COMM 3500 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, COMMUNICATION, AND THE MEDIA (Formerly Environmental and Risk Communication)  Offered Spring 2016 COURSE DESCRIPTION            In this advanced writing seminar for undergraduates, students analyze major debates over the environment, climate change, and related technologies; assessing how they are portrayed by experts, advocates, and the media; and the implications for effective communication, policymaker…

By Julia Fox, Indiana University, Bloomington Jon Stewart’s Tuesday night announcement that he’ll be leaving the Daily Show garnered an audible cry of disbelief from his live studio audience. Stewart himself was visibly emotional: “What is this fluid?” he jokingly asked, making Frankenstein-like gestures toward his eyes and heart. “What are these feelings?” Stewart has…

An excellent new open-access study at Climatic Change by Columbia University researchers builds on our past work, finding that health appeals, rather than climate appeals, persuade conservatives to support policy action to limit greenhouse gas pollution.      

As the Obama Administration promotes the recently proposed EPA rules to limit carbon emissions; the main attack on the rules will be the claimed impact on economic growth and jobs. The fault lines for this communication battle to frame what is at stake is put into context by a US Bureau of Economic Analysis report…