Author Archive
Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
Climate Bill Blowout
It’s a big deal. Where’s the print coverage?
By Curtis Brainard Jul 23, 2010 at 03:00 PM
Following Senator Harry Reid’s decision to pull the plug on climate legislation Thursday, news sites lit up with lit up... More
Obits for Schneider Roll In
Reporters pay respect to climate scientist and “mediarologist”
By Curtis Brainard Jul 19, 2010 at 05:00 PM
The obituaries for Stanford University climate scientist Stephen Schneider, who suffered a fatal heart attack early Monday morning, are beginning... More
Oil spill, climate coverage drive growth at Mother Jones
By Curtis Brainard Jul 19, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Science and environment coverage, often marginalized in daily newspapers and news magazines, has helped drive exceptional growth at Mother Jones... More
Pachauri Revises IPCC Media Plan
Chairman apologies to scientists for previous letter
By Curtis Brainard Jul 19, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has sent a letter to the 831 lead authors... More
“Two Stories” of Gulf Seafood
News reports tread the line between confidence and caution
By Curtis Brainard Jul 16, 2010 at 11:40 AM
BP has apparently stopped the flow of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since the... More
Inside BP’s Media Blockade
Contractor who obstructed WDSU reporter’s access to beach cleanup decides to talk
By Curtis Brainard Jul 14, 2010 at 03:00 PM
A former BP contractor who blocked a New Orleans TV news reporter from talking to cleanup crews working on a... More
I’ll Have the Climate Coverage, Please
Kurtz wants some; so does the Times, though it doesn’t deliver
By Curtis Brainard Jul 13, 2010 at 10:09 AM
On Sunday night, CNN’s Howard Kurtz seconded CJR’s call for more coverage of the series of inquiries and investigations rebutting... More
A Second Chance
How mobile devices can absolve journalism of its original sin: giving away online content
By Curtis Brainard Jul 13, 2010 at 06:00 AM
1 Talk to people who are into mobile reading devices like the Kindle and the iPad, and a scene from... More
Mediaphobia at the IPCC
Letter steers scientists away from the press, despite recent calls for transparency
By Curtis Brainard Jul 12, 2010 at 03:44 PM
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change seems to have caught a touch of mediaphobia from last year’s largely debunked controversies... More
Meet the AP’s New Oil Spill Editor
A Q&A with Steve Gutkin
By Curtis Brainard Jul 9, 2010 at 10:40 AM
At the end of June, the Associated Press announced that it had named an oil spill editor, Steve Gutkin, to... More
Shameful Obstinacy at The Sunday Times
Paper finally retracts Amazongate, aggressive-blondes articles
By Curtis Brainard Jul 8, 2010 at 04:00 PM
On Wednesday, I argued that the mounting rebuttal of the recent controversies related to the so-called “Climategate” e-mails and alleged... More
Uproar at ScienceBlogs.com
Protesting Pepsi’s new nutrition blog, writers defect from respected site
By Curtis Brainard Jul 8, 2010 at 08:00 AM
At least two well-respected science journalists and a handful of scientists have canceled their blogs at the popular and heretofore... More
Wanted: Climate Front-Pager
Reviews vindicating scientists get strong blog coverage, but more high-profile stories are needed
By Curtis Brainard Jul 7, 2010 at 04:30 PM
Over the last two days, two reports have, respectively, reaffirmed the integrity of the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on... More
Finding the Right Expert
How reporters should use a controversial new study categorizing scientists’ stances on global warming
By Curtis Brainard Jun 29, 2010 at 02:15 PM
A controversial new study that categorizes climate scientists as either “convinced” or “unconvinced” by the basic tenets of manmade global... More
Bringing Energy Home
Can local reporting help break the cycle of inaction?
By Curtis Brainard Jun 23, 2010 at 05:32 PM
The vast majority of Americans want a “fundamental overhaul” of the country’s energy policies, according to the latest nationwide New... More
The Man Who Imagined Tablets and E-Readers
An interview with Roger Fidler of the RJI Digital Publishing Alliance
By Curtis Brainard Jun 17, 2010 at 04:59 PM
In 1981, Roger Fidler wrote a visionary essay on the emergence of mobile reading devices like the Apple iPad and... More
BP, Government Still Thwarting Press Access
Despite promises to facilitate oil spill coverage, limited transparency persists in the Gulf
By Curtis Brainard Jun 17, 2010 at 12:38 PM
Despite repeated promises to improve transparency, BP, the United States government, and their contractors are still inhibiting the media’s ability... More
The Siphoning Solution
More on “kinky math” and mechanical Band-Aids for the oil spill
By Curtis Brainard Jun 7, 2010 at 03:34 PM
On Monday afternoon, BP reported that it was capturing about 11,000 barrels per day of the oil that has been... More
Mechanical Band-Aids
Press wrestles with techno-optimism while BP seeks to stop oil spill
By Curtis Brainard Jun 3, 2010 at 03:06 PM
Thank God or whomever. The nuclear option has never been, and never will be, on the table amongst other options... More
Go Fish
Have reporters paid sufficient attention to the Gulf spill’s impact on marine life?
By Curtis Brainard May 12, 2010 at 03:40 PM
On Tuesday morning, Agence France-Presse reported that “Louisiana's charter fishermen are slamming media coverage of the Gulf oil spill for... 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.
