update: Eli had a nice post on this topic last week. In the newspaper this week, I took a whack at what I think is one of the fundamental public misunderstandings about the nature of science. I like to call it “the textbook problem”, but one might also characterize it as “the science journalism problem.” …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: The Problem With Science Journalism’ »
Greetings from the not-so-wilds of Taos, New Mexico, where I picked up this morning’s Albuquerque Journal to find this (sub/ad req), on the surprising discovery of PCBs in the Rio Grande just downstream from the main Albuquerque storm water outfall: If the nuclear weapons lab were responsible, dealing with this problem would be simpler. Attentive …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: PCBs in the Rio Grande’ »
Michael Tobis believes the prevalence of bunk on the issue of climate change is “one of the principal characteristics of our time,” and that the media’s failure to effectively counter said bunk is a fundamental failing that stands in the way of action on climate change. As I said in a previous discussion of this …
I’m pretty sure Michael Tobis and I share important goals and values. We both, I think, believe that political and public policy processes have the best outcomes when science is well understood and used by the participants. We both, I think, believe that journalism can and should play some sort of role in helping toward …
Continue reading ‘In Search of Bafflegab in the New York Times’ »
I’d like to think the President of the United States has the best interests of America’s children in mind with this school address thing that has generated such a kerfuffle. But after reading the advance text, I’m not so sure: Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has …
Continue reading ‘Elephant Diaries: Career Advice From The President’ »
One of the great advantages of the web for us on the content-creation side is the information web users give us, via their clicks, about their preferences. Usually I am not surprised (salacious crime, etc.). But if you had asked me if my little squib about El Nino’s arrival (sub. req. maybe sorta) would be …
The New York Times story about hyperlocal news offers a reminder of the mistake we’ve been making in the news biz: And so far, they have had only limited success selling ads. Remember the railroad metaphor. The discussion suggests the continued mistake of thinking we’re in the news business. We’ve been extraordinarily successful in delivering …
Continue reading ‘Elephant Diaries: What Business Are We In?’ »
Via a tweet from Janet Stemwedel yesterday, a brilliant new business model has emerged. Here’s what she said: @jfleck Did you not get the memo? The internet is killing print media. (And, I presume, making it harder to wrap fish and line cages.) We’ve beent thinking about this all wrong. We’ve been mistakenly thinking we …
I did a kinda snarky, mean-spirited post last week criticicizing local politics blogger Joe Monahan. The guy bugs me because what he does seems, to many readers, to pass for new journalism. He’s an entertaining blogger, but his obsessive use of anonymous sources falls far short of what for me serves as useful journalism. Matt …
I have a standing policy here at the Inkstain News Center against quoting anonymous sources, but this is too sweet to pass up: My alligators tell me that Joe Monahan’s college nickname was “Squid”. “Alligators” is NM politics blogger Monahan’s word for his anonymous sources, who tell him all kinds of important stuff, some of …