Author Archive
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The Observatory
NSF “Underwriting” Coverage…
July 1, 2009 10:23 AMLONDON — The sixth World Conference of Science Journalists got off to an enjoyably controversial start here on Tuesday afternoon. The event takes place against the backdrop of concurrent editorials in the world’s leading scientific journals, <a... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Climate Bill Cacophony
May 27, 2009 10:15 AMLast week, the House Energy and Commerce committee approved energy and climate legislation that could put the first national cap on greenhouse-gas emissions. Many news reports called the decision a “landmark” and “historic.” Indeed... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Probability Problems
May 22, 2009 11:45 AMA study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which found that end-of-the-century global warming could be twice as severe as previous estimates, drew a limited amount... Continue reading
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The Observatory
“The Mediacene Age”
May 19, 2009 03:31 PMOn Tuesday, The New York Times ran its second article about a 47-million-year-old skeleton that is being described as “the most complete fossil primate ever discovered.” The monkey-like creature, an entirely new genus and species, might be a... Continue reading
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The Observatory
The Science of Art…
May 13, 2009 11:38 AMLast Thursday was the fiftieth anniversary of C.P. Snow’s famous lecture, “The Two Cultures,” which described a divide between scientists and “literary intellectuals” such as novelists, poets, and philosophers. The half-centennial provoked only a limited amount of media... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Magazine Mayhem
May 5, 2009 02:40 PMLast week was yet another turbulent one for science journalism. Scientific American, the United States’s oldest magazine, and the American Chemical Society, which publishes a magazine and a number of journals with news content, cut staff in an effort to... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Swine Flu and CAFOs?
April 29, 2009 04:45 PMIn the search for the swine flu outbreak’s “ground zero,” blogs have called upon mainstream media to investigate the potential role of large factory farms in breeding and spreading the virus. Major news outlets have tentatively begun to do... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Toying with Climate Information
April 27, 2009 05:59 PMThe news media and blogs were rife with stories last week about politicians and journalists alike manipulating information related to climate change. The most significant was Friday’s New York Times front-page story by Andrew Revkin, “Industry Ignored Its... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Capturing Conversation
April 21, 2009 10:38 AMOn Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency formally announced that heat-trapping greenhouse gases are a danger to human health and welfare, a move that could lead to the regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, and other... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Holdren’s First Interviews
April 10, 2009 05:20 PMPresident Barack Obama’s new science advisor, physicist John Holdren, met the press this week, with mixed results for the ensuing journalism. Holdren gave his first media interviews since being confirmed at the end of March, starting with the... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Post vs. Post
April 9, 2009 10:56 AMOn Tuesday, an article and a blog entry at The Washington Post both took the unusual step of rebutting one of the paper’s own columnists, George Will, who has drawn widespread criticism for misusing scientific data... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Making Space for Skeptics
April 3, 2009 03:35 PMWashington Post columnist George Will was at it again on Thursday with his third column disparaging the scientific consensus behind man-made global warming in less than a month. As usual, the blogosphere delivered a quick and thorough retort.... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Post-Intelligent
March 25, 2009 12:43 PMWhen the last print issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer rolled off the presses last Tuesday, it was another blow to the floundering newspaper industry—and to specialized reporting in particular. The P-I had a long history of supporting top-flight... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Nature’s Artificial Divide
March 20, 2009 07:28 PMThe illustration is excellent. As Charlie Petit described it: “a crumbling monument topped by a stack of ossified newspapers, overwhelmed by USB and laptop cables.” Such is the introductory image to Nature’s superb package, published Wednesday, on the... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Obama on Stem Cells
March 18, 2009 09:00 AMPresident Obama's decision to allow federally funded scientists to work with hundreds of new embryonic stem cell lines continued to fuel media debate this week about the proper relationship between science and politics. As U.S. News & World Report <a... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Gallup: Many Americans Think Media Exaggerate Global Warming
March 13, 2009 11:16 AMOn Wednesday, the Gallup polling organization released its annual survey of environmental issues. Among the key findings: Although a majority of Americans believe the seriousness of global warming is either correctly portrayed in the news or underestimated, a... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Columbia Presents 2008 Oakes Award
March 6, 2009 01:09 PMWriting about environmental toxicology—the ambient chemical exposure of our daily lives—has it all: public health threats, a nascent body of science, tight-lipped officials, industrial interests, and consumer unawareness. Yesterday, at Columbia University, two news outlets were rewarded for doing it... Continue reading
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The Observatory
The George Will Affair
February 26, 2009 07:24 PMThought the dust kicked up by George Will’s February 15 column in The Washington Post, “Dark Green Doomsayers,” had settled? Think again. On Friday, the Post will run a second column by Will addressing the widespread... Continue reading
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The Observatory
From Fly Ash to “Clean” Coal
February 20, 2009 05:50 PMBoth the American and Canadian press took a ‘Well, we’ll see,’ attitude toward the announcement yesterday that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will collaborate on clean-energy efforts. Obama, however, made a very <a href=http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/590305... Continue reading
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The Observatory
Lingering Denial
February 18, 2009 11:15 AMLast week at the Huffington Post, John Delicath, the director of the Media Matters Action Network, quoted an article of mine from last month, titled "The Price is Right, Energy Edition": "[T]he press has accepted the... Continue reading
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Desks
The Audit Business
- Audit Notes: pyramid people, Disney and ABC, no USA Today paywall Roddy Boyd digs into a diet-shake pyramid scheme
- Hot air Rises Above on CNBC An anchor pins a minor dip in stocks on the TV appearance of a minor politician
The Observatory Science
- Dull news from Doha UN climate summit a ho-hum affair for the press
- Highway to the danger zone Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- NBC News sets good example for Medicare reporting People perspective leads to clear explanation of impact of proposed changes
- In Pennsylvania, a niche site with wide reach PoliticsPA drives political conversation in Keystone State
Behind the News The Media
Blog
The Kicker last updated: Fri 3:00 PM
- Must-reads of the week
- The media news cycle is bananas
- Pass the #popcorn
- Must-reads of the week
- Tom Rosenstiel leaving Pew
The Future of Media
News Startups Guide last updated: Thu 10:24 AM
- TRVL A free iPad travel magazine
- TheDigitel A small chain of local news sites/ aggregators in South Carolina