Harvard Shorenstein Center Paper on Bill McKibben as Journalist, Public Intellectual and Activist
In a paper released today by Harvard University, I analyze the career of writer-turned-activist Bill McKibben and his impact over the past 20 years on the climate change debate. Below is a description of the paper from the corresponding web page at the Kennedy School of Government’s Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy....
New Study Part of BioMed Central Series on “Using and Abusing Evidence in Health Policy”
Our new study at BMC Medical Ethics evaluating the media impact of the best-selling book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (see related blog post), is part of a series of studies just released by the BioMed Central consortium of journals. The collection is based on a 2012 international workshop organized by the University of...
BMC Medical Ethics Study Evaluates the Media Impact of Rebecca Skloot’s Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
In a new study at the journal BMC Medical Ethics, my colleague Declan Fahy and I analyze the journalistic and critical reception of Rebecca Skloot’s 2010 best-selling book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, focusing on the implications for public understanding and engagement on issues related to tissue donation, research and biobanking. The global expansion...
New Study Examines Scientists’ Participation in Public Life
In a new co-authored study with John Besley and Sang Wa Oh at the journal Public Understanding of Science, we expand on our recent work examining how scientists as a group perceive and understand public opinion, the media, and the policy process. In this most recent analysis, we focus specifically on the motivations, beliefs, and conditions...
Communicating the Moral Dimensions of Climate Change
–Guest post by Ezra Markowitz, doctoral candidate at the University of Oregon. The moral judgment system—the set of cognitive, emotional, social and motivational mechanisms responsible for producing our perceptions of right and wrong—has been receiving a lot of attention recently, only some of it good. A slew of best-selling books, dozens of exciting new research...
More on the Shifting Roles of Science Journalists in the Digital Age
Following up on our study analyzing the shifting roles and emerging practices of science journalists, Declan Fahy contributed a valuable discussion to the news site of the British Association of Science Writers. Lede below. Also see Fahy’s article at CJR.org and a more detailed discussion with PDF of the study. Now that science reporters have...
Study Maps the Relationship Between Cable News and Climate Change Perceptions
A new study finds that Fox News tends to feature guests who doubt the reality of climate change and stories that dismiss the need for action, while CNN and MSNBC tend to feature guests who assert the reality of climate change and the need for action. Interestingly, however, Fox tends to devote more attention to...
The Science Journalist Online: Shifting Roles and Emerging Practices
Science journalists in the US and UK face unique pressures adapting to the social and participatory nature of online news, to economic conditions that force them to fill a diversity of roles in the newsroom, and to the many hats they must wear if they are to survive as freelancers. As a consequence, science journalists...
Peak Oil Perceptions: How Americans View the Risks of a Major Spike in Oil Prices
A strong majority of Americans say it is likely that oil prices will triple in the coming five years and that such a tripling would be harmful both to the economy and to public health. Conservatives and those dismissive of climate change are among the most concerned by the threat of a major spike in...
