journalism
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Why laying off ag reporter Philip Brasher is bad for food
Reporter Philip Brasher was recently let go by the Des Moines Register. Here's why you should be concerned about the future of food in this country.
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How a lie enters the political bloodstream
Pants on fire …I get the Energy IssueWatch Newsletter from Congress rag The Hill. In last Friday’s edition, reporter Ben Geman wrote, “Advocates of limiting emissions say it’s inaccurate to compare EPA rules to cap-and-trade proposals that collapsed on Capitol Hill last year.” This is, I suppose, progress. It’s a “she said” to the “he […]
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What are the prospects for comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation in the coming years?
The chances for either an economy-wide shrinking cap on greenhouse gas emissions or a major push on clean energy investment over the next several years are not large. The best one could plausibly hope for in the next Congress, assuming only modest Republican gains, is some sort of weak cap on utility emissions, though that would still require Obama to do what he refused to do under more favorable political circumstances -- push hard for a bill.
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Hot enough for you?
Just another balmy day on the East Coast.Photo courtesy of Tomas Fano via flickr The oppressive heat wave gripping the eastern United States, by itself, shouldn’t have any influence on what policymakers think about global warming. But after the ridiculous spectacle of climate science deniers claiming that last winter’s blizzard disproves global warming, I hope […]
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Thoughts on journalism in an age of ecological calamity
“…sitting on marble floors, waiting for somebody to come out and lie to me.” — Russell Baker, describing his early ’60s stint as a Washington political correspondent for The New York Times, in his memoir The Good Times. Journalists Mike Allen, Sy Hersh, and I.F. StoneThis post doesn’t touch directly on the environment, or even […]
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CJR puts Philpott in the hot seat
(Bart Nagel Photography)Grist Food Editor and indefatigable reporter Tom Philpott recently spent some quality time on the other side of the tape recorder, for an in-depth Columbia Journalism Review interview about class and the U.S. food system. In the piece, titled “Food Fighter,” Philpott fields the de rigeur “is organic too expensive” question with aplomb […]
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N.Y. Times and Elisabeth Rosenthal Face Credibility Siege over Unbalanced Climate Coverage
UPDATE: Climate scientist Ken Caldeira has just sent me an email titled, “I can’t believe the New York Times has done it again …” that I’ll reprint in its entirety at the end. You can contact the NY Times public editor, Clark Hoyt, at public@nytimes.com. The NYT has published arguably its worst climate story ever, […]
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The award for the reporter who is as confused about plug-in hybrids as the folks he quotes …
… goes to Mike Musgrove of the Washington P0st for his piece, “As carmakers plug ‘green,’ Washington Auto Show consumers have plenty of questions.” As evidence of the kind of questions that puzzled consumers have about how plug-in cars work, Musgrove writes: The unmistakable message is that the day of the electric and hybrid car […]
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Cast your vote for the best climate journalism
The climate problem is incredibly complex. Heck, it’s unfathomably complex to most folks, as it involves chemistry, computer models, economic development, and, of course, the weather. This complexity demands strong, explanatory journalism — the kind of fact gathering and storytelling that too many news organizations are ignoring in an era of declining budgets and celebrity […]
