Author Archive
Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author
Critics Slam PBS, NYT Autism Reports
Mnookin: “A reckless and irresponsible coda to Robert MacNeil’s career”
By Curtis Brainard Apr 28, 2011 at 12:15 PM
A PBS Newshour series about autism that drew former host Robert MacNeil back to the show for the first time... More
National Geographic Taking the Wheel at Scienceblogs.com
Report of merger prompts campfire history tale on Twitter
By Curtis Brainard Apr 26, 2011 at 11:00 AM
“My baby's all grown up,” mused Christopher Mims, retweeting an unconfirmed announcement posted nineteen minutes earlier that Scienceblogs.com, the site... More
Mixed Grades for Medical Coverage
Analysis of nearly 1,500 articles over five years finds pluses and minuses
By Curtis Brainard Apr 22, 2011 at 12:29 PM
A review of nearly 1,500 health-medical articles over the last five years has found that while journalists are nailing a... More
CU-Boulder to Shutter J-School
Journalism education remains a priority, administrators claim
By Curtis Brainard Apr 19, 2011 at 09:30 AM
The University of Colorado’s Board of Regents voted last week to close the journalism school at its Boulder campus, marking... More
California Watch is Watching
Investigation reveals lax oversight of seismic standards in schools
By Curtis Brainard Apr 15, 2011 at 10:30 AM
California Watch’s Corey Johnson was scanning the website of the state architect’s office one evening in December 2009 when he... More
Japan’s Other Environmental Woes
The Wall Street Journal breaks from the pack with article on non-nuclear fallout
By Curtis Brainard Apr 7, 2011 at 10:45 AM
The Wall Street Journal distinguished itself on Monday with an article that examined some of the non-nuclear environmental impacts... More
Covering “Crazy”
“Goldwater rule” overlooked in articles about Qaddafi, Sheen, and Loughner
By Curtis Brainard Mar 30, 2011 at 12:57 PM
The media has a penchant for psychoanalysis that often gets news outlets into trouble. From killers to celebrities to dictators,... More
Quaking in California
Articles about the “big one” short on science
By Curtis Brainard Mar 22, 2011 at 02:15 PM
The 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan on March 11 not only sent a tsunami barreling across the Pacific, but also... More
Crisis Juggling in Japan
Reporters struggle to balance quake, tsunami, nuclear coverage
By Curtis Brainard Mar 16, 2011 at 02:00 PM
The triple disaster. The triple whammy. Both terms are now common in media accounts of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear-plant disaster that has... More
Microbes and the Media
Burned in the past, journalists wary of astrobiology hype
By Curtis Brainard Mar 8, 2011 at 10:58 AM
Claims about extraterrestrial life are once again making headlines. Unlike a December incident involving an assertion about the discovery of... More
“Frack”-tious Reactions
Skirmishes follow recent coverage of shale-gas drilling
By Curtis Brainard Mar 3, 2011 at 01:45 PM
The former head of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection is not happy with The New York Times’s Ian Urbina and... More
Extreme Measures
Must reporters cite climate change in every article about severe weather?
By Curtis Brainard Feb 24, 2011 at 01:49 PM
Last week, the journal Nature made a big splash in the press with the publication of two studies which found... More
Coming to Terms with the “Value” of Life
The rhetorical debate behind the NYT’s front-pager
By Curtis Brainard Feb 21, 2011 at 04:30 PM
Last week, my colleague Felix Salmon expressed his love for The New York Times’s front-page article on Thursday about federal... More
Dr. Search Engine
NYT prompts needed discussion about the relative merits of health websites
By Curtis Brainard Feb 17, 2011 at 01:47 PM
Eighty percent of Internet users seek out health information on the web, according to a survey released by the Pew... More
Add It Up
Bad math mars coverage of penguin banding, climate change
By Curtis Brainard Jan 24, 2011 at 06:03 PM
In the last two weeks, reporters have repeated false numbers provided by a study and a report (and by their... More
Giffords’ Medical Care
Healthy dose of science coverage adds context
By Curtis Brainard Jan 12, 2011 at 08:30 AM
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords remained in critical condition on Tuesday afternoon after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head on Saturday,... More
Climate Conundrums
Slack coverage, quality issues stir debate
By Curtis Brainard Jan 10, 2011 at 01:16 PM
2010 was “the year climate coverage ‘fell off the map,’” The Daily Climate, a website that tracks related news and... More
Best of 2010: The Observatory
Curtis Brainard picks the top stories from 2010
By Curtis Brainard Dec 29, 2010 at 01:11 PM
1. “New” Media Crucial in Aftermath of Haitian Earthquake With standard telephone, radio, and television communications disabled, “new” media platforms... More
Climate Change 101
Trio of articles re-cover some global warming basics
By Curtis Brainard Dec 23, 2010 at 04:45 PM
A little more than a year ago, there was a feeling among many editors and reporters that the climate-change story... More
The Right Place for Scientific Debate?
Scientists snub media as controversy over arsenic-eating microbes rolls on
By Curtis Brainard Dec 7, 2010 at 05:07 PM
First there was the wild speculation about the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Then came widespread, sometimes misguided, coverage of the... 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?
This is the best moment to be in journalism (25)
The WSJ editorial page hits rock bottom (19)
The New York Times told me to take this down
“If you wouldn’t mind using another publication to advertise your infringement tool, we’d appreciate it”
In AP, Rosen investigations, government makes criminals of reporters
“[A]s flagrant an assault on civil liberties as anything done by George W. Bush’s administration”
Jay Carney press briefing blues
“Reporters are increasingly skeptical about Carney’s demeanor and the veracity of some answers”
Jaron Lanier wants to build a new middle class on micropayments
A future where writers can gain wealth through a “freelance economy”
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.
