The Observatory
UEA E-Mails Fail to Provoke
Wary of “Climategate,” reporters treat latest leak as minor news
By Curtis Brainard Nov 30, 2011 at 02:00 PM
Uneager, perhaps, to provoke the type of criticism that followed the dreadful coverage the “Climategate,” journalists have treated the emergence... More
AP Rings the Alarm
Story about cancers from Fukushima plays up the scare factor
By David Ropeik Nov 22, 2011 at 04:50 PM
A lot of cancer is more newsworthy than a little cancer, or so seems to be lesson of an Associated... More
Congress Nixes Climate Service
GOP lawmakers deny NOAA proposal to create central information hub
By Curtis Brainard Nov 21, 2011 at 03:45 PM
Congress has denied the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) bid to create a promising “one stop shop” for data... More
WSJ Marginalizes Muller
Climate-change op-ed didn’t run in the paper’s US edition
By Curtis Brainard Nov 17, 2011 at 05:00 PM
Media Matters, a group dedicated to bird-dogging conservative spin in the press, made a good catch last week when it... More
Frozen Planet Freezes Out Climate
BBC’s polar series unwisely sets apart episode about global warming
By Curtis Brainard Nov 16, 2011 at 02:45 PM
The BBC is taking a mild pummeling for giving foreign television networks the option not to buy an episode about... More
Puzzling Over the Flood
James Fahn pieces together the Thai disaster from international and local news
By James Fahn Nov 11, 2011 at 12:03 PM
In the movie The Paper, a group of editors for a New York tabloid are trying to decide how prominently... More
The Kochs and Keystone XL
InsideClimate fails to make its case about brothers’ interest in the pipeline—but it should keep trying
By Curtis Brainard Nov 9, 2011 at 04:45 PM
Koch Industries, a giant oil and energy conglomerate, has InsideClimate News, a four-year-old online news startup, in its crosshairs. In... More
Like the Odds of a Heart Attack?
The limits of medical analogies for the climate-weather connection
By Curtis Brainard Nov 3, 2011 at 12:30 PM
With the latest death toll from floods in Thailand reaching nearly 400 people, reporters have had yet another opportunity to... More
Cracking the Case
Why is it so difficult to cover investigations of environmental crimes?
By Curtis Brainard Oct 28, 2011 at 02:00 PM
The federal civil and criminal investigations of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continue to be a... More
Soda Scare
Association, causation confused in news about pop and violence
By David Ropeik Oct 26, 2011 at 05:35 PM
Here we go again. A study finds an association between A and B, but some news reports say that A... More
Salazar Calls for Coverage
Interior Secretary highlights underreported environment stories
By Curtis Brainard Oct 25, 2011 at 04:15 PM
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar had a few tips for environmental journalists last week about under-covered stories on their... More
Get a Life (Beyond the Web)
Science writers struggle with time management
By Cristine Russell Oct 21, 2011 at 02:32 PM
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA — Freelance science writer Steve Silberman might not be physically addicted to Twitter, but sometimes it seems like... More
The Scientist Lives
LabX Media Group signs intent to purchase
By Curtis Brainard Oct 18, 2011 at 11:30 AM
A potential buyer has emerged to save The Scientist from early retirement. A week after it was reported that... More
Astill on Covering Forests
Grantham Prize winner discusses his series for The Economist
By Curtis Brainard Oct 14, 2011 at 11:55 AM
It’s often hard for reporters to see the forest for the trees, said James Astill, the newly anointed energy and... More
Hooking the Reader
Dublin meeting highlights reporting challenges related to oceans, seafood
By James Fahn Oct 13, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, as the old saying goes. Teach a man to... More
‘See you on the other side’ - Meet Jessica Lum, a terminally ill 25-year-old who chose to spend what little time she had practicing journalism
#Realtalk: This is the best moment to be in journalism - The old stuff isn’t coming back, but that’s okay
Streams of consciousness - Millennials expect a steady diet of quick-hit, social-media-mediated bits and bytes. What does that mean for journalism?
Sticking with the truth - How ‘balanced’ coverage helped sustain the bogus claim that childhood vaccines can cause autism
An ink-stained stretch - Can Aaron Kushner save the Orange County Register—and the newspaper industry?
This is the best moment to be in journalism (25)
The WSJ editorial page hits rock bottom (19)
Ben Mathis-Lilley’s defense of new media
Take off the nostalgia-tinted lenses
21 questions with David Remnick
What grammar mistake do you find most annoying?
Are you sure that question is grammatical?
After 20 years, the world has finally caught up with Daft Punk, so the helmet-clad retro-futurists are embarking on a new mission: to make music breathe again
What is the single most illuminating interview question to ask someone?
The NYT’s Jodi Kantor answers
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.
