Author Archive

Articles by Earle Holland | Email the Author

 

1. The Observatory

   Research, Not Relations…

   September 9, 2009 04:58 PM

   A piece in The Observatory last week lamented the fact that Rajenda Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was recently obliged to speak as a “human being” rather than as a scientist when... Continue reading

2. The Observatory

   To Report or Repeat?

   May 12, 2009 04:31 PM

   It’s hard to agree with a study last week that claimed academic medical centers hype their research through their press releases, once you look closely at the process they used to reach that conclusion. The releases are, after all, fundamentally... Continue reading

3. The Observatory

   Facebook and Procrastination

   May 8, 2009 10:00 AM

   From the start, we knew that the news release we were distributing had a chance for ample news coverage. After all, it involved the ubiquitous “social media” and student grades, either of which is all-but-guaranteed to garner attention. What we... Continue reading

4. The Observatory

   Press Release by Science Reporting

   November 19, 2008 09:39 AM

   Cris Russell's recent lament in CJR about reporters plugging material from press releases directly into their copy seems anything but the admission of a "dirty little secret," as she calls it. Reporters have been doing this routinely since... Continue reading

5. The Observatory

   The True Challenge For Science Journalists

   August 4, 2008 12:12 PM

   Paul Raeburn’s recent Observatory column, Scientists and Journalists: Too Cozy? was one of many snapshots that looked at Sharon Dunwoody and friends’ latest assessment of journalist-scientist interactions. And like many of the other commentators, Raeburn focused on... Continue reading