Noticing the incredible lack of hard news in today's journalism, the great artist Steve Brodner proposes a solution. In his words: The problem with main stream media is that sometimes the news is hard to find. What if "journalism" were sponsored by journalism? We could then expect some kind of product placement in the show! Continue reading “What if journalism today included the real news?”
Category Archives: press issues
Dean of Climate Reporters Retires From Daily Coverage
Andrew Revkin, a superb reporter and a wonderful guy, is retiring from covering the climate on a regular basis. He's taking a buy-out from The New York Times. That's the bad news. The good news is that he will continue to maintain his first-rate global sustainability blog, Dot Earth, and write books as well. AsContinue reading “Dean of Climate Reporters Retires From Daily Coverage”
Global warming scientific consensus reaffirmed in popular press
In response to a hacked theft of thousands of emails from a British research center, an attack which implicitly challenges the idealism of scientists studying climate, three of our most popular science publications have rushed to reaffirm the scientific consensus on the subject. Yes, global warming is a reality on the planet today, unfortunately. It'sContinue reading “Global warming scientific consensus reaffirmed in popular press”
The Fabulousness of Unemployment
As circulation continues to crater, the Los Angeles Times laid off another forty or so staffers this week, including numerous veterans who somehow survived the last two years of terror at the beleaguered newspaper. Among them was a dashing columnist named Tina Daunt, who has reacted by going (on her blog at least) with sheerContinue reading “The Fabulousness of Unemployment”
Australian Winter Turns Apocalyptic: Global Warming Blamed
Is my headline an exaggeration of reality? If you ask a denier site such as Watts Up With That, no doubt they would scoff, and say it's the usual natural variability. But deniers not only ignore the bad news about global warming obvious to most people on the ground, in places like Sydney and SoCal,Continue reading “Australian Winter Turns Apocalyptic: Global Warming Blamed”
LA Times to SoCal: Climate Change is Here. Deal with It.
Over the past couple of years I have been critical of the paper for its all-or-nothing coverage of global warming (where they will run enormous stories about climate change in, say, the Arctic, but neglect to mention consequences here in California the US when covering other less-sexy environmental stories not specifically about climate change.)
“Information Wants to be Free”…
Apparently at the first Hackers' Convention, way back in l984, Stewart Brand declared that "Information wants to be free." It's a great phrase, unless you are a writer, a musician, an artist, or another "content provider," in which case the phrase is a ticket to poverty. The correct translation is, I believe, "people are freakingContinue reading ““Information Wants to be Free”…”
The Naked Woman and the Violin (cf. Nancy Rommelman)
At a recent panel about the woes of the press in an era of devastating change, the brilliant Tom Rosenstiel (the founder and director of the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism) related a parable he likes to tell about how to attract the public's attention. He contrasted two characters: a young woman who hadContinue reading “The Naked Woman and the Violin (cf. Nancy Rommelman)”
The New Way to Lie in Public: The FDA Likes It!
On the front page of The Los Angeles Times this morning is a sharp story on the the Federal Drug Administration, and its virtually non-existent oversight of a peanut processing plant in Georgia. Because the plant was "filthy" and because the government farmed out oversight to a state agency that looked the other way, hundredsContinue reading “The New Way to Lie in Public: The FDA Likes It!”
Climate Change and the Press: Panel Discussion at Meteorologists Convention
Wednesday at the American Meteorological Society convention in Phoenix, a distinguished panel convened by Bud Ward discussed how the press has handled — or muffed — coverage of climate change. Ward recently published a short book on a series of workshops he pulled together over the last couple of years for high-level journalists and scientists,Continue reading “Climate Change and the Press: Panel Discussion at Meteorologists Convention”
Kit Stolz 