The Observatory
Brain waves
Articles about neuroscience push ideology, inflame divisions, study says
By Curtis Brainard May 1, 2012 at 12:13 PM
From advice about “exercising your mind” to treatises on “the gay brain,” media coverage of neuroscience in the UK often... More
Obama promises climate talk
But reporters will probably have to keep asking
By Curtis Brainard Apr 26, 2012 at 05:26 PM
Three cheers to Rolling Stone cofounder Jann S. Wenner for getting President Barack Obama to utter the words “climate change”... More
NYT Obscures Wal-Mart, EDF Link
Article overlooks green group’s close ties to Walton Family Foundation
By Curtis Brainard Apr 25, 2012 at 06:59 AM
A recent New York Times article about the Environmental Defense Fund’s efforts to help Wal-Mart “cut waste” painted an incomplete... More
Equivocal Efficiency?
Some articles fail to stress bottom line of electric-vehicles report
By Curtis Brainard Apr 18, 2012 at 12:30 PM
A new report outlining regional differences in electric cars’ contribution to climate change is drawing a lot of media attention,... More
Titanic Proportions
The 100th anniversary of one of the world’s most-covered stories
By Curtis Brainard Apr 16, 2012 at 03:00 PM
You can’t sink a good story. The past few months have produced countless articles, columns, photo galleries, videos, and sundry... More
Nutrition Coverage Under Fire
From red meat to white rice, not enough skepticism of observational studies
By Curtis Brainard Apr 9, 2012 at 02:30 PM
The incessant coverage of nutritional studies that make tenuous claims about the harms or benefits of consuming various foods and... More
Q&A: The NYT’s Justin Gillis
The recent Oakes Award winner talks about how to keep climate on the front page
By Curtis Brainard Apr 2, 2012 at 11:00 AM
At the end of March, Columbia University awarded the 2011 Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism to New York Times... More
Little Context for Obama Energy Speech in Ohio
Local reports present a war of words without much fact checking
By Curtis Brainard Mar 27, 2012 at 05:43 PM
Unchecked accusations about gas prices and oil production defined local coverage of President Barack Obama’s speech at Ohio State University... More
Reporter’s Toolbox: Oil and Gas Prices
Resources to help journalists stop the spin
By Curtis Brainard Mar 22, 2012 at 02:00 PM
Every year, news stories about US gasoline prices appear in the early spring and remain popular until the end of... More
Pessimism Reigns a Year After Fukushima
Media forecast a gloomy future for the nuclear industry
By Cristine Russell Mar 12, 2012 at 05:00 PM
The barrage of stories worldwide on the first anniversary of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant provided... More
Heartland, Gleick, and Media Law
Experts weigh in on leaks and deceptive tactics
By Curtis Brainard Mar 1, 2012 at 02:00 PM
When, if ever, are deceptive tactics legally or ethically permissible in journalism? An old debate over that question has raged... More
Q&A: Eric Roston, Bloomberg’s sustainability editor
A new section tracks businesses’ response to the global “resource crunch”
By Curtis Brainard Feb 16, 2012 at 01:00 PM
At the end of November, Bloomberg News launched a Sustainability section “to uncover what businesses are doing, or what... More
“Economy Class Syndrome” Debunked
Personal blood-clot narrative makes for bad science writing in Washington Post
By Curtis Brainard Feb 10, 2012 at 04:55 PM
Telling a first-person story about a health problem is a popular frame in medical writing, and it can be effective... More
What Drives Public Opinion About Climate Change?
Politicians, economy more influential than media coverage, study says
By Curtis Brainard Feb 8, 2012 at 12:00 PM
The media influence public opinion about climate change, but not as much as national politicians and the state of the... More
The Presidential Energy Narrative
Campaign coverage takes on a green hue
By Curtis Brainard Jan 27, 2012 at 05:30 PM
In the last week, President Obama has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, focused his first campaign ad on clean energy,... More
#Realtalk: This isn’t another ‘golden age’ for print - But it is one for media
Social media in smaller markets - How three social media managers deal with smaller markets and more local coverage.
A rally for laid-off Sun-Times photogs - A protest Thursday morning drew about 150 picketers to the newspaper’s headquarters
Reporting, or illegal hacking - Scripps reporters are accused of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Exchange Watch: California Dreaming - Low healthcare premiums on the West Coast were trumpeted as a big, good-news Obamacare story. But: “Compared to what?”
Things have always been getting worse
Yes, women’s magazines can do serious journalism
In fact, we’ve been doing it for a while
The people who run the American security apparatus are in the overwhelming majority diligent people with a deep concern for civil liberties. But their job is to find creative ways to collect information. And they work within an institution that, because of its secrecy, is fundamentally inimical to democracy and to a free society
Fast Company is hacking the newsroom
Here’s why
Rachel Maddow’s tribute to Michael Hastings
“Michael was angry … he was angry about things that weren’t right in the world. He was angry with war and with loss, and that drove his reporting.”
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.
