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Columbia Journalism Review content tagged science

1. July 25, 2012 02:45 PM

   ‘I don’t bluff’

   Michael Mann’s lawyer says National Review must retract and apologize

   By Curtis Brainard

   Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann is demanding that National Review retract and apologize for a July 15 post that compared him to Jerry Sandusky, the convicted child molester and former Penn State assistant football coach. The post in question, by Mark Steyn, accused Mann of academic fraud, dredging up a discredited charge that emerged in 2009 following the leak...

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2. November 5, 2010 05:14 PM

   A Referendum on Energy Issues?

   Not so fast

   By Curtis Brainard and Cristine Russell

   There is something ironic about the post-election surge of articles about the environmental consequences of various outcomes at the polls - from the gloom and doom in Washington to brighter skies in California. Before the ballots were cast, journalists paid hardly any attention to issues like energy and climate. Now that (most) election results have been signed, sealed, and delivered,...

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3. 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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4. October 25, 2012 05:15 PM

   Junkets masquerading as prizes

   To avoid conflicts of interest, read the fine print

   By Curtis Brainard

   With dwindling support for travel in most newsrooms, journalists may be tempted to apply for one of the many prizes or programs that offer the chance to get out of the office and visit a new destination—but buyer beware. The Knight Science Journalism Tracker’s Paul Raeburn wrote a series of three posts about the risks associated with some of these...

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5. June 8, 2012 03:00 PM

   NSF invests in literary science journalism

   Creative nonfiction program seeks emerging writers

   By Curtis Brainard

   The National Science Foundation (NSF) doubled down on literary science journalism this year. Actually, it quintupled down. In 2010, NSF gave $50,000 to faculty members at Arizona State University to lead a course on covering science and innovation policy with “creative nonfiction” for 12 writers/communicators and 12 scholars/researchers. This year, the foundation gave the project $250,000 for an expanded program...

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6. July 23, 2012 03:15 PM

   Quest for science debate continues

   15 top science organizations press Obama, Romney for answers

   By Curtis Brainard

   The quest for a scientific tête-à-tête between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney continues. On Thursday, 15 top science and engineering organizations, from the American Organization for the Advancement of Science to the Union of Concerned Scientists, released a list of 14 questions that they would like the presidential candidates to answer, preferably in a televised debate. The group was organized...

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7. September 28, 2011 10:05 AM

   Skeptical of Science

   Among other new roles, journalists becoming more critical of research

   By Declan Fahy

   The recent coverage of the subatomic particles found to have travelled faster than the speed of light—tentative evidence that could mean a revision of Einstein’s special theory of relativity and a rewriting of the basic laws of physics—highlighted an emerging form of science reporting: the science journalist as science critic. Dennis Overbye in The New York Times, for example, analyzed...

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