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Columbia Journalism Review content tagged environment

1. September 26, 2011 06:23 PM

   LAT On Why Solyndra Dazzled the Private and Public Sectors

   By Ryan Chittum

   The Los Angeles Times has a really good look at the failure of Solyndra, the solar-power company that went bankrupt earlier this month despite a $528 million Department of Energy loan two years ago. This isn't a story about the machinations of the Obama administration or an investigation into why the FBI raided the company as it was failing. It's...

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2. June 7, 2012 06:50 AM

   The Seattle Times sinks a local polluter

   Investigating the sketchy background of a capsized ship's owner

   By Ryan Chittum

   Most business investigations focus on corporations and investors. And for good reason: They're the ones with the money and the power. But sometimes a small business owner can have an outsized impact too. Here in Seattle three weeks ago, a boat moored off Whidbey Island caught fire and sank, spilling thousands of gallons of fuel, shutting down shellfish harvesting in...

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3. June 15, 2012 03:00 PM

   Adrift in a sea of (no) coverage

   For two years, little in the news about battle over National Ocean Policy

   By Curtis Brainard

   Last October, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar called on the press to pay more attention to the Obama administration’s achievements in environmental conservation. In response, The Miami Herald’s Carl Hiaasen suggested that the government give journalists more to write about, and he had a point. On Sunday, The Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin had a revealing article (which should’ve gotten...

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4. June 1, 2012 06:50 AM

   CBS News hires M. Sanjayan

   Lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy to cover science, environment

   By Curtis Brainard

   Network news got a little better this month. CBS News announced in early May that it had hired M. Sanjayan, lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy, as its science and environmental contributor, filling a slot that’s been vacant for almost two and a half years. Sanjayan will cover a broad range of topics across multiple platforms and contribute to CBS...

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5. November 16, 2012 11:00 AM

   Climate roller coaster back on track

   With Obama talking global warming, media see ups and downs

   By Curtis Brainard

   At his first post-election press conference on Wednesday, President Obama talked about his current position on climate change in greater detail than he’s done in two years. News outlets’ attempts to interpret the meaning of his remarks produced bewilderingly disparate takes, however, whether that involved Obama’s personal commitment to addressing the issue: “Obama vows to take personal charge of climate...

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6. January 13, 2012 12:00 PM

   Critical Juncture for HuffPo Science

   With new section, David Freeman has an opportunity to raise the bar

   By Curtis Brainard

   The Huffington Post’s announcement last week that it had launched a new section intended to be a “one-stop shop for the latest scientific news and opinion” incited a flurry of circumspect commentary about whether or not the site was turning over “a new leaf” in science coverage. Over the years, The Huffington Post has drawn widespread criticism for publishing misleading...

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7. June 4, 2012 06:50 AM

   How to improve environmental coverage?

   Project sets broad goals, learns to adapt

   By Curtis Brainard

   Fixing the news is a tall order, or so the Project for Improved Environmental Coverage is learning. The effort launched in late February with a “vision” statement that called on media organizations to “integrate the environmental angle into other stories and make that connection explicit, make environmental stories appealing to a larger cross section of society, focus more on solutions,...

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8. October 11, 2012 03:00 PM

   Jackpot lost

   Is a $75K prize or better training more likely to improve environmental coverage?

   By Curtis Brainard

   The backers of one of journalism’s richest awards are bringing the prize to an end, betting that professional development, rather than financial incentive, will do more to improve coverage of the environment. The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting announced Tuesday that the $75,000 Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment is no more. After six years,...

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9. October 4, 2012 04:00 PM

   No debate about environment

   Hopes for questions about climate, public lands fall flat

   By Curtis Brainard

   The presidential candidates didn’t talk about the environment during their first debate on Wednesday. Nobody really expected them to; they just hoped that they would. Leading up to the encounter, San Francisco Chronicle, The Huffington Post, InsideClimate News, and other outlets highlighted a 160,000-signature petition that nine environmental groups, including the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club, sent...

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10. November 8, 2012 03:00 PM

    Obama and the environment

    Media react to the election with speculation, some insights

    By Curtis Brainard

    Journalists didn’t leave energy and the environment out of post-election speculation about what President Obama’s second term might look like. A lot of the commentary was a recitation of the ups and downs of Obama’s record during the first four years—from tightening vehicle fuel-efficiency standards to dropping a plan to reduce smog—and prognosticating about what the next four years could...

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11. September 16, 2011 03:24 PM

    Reporting on Solyndra

    Missing basic concepts about the government's loan-guarantee program.

    By Ryan Chittum

    Much of the press coverage of the Solyndra bankruptcy has been poor on some basic concepts at the heart of the story. This is what happens when beat reporters meet stories with business, political, and science angles, and why news organizations need to team up their people across beats.* What happened with Solyndra? Presidents Bush and Obama sought to guarantee...

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12. June 18, 2012 05:45 PM

    Rio+20 roundup

    Coverage of the UN sustainable development summit revs up, or not

    By Curtis Brainard

    Big, international summits geared toward protecting the environment and promoting sustainability just don’t have the cachet that they used to. “Expectations are low for Rio+20,” Reuters reported on Monday morning, reflecting the dominant theme in coverage leading up to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which starts Wednesday in Brazil. The event is a follow-up to the historic environment...

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13. June 22, 2012 03:15 PM

    Rio+20 side events become the main event

    Does the summit deserve the scorn and indifference it has received from the media?

    By James Fahn

    Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — Tragedy and farce. Those are the two general impressions conveyed by much of the world’s media regarding the global negotiations taking place here this week, which harken back to the historical treaty talks held 20 years ago in the same city. Journalists covering the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, knew something was odd when...

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14. November 14, 2012 12:00 PM

    Salazar threatens to ‘punch out’ reporter

    Interior Secretary angered by tough questions at Obama campaign event

    By Curtis Brainard

    Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar threatened to “punch out” a journalist for having the temerity to ask him questions about public policy at an Election-Day event in Colorado last week. Salazar was at an Obama campaign office in Fountain, CO, as part of a tour through the state to support the president and encourage voter turnout. Dave Philipps, a...

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15. May 21, 2012 11:00 AM

    The western frontier

    KQED Quest, Pacific Standard keep their eyes on the other coast

    By Curtis Brainard

    American media may cluster in the east, but the west is still the land of pioneers, even in the domains of multimedia and long-form science journalism. Two young trailblazers—Quest, a multimedia science and environment series created in 2007 by KQED, a public radio and TV station serving northern California, and Pacific Standard, a research-oriented, bimonthly magazine launched as Miller-McCune in...

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