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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
March of the Politicians
Journal calls out Congress’s climate-change junket Down Under
By Curtis Brainard Aug 12, 2009 at 04:35 PM
On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal fronted an article about a trip that ten members of Congress took last year... More
It’s Tanking; I’m Teaching…
And other current events in the tumultuous world of science journalism
By Curtis Brainard Aug 7, 2009 at 04:27 PM
Following the fiftieth fortieth anniversary of the first moon landing two weeks ago, The Observatory ran a short round-up of... More
Clunkers, the Economy, and the Environment
When it comes to “green,” reporters focus on the pocketbook
By Curtis Brainard Aug 5, 2009 at 02:12 PM
Since the Department of Transportation announced last Thursday that new-car buyers had bankrupted the “cash for clunkers” rebate initiative in... More
Science Journalism Around the World
WCSJ participants talk about reporting in their home countries
By Curtis Brainard Jul 8, 2009 at 10:23 AM
LONDON — During the meeting here last week, I began referring to the World Conference of Science Journalists as my... More
Press Eyes Copenhagen
At World Conference of Science Journalists, climate a hot topic
By Curtis Brainard Jul 6, 2009 at 05:28 PM
LONDON — Unsurprisingly, climate change was one of the most popular topics at the World Conference of Science Journalists, held... More
NSF “Underwriting” Coverage…
And other controversies from the World Conference of Science Journalists
By Curtis Brainard Jul 1, 2009 at 10:23 AM
LONDON — The sixth World Conference of Science Journalists got off to an enjoyably controversial start here on Tuesday afternoon.... More
Climate Bill Cacophony
With so much back-and-forth on news pages, papers need more editorials
By Curtis Brainard May 27, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Last week, the House Energy and Commerce committee approved energy and climate legislation that could put the first national cap... More
Probability Problems
Clumsy numbers in coverage of MIT’s “Greenhouse Gamble” study
By Curtis Brainard May 22, 2009 at 11:45 AM
A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which found... More
“The Mediacene Age”
Ancient primate fossil inspires an unusual press blitz, but will it work?
By Curtis Brainard May 19, 2009 at 03:31 PM
On Tuesday, The New York Times ran its second article about a 47-million-year-old skeleton that is being described as “the... More
The Science of Art…
And other reflections on the fiftieth anniversary of “The Two Cultures”
By Curtis Brainard May 13, 2009 at 11:38 AM
Last Thursday was the fiftieth anniversary of C.P. Snow’s famous lecture, “The Two Cultures,” which described a divide between scientists... More
Magazine Mayhem
SciAm and ACS cut staff, reposition for the long haul
By Curtis Brainard May 5, 2009 at 02:40 PM
Last week was yet another turbulent one for science journalism. Scientific American, the United States’s oldest magazine, and the American... More
Swine Flu and CAFOs?
Blogs call for more coverage; MSM hesitant
By Curtis Brainard Apr 29, 2009 at 04:45 PM
In the search for the swine flu outbreak’s “ground zero,” blogs have called upon mainstream media to investigate the potential... More
Toying with Climate Information
Media last week rife with stories of misdirection
By Curtis Brainard Apr 27, 2009 at 05:59 PM
The news media and blogs were rife with stories last week about politicians and journalists alike manipulating information related to... More
Capturing Conversation
Press finally digs into CCS both nationally and locally
By Curtis Brainard Apr 21, 2009 at 10:38 AM
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency formally announced that heat-trapping greenhouse gases are a danger to human health and welfare,... More
Holdren’s First Interviews
Obama’s new science advisor causes a media stir
By Curtis Brainard Apr 10, 2009 at 05:20 PM
President Barack Obama’s new science advisor, physicist John Holdren, met the press this week, with mixed results for the ensuing... More
Post vs. Post
News article, blog entry criticize Will’s account of warming (one fails)
By Curtis Brainard Apr 9, 2009 at 10:56 AM
On Tuesday, an article and a blog entry at The Washington Post both took the unusual step of rebutting one... More
Making Space for Skeptics
Post, Times draw criticism for coverage questioning global warming
By Curtis Brainard Apr 3, 2009 at 03:35 PM
Washington Post columnist George Will was at it again on Thursday with his third column disparaging the scientific consensus behind... More
Post-Intelligent
Before its collapse, the P-I had a history of strong science reporting
By Curtis Brainard Mar 25, 2009 at 12:43 PM
When the last print issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer rolled off the presses last Tuesday, it was another blow to... More
Nature’s Artificial Divide
The best hope for science journalism is a marriage of new and old media
By Curtis Brainard Mar 20, 2009 at 07:28 PM
The illustration is excellent. As Charlie Petit described it: “a crumbling monument topped by a stack of ossified newspapers, overwhelmed... More
Obama on Stem Cells
Journalists debate the new mix of science, politics, and ideology
By Curtis Brainard Mar 18, 2009 at 09:00 AM
President Obama's decision to allow federally funded scientists to work with hundreds of new embryonic stem cell lines continued to... 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.
