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Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
All thumbs, none green
Environment coverage is down at the Times, even if it wasn’t supposed to be
By Curtis Brainard Mar 19, 2013 at 06:58 AM
Two weeks ago, I excoriated The New York Times for canceling its Green blog a month after it had dismantled... More
Open government?
Some progress, on paper at least
By Curtis Brainard Mar 15, 2013 at 06:58 AM
Since President Obama came to the White House in 2009, federal regulatory and science agencies have taken measurable steps--on paper,... More
Windmills, tourism, and transparency
Maine blogger’s ongoing conflict-of-interest problems spark concern
By Curtis Brainard Mar 13, 2013 at 04:00 PM
The former executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, who's now a fulltime media personality covering travel and outdoors... More
Green drones?
Unmanned aerial vehicles poised to enhance environmental coverage
By Curtis Brainard Mar 6, 2013 at 04:56 PM
As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prepares to allow the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for a wide array of... More
NYT cancels Green blog
No explanation from editors following surprise announcement
By Curtis Brainard Mar 1, 2013 at 07:00 PM
At 5pm on Friday afternoon, The New York Times posted the following announcement: The Times is discontinuing the Green blog,... More
Brain mapping
NYT raises questions about federal project, science press provides answers
By Curtis Brainard Feb 28, 2013 at 03:00 PM
On February 17, The New York Times touched off an anxious debate in the neuroscience community with a front-page article... More
Drones and transparency
White House criticized for secrecy, PBS’s NOVA for conflict
By Curtis Brainard Feb 20, 2013 at 03:45 PM
It's no secret that journalists, especially those on the science beat, don't think that President Obama has lived up his... More
Digging for dark money
Guardian, CPI expose secretive climate-denial funding network
By Curtis Brainard Feb 19, 2013 at 03:20 PM
Just over a year ago, Peter Gleick, a scientist and climate-change activist, obtained a cache of internal documents from The... More
Meteorite steals asteroid’s thunder
Russian ‘dash cams’ fill web with amateur video
By Curtis Brainard Feb 15, 2013 at 10:45 AM
For the last week, stargazers around the world have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of a 150-meter asteroid that will... More
UPDATED: All charged up
Elon Musk says NYT review of a Tesla sedan was dishonest; Broder, Sullivan fire back
By Curtis Brainard Feb 14, 2013 at 05:30 PM
[Original column posted February 12, 12:00 p.m.] Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is all charged up over a The New... More
‘I need rules’
Jonah Lehrer says he still intends to pursue writing
By Curtis Brainard Feb 12, 2013 at 06:00 PM
In his first public appearance since revelations of fabrication and plagiarism derailed his career last year, science writer Jonah Lehrer... More
Momentum becomes Ensia
Univ. of Minnesota expands its environmental magazine
By Curtis Brainard Feb 8, 2013 at 03:00 PM
A nonprofit environmental magazine published by the University of Minnesota that's been quietly racking up awards for three years is... More
Sheen before green
Entertainment news outstrips environment news 3-to-1
By Curtis Brainard Feb 1, 2013 at 06:50 AM
Celebrity and sports stories are three times more common in the mainstream media than environment stories, according to a new... More
The bird-flu blues
Short notice that research will resume leads to thin coverage
By Curtis Brainard Jan 30, 2013 at 05:15 PM
Reporters didn't have much time to react to the news that scientists in some countries will soon resume research on... More
Quinoa’s quagmire
One-sided Guardian article incites media scare
By Curtis Brainard Jan 25, 2013 at 03:05 PM
A slanted post about the quinoa craze set off a cascade of reproachful media warnings last week, telling consumers that... More
Climate policy, act two
Reactions to Obama’s second inaugural overlook Skocpol report
By Curtis Brainard Jan 23, 2013 at 11:30 AM
It was great to see The New York Times give front-page treatment to the unexpected weight that President Obama put... More
Science journalism’s great divide
Study finds pessimism in the West, optimism in the Global South
By Curtis Brainard Jan 21, 2013 at 11:00 AM
Science journalists in the West have a bleaker outlook on the future of their profession than their colleagues in the... More
Here? Now?
Media squander rare opportunity to localize climate coverage
By Curtis Brainard Jan 17, 2013 at 03:30 PM
Making climate change a local story isn't easy, but regional newspapers are, by and large, missing what is probably going... More
Faded green
Environment reporters endangered, regardless of exact number
By Curtis Brainard Jan 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM
InsideClimate News's Katherine Bagley, who broke the news last week that The New York Times is dismantling its environment desk,... More
Environment coverage TBD
The Times says it’s committed, but only time will tell
By Curtis Brainard Jan 15, 2013 at 11:00 AM
The New York Times’s decision is to dismantle its four-year-old environment “pod” has been called everything from “an unmitigated disaster”... More
Woman’s work - The twisted reality of an Italian freelancer in Syria
Sourcing Trayvon Martin ‘photos’ from stormfront - Not a good idea, Business Insider
Elizabeth Warren, the antidote to CNBC - The senator schools the talking heads on bank regulation
Art Laffer + PR blitz = press failure - The media types up the retail lobby’s propaganda
Reuters’s global warming about-face - A survey shows the newswire ran 50 percent fewer stories on climate change after hiring a “skeptic”
In one tweet
Luke Russert is the Golden Boy of DC
And it drives young journalists crazy
It’s official: We never need to worry about the future of journalism again!
The NYT shows us why
Why does Florida produce so much weird news? Experts explain
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
ACEsTooHigh.com – Reporting on the science, education, and policy surrounding childhood trauma
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
