Author Archive

Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author

 

1. Feature

   Trimming the Hedges

   November 24, 2008 10:07 AM

   It may seem like people have been gawking at the proliferation of online news sources for ages now, but it was not so long ago that readers had a much narrower field of options. The Democratic and Republican national conventions... Continue reading

2. The Observatory

   On Genes and Cures, Separately

   November 12, 2008 04:04 PM

   Science aficionados should have appreciated yesterday’s Science Times in The New York Times. The section always does a good job with special issues focusing on single subjects, which have, in the past, included evolution, space exploration, and healthcare. Yesterday’s package,... Continue reading

3. The Observatory

   Crystal Balls Glow Green

   November 7, 2008 04:24 PM

   Reporters wasted no time this week in their rush to speculate about who president-elect Barack Obama will tap for key environment and science positions in his administration, and about how related policies will reflect his promise of change. The media... Continue reading

4. The Observatory

   Coal’s Curtain Call

   November 4, 2008 05:18 PM

   This morning, my colleague Liz Cox Barrett posted a brief comment about Kevin Drum’s argument that the press has “ignored” the presidential candidates’ cap-and-trade plans. Drum’s explanation is that the candidates haven’t been “attacking each other”... Continue reading

5. The Observatory

   Xunlight Shines on Palin

   October 31, 2008 02:36 PM

   On Wednesday, I had a column about a number of energy and environment reporters’ reflections on their beat’s novel significance during the presidential campaign. The conclusion was largely that, because of the economy, the energy story had returned... Continue reading

6. The Observatory

   Energy: Fueling the Campaign

   October 29, 2008 09:00 AM

   With less than one week to go before the most fiercely contested presidential election in recent memory, it’s time to reflect on the ways in which energy fueled this campaign. In the end, while the economy has clearly emerged as... Continue reading

7. The Observatory

   Five Questions for SEJ’s New Prez

   October 24, 2008 10:58 AM

   At its eighteenth annual conference last week, the Society of Environmental Journalists elected Christy George, of Oregon Public Broadcasting, to be its newest president and the first from a broadcast medium. George has been a journalist for over... Continue reading

8. The Observatory

   Transparency at Federal Science Agencies

   October 22, 2008 07:35 AM

   Last Friday, The Union of Concerned Scientists released a “report card” grading fifteen federal agencies’ records on disclosing scientific information to the public and the press. Given many journalists’ and scientists’ (government or otherwise) opinion that the Bush... Continue reading

9. The Observatory

   Anchorage Daily News Traffic Soars

   October 20, 2008 04:58 PM

   When the McCain campaign announced that Sarah Palin would be the Republican vice-presidential nominee in late August, few reporters knew anything about the Alaska Governor. She didn’t have much of political track record, but what was there revolved mostly around... Continue reading

10. The Observatory

    Candidates’ Medical Records Lack Transparency

    October 20, 2008 04:29 PM

    The New York Times’s Lawrence K. Altman, one of the few reporters in the this country who holds an M.D., has a long breakdown on the front page today of what is known about the four presidential and... Continue reading

11. The Observatory

    Hollow Criticism from MarketWatch

    October 16, 2008 07:16 AM

    Given that I am currently at the annual Society of Environmental Journalists conference, it seems an opportune time to comment on a column from last Friday by MarketWatch's Jon Friedman, which attempted to cast environmental journalism—that's right, as a... Continue reading

12. The Observatory

    ABC Declines Renewable Power Ad

    October 10, 2008 05:52 PM

    The We campaign, launched by Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection last spring, has already attracted a lot of attention with its ironic “couch commercials,” showing diametrically opposed personalities, such as Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich, agreeing on the need... Continue reading

13. The Observatory

    Obama’s Projector

    October 10, 2008 09:47 AM

    During Tuesday night’s presidential debate, John McCain attempted to skewer Barack Obama by criticizing an earmark Obama had requested for a $3-million “overhead projector.” My colleague Justin Peters, a Chi-town native, picked up on this gross understatement during CJR’s <a... Continue reading

14. The Observatory

    From Green to Greenbacks

    October 7, 2008 03:27 PM

    Environmental journalists have long called for greater connectivity with the political and business beats — that objective has never been more critical than it is now. Last week, I wrote a column commending those journalists who had tied the ongoing... Continue reading

15. The Observatory

    Covering NASA’s 50th Birthday

    October 2, 2008 04:43 PM

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration turned fifty yesterday, and if articles are like birthday cards, most journalists sent their best wishes wrapped in concerns that the agency is exhibiting “signs of a midlife crisis.” MSNBC.com’s... Continue reading

16. The Observatory

    Republicans and Bears, Oh My

    September 30, 2008 01:35 PM

    Charlie Petit, who runs the Knight Science Journalism Tracker, has had it with John McCain using a scientific study of bear populations in the northern Rockies as “the butt of low-brow jokes.” McCain has repeatedly cited the study... Continue reading

17. The Observatory

    Energy and the Economic Bailout

    September 30, 2008 12:37 PM

    News of the $700 billion economic bailout plan, which failed in Congress yesterday, has eclipsed some notable developments in energy policy over the last week. The coverage of those developments was there, however, and it was as sobering as the... Continue reading

18. The Observatory

    Calif. Academy of Sciences Reopens!

    September 26, 2008 01:07 PM

    As a native of northern California, I can safely say that it’s easy to envy anybody living in or visiting the Bay Area this weekend. Tomorrow, the revamped California Academy of Sciences reopens in its historic Golden Gate Park home... Continue reading

19. The Observatory

    Same Ol’ Science Platforms

    September 26, 2008 01:03 PM

    With the economy going to pot, it’s not surprising that the presidential candidates haven’t devoted much time to issues of science—R&D funding, education, stem cells, oceans, etc. Thankfully, that hasn’t stopped reporters from poking and prodding as much as possible.... Continue reading

20. The Observatory

    Old Carbon Capture Strategy, New Story

    September 22, 2008 12:22 PM

    On Tuesday, I wrote a column about the media’s failure to cover the opening of the world’s first coal-fired power plant with a fully integrated carbon capture and storage system. Given the adolescent nature of the technology it... Continue reading

1. « Previous
2. 1
3. 2
4. 3
5. 4
6. 5
7. 6
8. 7
9. 8
10. 9
11. 10
12. 11
13. 12
14. 13
15. 14
16. 15
17. 16
18. 17
19. 18
20. 19
21. 20
22. 21
23. 22
24. 23
25. Next »