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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
Like the Odds of a Heart Attack?
The limits of medical analogies for the climate-weather connection
By Curtis Brainard Nov 3, 2011 at 12:30 PM
With the latest death toll from floods in Thailand reaching nearly 400 people, reporters have had yet another opportunity to... More
Cracking the Case
Why is it so difficult to cover investigations of environmental crimes?
By Curtis Brainard Oct 28, 2011 at 02:00 PM
The federal civil and criminal investigations of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continue to be a... More
Salazar Calls for Coverage
Interior Secretary highlights underreported environment stories
By Curtis Brainard Oct 25, 2011 at 04:15 PM
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar had a few tips for environmental journalists last week about under-covered stories on their... More
The Scientist Lives
LabX Media Group signs intent to purchase
By Curtis Brainard Oct 18, 2011 at 11:30 AM
A potential buyer has emerged to save The Scientist from early retirement. A week after it was reported that... More
Astill on Covering Forests
Grantham Prize winner discusses his series for The Economist
By Curtis Brainard Oct 14, 2011 at 11:55 AM
It’s often hard for reporters to see the forest for the trees, said James Astill, the newly anointed energy and... More
An Empty Seat
Government fails to show for science news, transparency event
By Curtis Brainard Oct 12, 2011 at 04:30 PM
Federal officials invited to participate in a public forum at the National Press Club last week about a lack transparency... More
The Scientist Closes
25th anniversary issue of the venerable magazine will be the last
By Curtis Brainard Oct 7, 2011 at 04:00 PM
Having just published a special twenty-fifth anniversary issue in October, employees of the The Scientist, a venerable monthly magazine and... More
Plant Food: Does Carbon Count?
Admirable NYT article on forests misses one important point
By Curtis Brainard Oct 6, 2011 at 11:30 AM
On Saturday, The New York Times ran a front page story about the state of the world’s forests, their role... More
CJR Event: Science News and Government Transparency
Access denied
By Curtis Brainard Oct 3, 2011 at 11:03 AM
Has the Obama administration lived up to its promise to make science more transparent and accessible to the public? An... More
Transparency Watch: A Closed Door
From the EPA to NASA, the FDA to OSHA, President Obama has failed to make science accessible
By Curtis Brainard Sep 14, 2011 at 01:44 PM
In July 2009, just months after President Obama took office promising to revolutionize government transparency, leaders of the Society of... More
Why the Sun Set on Solyndra
How the bad news about green jobs could be better
By Curtis Brainard Sep 2, 2011 at 08:00 AM
With Labor Day on the horizon, it was another grim week in green-job news, as a solar panel manufacturer in... More
Media Hurricane Hype?
Irene spurs debate about the quality of news coverage
By Curtis Brainard Aug 31, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Anderson Cooper and a CNN crew covering Irene on Sunday, August 28. Photo by Sean Hemmerle. “An Epic Deluge,” read... More
Gamey Green Jobs Coverage
NYT, others hack off slices of Brookings-Battelle report
By Curtis Brainard Aug 26, 2011 at 11:15 AM
On Tuesday, climate blogger Joseph Romm blasted a New York Times article about green jobs for ignoring “explosive” growth... More
Whose Line Is It, Anyway?
An oil-spill book relies too heavily on cut-and-paste work
By Curtis Brainard Jul 20, 2011 at 12:30 PM
This spring, Amanda Mascarelli, a freelance journalist based in Colorado, was in the process of reviewing A Sea in Flames,... More
Climate Questions for the GOP
What to ask candidates so clearly unconcerned?
By Curtis Brainard Jun 21, 2011 at 02:15 PM
During last week’s Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire, CNN’s John King, who served as moderator, asked questions about... More
Tornadoes and Climate Change
McKibben is wrong; many reporters are “making connections”
By Curtis Brainard May 26, 2011 at 02:15 PM
On Monday, The Washington Post published an op-ed by Bill McKibben, a writer and environmental activist, under the sarcastic headline,... More
A Watershed Moment for the Chesapeake Bay Journal
On its 20th anniversary, the paper is growing and remolding its image
By Curtis Brainard May 13, 2011 at 10:00 AM
The current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review features a short article about the twentieth anniversary of the Chesapeake Bay... More
Science Blogs “Win a Place at the Table”
Zimmer and Yong on the evolution of online science coverage
By Curtis Brainard May 6, 2011 at 01:00 PM
According to “techy historians,” there were around twenty-three blogs in 1998. As of mid-February, there were 156 million, Phil Hilts,... More
Tide Change at Bay Journal
The Chesapeake Bay Journal celebrates twenty years of educating readers about the bay
By Curtis Brainard May 1, 2011 at 08:00 AM
The twentieth anniversary of the Chesapeake Bay Journal marks a watershed moment for a publication that knows something about watersheds.... More
Critics Slam PBS, NYT Autism Reports
Mnookin: “A reckless and irresponsible coda to Robert MacNeil’s career”
By Curtis Brainard Apr 28, 2011 at 12:15 PM
A PBS Newshour series about autism that drew former host Robert MacNeil back to the show for the first time... 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.
