CJR, Framing Science: Science Journo panel at Harvard mulls climate of climate coverage. Forecast cloudy.
Want to know of a few others feeling glum these days? On Thursday last week some of the bigger names among science journalists who think a lot about climate change, along with some specialists who study such journalists, didn’t give one another much to cheer about. I was not there. Audio of the meeting is in Grist below, which I’ve not listened to all the way through. But two explanations of what went on at the confab at the Kennedy School of Government suggest a somber atmosphere of uncertainty over reporter’s handling recently of climate policy and science news, of whether it makes much difference how it gets handled by the likes of us, and of whether other institutions or modes such as social networking info-transfer (tweets anyone?) can or will do a better job fostering public conversation. That’s not all, either.
- Columbia Journalism Review – Phil Hilts : Waves in a Shallow Pan; Hilts, director of the MIT Knight Sci. J. Fellowships, reports the simultaneous sag in major media muscle and in public worry over climate change.
- Framing Science – Matthew C. Nisbet: Audio and Highlights of the Harvard Kennedy School Panel w/Andrew Revkin on Climate Change, Skeptics, and the Media;
The affair also got an extensive local writeup:
- Harvard Gazette – Elizabeth Gehrman: Global warnings / Panel says media’s decline undercuts education efforts on climate change ; Journalists often argue that it’s not their business to educate people in any sort of pedagogic fashion, but to engage and inform. Either way, an undercut seems underway. Gehrman provides a lengthy, serious piece of coverage. Panel moderator Cris Russell is quoted here with a pithy remark: “Media has that nice singular sound. But it’s obviously a diverse group, many of whom are not interested in news or journalism or facts or information.” Revkin has one two, saying network-think is an “echo-chamberish concentrating force moving at the speed of light.” Rush Limbaugh and George Will come up.
Grist for the Mill:
Text of Matt Nisbet’s remarks ; Belfer Center Agenda, Speaker List for conference ; Belfer Center After-Report including Audio Recording ; Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics,and Public Policy report on the meeting;
- Charlie Petit
