Author Archive
Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
Covering the animal within
Zoobiquity promotion belies activity in comparative medicine
By Curtis Brainard Jun 14, 2012 at 03:00 PM
The promo machine for an upcoming book, Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing,... More
NSF invests in literary science journalism
Creative nonfiction program seeks emerging writers
By Curtis Brainard Jun 8, 2012 at 03:00 PM
The National Science Foundation (NSF) doubled down on literary science journalism this year. Actually, it quintupled down. In 2010, NSF... More
An eye on environmental justice
EHN series focuses on an under-covered angle on toxics
By Curtis Brainard Jun 7, 2012 at 11:00 AM
A number of media reports in last year have examined the impacts of toxic pollution on communities, but few have... More
Salt Lake Tribune takes Grantham Prize
$75,000 award goes to series about threatened forests for second year in a row
By Curtis Brainard Jun 6, 2012 at 03:10 PM
For the second year in a row “the world’s richest journalism prize” went to a series of articles about threatened... More
How to improve environmental coverage?
Project sets broad goals, learns to adapt
By Curtis Brainard Jun 4, 2012 at 06:50 AM
Fixing the news is a tall order, or so the Project for Improved Environmental Coverage is learning. The effort launched... More
CBS News hires M. Sanjayan
Lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy to cover science, environment
By Curtis Brainard Jun 1, 2012 at 06:50 AM
Network news got a little better this month. CBS News announced in early May that it had hired M. Sanjayan,... More
Evolved for exhibitionism?
Wired column makes weak claims about human behavior, psychology
By Curtis Brainard May 25, 2012 at 02:21 PM
“Sound the evo-psych bullshit klaxon!” British science journalist Ed Yong tweeted on Thursday. He was right to be concerned. Yong’s... More
Reparative journalism
Reporter sinks a controversial paper on “ex-gay” therapy
By Curtis Brainard May 23, 2012 at 05:20 PM
It’s not often that a journalist convinces a prominent scientist to recant a controversial study that he has tenaciously defended... More
The western frontier
KQED Quest, Pacific Standard keep their eyes on the other coast
By Curtis Brainard May 21, 2012 at 11:00 AM
American media may cluster in the east, but the west is still the land of pioneers, even in the domains... More
USA Today’s oily, gassy rainbow
Detailed cover story a bit too rosy about ‘energy independence’
By Curtis Brainard May 17, 2012 at 06:50 AM
USA Today sees an oily, gassy rainbow on America’s energy horizon. “Energy independence isn’t just a pipe dream,” read a... More
Attachment parenting, detached debate
Time’s titillating cover overshadows article’s substance
By Curtis Brainard May 15, 2012 at 02:15 PM
Time touched a nerve this week with its provocative cover photo of 26-year-old Jamie Lynne Grumet and her 3-year-old son... More
The ice melt cometh
But flawless coverage about happenings in Antarctica has been rare
By Curtis Brainard May 11, 2012 at 03:45 PM
A variety of news outlets has covered two papers published this week indicating that the Weddell Sea area of Antarctica... More
Biotech bogeymen
The San Francisco Chronicle’s muddled swipe at GE crops
By Curtis Brainard May 9, 2012 at 02:30 PM
If you’re worried about pesticides, then the San Francisco Chronicle has a sweeping indictment of genetically engineered (GE) crops to... More
Mad cow, sane coverage
Most media treat BSE discovery with appropriate concern
By Curtis Brainard May 3, 2012 at 12:35 PM
A few days after the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement last month that it had discovered a case of... More
Brain waves
Articles about neuroscience push ideology, inflame divisions, study says
By Curtis Brainard May 1, 2012 at 12:13 PM
From advice about “exercising your mind” to treatises on “the gay brain,” media coverage of neuroscience in the UK often... More
Obama promises climate talk
But reporters will probably have to keep asking
By Curtis Brainard Apr 26, 2012 at 05:26 PM
Three cheers to Rolling Stone cofounder Jann S. Wenner for getting President Barack Obama to utter the words “climate change”... More
NYT Obscures Wal-Mart, EDF Link
Article overlooks green group’s close ties to Walton Family Foundation
By Curtis Brainard Apr 25, 2012 at 06:59 AM
A recent New York Times article about the Environmental Defense Fund’s efforts to help Wal-Mart “cut waste” painted an incomplete... More
Equivocal Efficiency?
Some articles fail to stress bottom line of electric-vehicles report
By Curtis Brainard Apr 18, 2012 at 12:30 PM
A new report outlining regional differences in electric cars’ contribution to climate change is drawing a lot of media attention,... More
Titanic Proportions
The 100th anniversary of one of the world’s most-covered stories
By Curtis Brainard Apr 16, 2012 at 03:00 PM
You can’t sink a good story. The past few months have produced countless articles, columns, photo galleries, videos, and sundry... More
Nutrition Coverage Under Fire
From red meat to white rice, not enough skepticism of observational studies
By Curtis Brainard Apr 9, 2012 at 02:30 PM
The incessant coverage of nutritional studies that make tenuous claims about the harms or benefits of consuming various foods and... 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.
