climate journalism

A Follow-up on the NYT’s Environmental Coverage

Environmental journalism in decline at the NYT

  Last March, the New York Times killed its Green blog and disassembled its environment desk, distributing the staff into other units.  Jayni noted the possible concern that this change might result in diminished resources for environmental coverage at the Times; she also noted the positive spin that some Times people put on the change, …

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Are Polar Bears Really Endangered?

“Glib contrarianism” in environmental journalism

The news web site Slate is known for its counterintuitive articles – so much so, that the term “slatepitch” has been coined.  But sometimes trying to write a counterintuitive article leads you to write something, well, just wrong. Today, Slate ran an article about “Five Species You Thought Were Endangered That Really Aren’t (Including the …

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How NOT to Report on Climate Change

My eye couldn’t help but be drawn to this headline from the Times of India: ‘Nearly 80% of mango crop ruined by climate change’. Wow, I thought.  Even for a pessimist like myself, that’s quite a lot.  And how did they determine that?  Then I looked at the story.  Here’s the lede: Alphonso, the king …

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“Say What?” – Learning to Communicate About Climate Change

Scientists and journalists have very different professional training and skill sets.  Often they find it hard to communicate with each other.   Steps are being taken at Berkeley to try to address this problem.  Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group (ERG)  and the Journalism School have announced a new set of resources on effectively communicating about climate …

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