The Observatory

Meat vs. Miles

Coverage of livestock, transportation emissions hypes controversy

By Curtis Brainard   Mar 29, 2010 at 03:44 PM

For the last four years, media outlets such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Fox News... More

Stories Percolate on World Water Day

National Geographic dives in with special issue

By Curtis Brainard   Mar 23, 2010 at 12:20 PM

By 2025, 1.8 billion people are expected to live in areas where water is scarce—a prediction, among many troubling others,... More

When the Well Runs Dry

Is Duke Energy’s support for a new SciTech section a problem?

By The Editors   Mar 16, 2010 at 02:16 PM

Last week, CJR’s online science desk, The Observatory, ran a story about the launch of a new weekly science and... More

Reviving Science Coverage in the Carolinas

Weekly newspaper section, community-journalism project deliver fresh content

By Thomas K. Zellers   Mar 11, 2010 at 04:44 PM

At a time when weekly newspaper science sections are as rare as a single top quark, two North Carolina newspapers... More

Monitor-ing the Environment

The CSM cancels green blog in favor of a broader approach

By Curtis Brainard   Mar 9, 2010 at 10:42 AM

In recent years, blogs have become a popular way for newspapers to handle specialized topics like science and the environment.... More

Whither the Watershed

A field guide to environmental journalism in the Ohio River Valley

By Curtis Brainard   Mar 3, 2010 at 04:47 PM

Last weekend, the monstrous snowstorm that walloped the northeast prevented me from attending an event that I’d been looking forward... More

Online and Overseas

Less hand-wringing over state of science journalism

By Robin Lloyd and Cristine Russell   Feb 25, 2010 at 12:22 PM

SAN DIEGO—What a difference a year makes. The intense handwringing over the future of science journalism in the wake of... More

The Upshot of Embargoes

Oransky launches blog examining controversial publishing standard

By Curtis Brainard   Feb 24, 2010 at 04:52 PM

A longstanding and controversial topic of conversation within the science journalism community—news embargoes on peer-reviewed research articles—will now receive regular... More

Better Communication Begets Trust

Experts press for localizing climate coverage

By Robin Lloyd and Cristine Russell   Feb 23, 2010 at 10:18 AM

SAN DIEGO—Amidst growing polarization and public confusion over global climate change, there has been plenty of finger pointing about the... More

Meltdown

By Clint Hendler   Feb 18, 2010 at 02:14 PM

As the Northeast digs and melts its way out from feet of snow, now seems like a fine time to... More

Post Capitol-izes on Snow

Traffic is way up at blog focused on local weather

By Curtis Brainard   Feb 17, 2010 at 01:50 PM

Beneath the snowstorm-induced climate feuding that has pervaded the media for the last few weeks, an interesting thing is happening:... More

Snow Fights

Storm coverage muddles politics and science

By Curtis Brainard   Feb 16, 2010 at 04:19 PM

Last week, in a front-page story, The New York Times responded to the latest instance of global warming skeptics seizing... More

U.S. Press Digs Into IPCC Story

Articles still fall short of ambitious work in the U.K.

By Curtis Brainard   Feb 15, 2010 at 10:04 AM

A couple of America’s leading media outlets finally dug into the recent controversy surrounding the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change... More

The Long View on Green

After 40 years on the job, Joe Hebert reflects on covering energy and environment

By Curtis Brainard   Feb 10, 2010 at 04:45 PM

From Three Mile Island to the cap-and-trade debates on Capitol Hill, H. Josef Hebert spent over half of his forty-year... More

“Waves in a Shallow Pan”

Has climate coverage in the MSM lost its authority?

By Philip J. Hilts   Feb 5, 2010 at 02:59 PM

CAMBRIDGE—Like doctors gathered around the operating table in mid-surgery, a group of media experts at Harvard yesterday offered their diagnoses... More