? It’s hard to get a fix on the details, but the broad... More
Climate Coverage Crashes
Downward spiral in English-language news media continued in 2011
By Curtis Brainard Jan 4, 2012 at 04:45 PM
Twelve months ago, The Daily Climate, a website that produces and tracks media stories about climate change, declared that 2010... More
Best of 2011: The Observatory
From extreme weather to the crisis in Japan, Curtis Brainard picks the top CJR stories from the past year
By Curtis Brainard Dec 30, 2011 at 06:00 AM
The Hottest Thing in Science Blogging: The hot ticket for science bloggers and online writers this year was ScienceOnline, a... More
Methane Mysteries
Coverage of permafrost melt creates confusion about level of worry
By Curtis Brainard Dec 21, 2011 at 02:00 PM
Methane—a potent greenhouse gas that could be released in vast quantities as climate change melts Arctic permafrost—has received quite a... More
Phone-Hacking Inquiry Eyes Science Journalism
Nature calls on scientists to “fight agenda-driving reporting”
By Curtis Brainard Dec 16, 2011 at 04:00 PM
The Leveson inquiry into the “culture, practice, and ethics” of the British press resulting from the News International phone-hacking scandal... More
Newsweek Fetishizes an “Epidemic”
Voyeuristic sex-addiction cover misses an important debate
By Curtis Brainard Dec 15, 2011 at 03:30 PM
A “sex addiction epidemic” is unfolding like a plague in the US, according a recent Newsweek cover story—but don’t reach... More
Frozen Planet’s Final Episode Will Air in US
Discovery Channel reverses course following wave of criticism, but what will viewers get?
By Curtis Brainard Dec 7, 2011 at 06:00 PM
Discovery Channel reversed course on Tuesday when it announced that it would air all seven parts of a BBC series... More
Besser to Oz: “You Were Right”
Consumer Reports confirms arsenic-in-apple-juice investigation
By Curtis Brainard Dec 6, 2011 at 11:00 AM
After accusing Dr. Mehmet Oz of “fear mongering” for reporting that some brands of apple juice contained high levels of... More
UEA E-Mails Fail to Provoke
Wary of “Climategate,” reporters treat latest leak as minor news
By Curtis Brainard Nov 30, 2011 at 02:00 PM
Uneager, perhaps, to provoke the type of criticism that followed the dreadful coverage the “Climategate,” journalists have treated the emergence... More
Congress Nixes Climate Service
GOP lawmakers deny NOAA proposal to create central information hub
By Curtis Brainard Nov 21, 2011 at 03:45 PM
Congress has denied the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) bid to create a promising “one stop shop” for data... More
WSJ Marginalizes Muller
Climate-change op-ed didn’t run in the paper’s US edition
By Curtis Brainard Nov 17, 2011 at 05:00 PM
Media Matters, a group dedicated to bird-dogging conservative spin in the press, made a good catch last week when it... More
Frozen Planet Freezes Out Climate
BBC’s polar series unwisely sets apart episode about global warming
By Curtis Brainard Nov 16, 2011 at 02:45 PM
The BBC is taking a mild pummeling for giving foreign television networks the option not to buy an episode about... 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.
