Columbia Journalism Review/CJR.org
Columbia Journalism Review and its online counterpart, CJR.org, call themselves watchdogs of and friends to the press. The magazine, published by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, tracks how the mainstream media fares in covering everything from politics to healthcare and beyond. I write specifically for the Science section.
2008
The American Nightmare: James Howard Kunstler and the tragicomedy of suburban sprawl, CJR.org, October 16, 2008
James Howard Kunstler doesn’t hold back and he’s got an open forum to speak his mind: his weekly podcast. His focus is suburban sprawl, but he also talks about whatever news graces the moment’s headlines. Here he shares his opinions of the Presidential campaign, parking, even the trees lining the main street of his hometown.
Do Green Issues Make Green?, CJR.org, June 17, 2008
Do magazine issues focusing on the envirnoment earn more money on the newsstands and prompt better advertising revenue than typical issues? Interviews include editors from Discover, The New Republic, Mother Jones, and Outside.
Green Thumb: Sports, CJR.org, May 5, 2008
How well does the media incorporate green into its sports coverage? This piece, a regular feature on CJR’s The Observatory, takes a look.
Doping’s Next Frontier, CJR.org, April 10, 2008
This Q&A asks Sports Illustrated reporter David Epstein about his three-part series, “Steroids in America,” getting science into a sports magazine, and his opinion of the media’s coverage of performance-enhancing drugs.
To Count or Conserve, CJR.org, March 7, 2008
Can bird watchers interested in bulking up their life lists really care about conservation too? Scott Weidensaul answers that very question in his book Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding, reviewed here.
Blowing in the Wind: When it comes to hurricanes, what to cover, CJR.org, February 1, 2008
When opposing studies about global warming’s effect on hurricanes come out one right after the other just a week apart, how do journalists decides what’s legit and what’s not?
2007
Best of 2007: Genes, Exoplanets, and a Cardboard Bridge, CJR.org, December 21, 2007
This piece dissects magazines’ choices for the scientific breakthroughs and discoveries of 2007.