Traditional journalism struggles with complex issues
Namely, biofuels 5
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Posted 4:57 PM on 20 Dec 2006
by Biodiversivist -
Posted in
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My real name is Russ Finley. I live in Seattle, married with children. Suffice it to say that although I am trained and educated as an engineer, my passion is nature. I very much want my grandchildren to live on a planet where lions, tigers, and bears have not joined the long and growing list of creatures that used to be. In an attempt to minimize the workload on Grist editors responsible for turning my submissions into intelligible articles, I will also be posting on a seperate blog called Biodiversivist, which will contain articles in addition to those submitted to Grist.
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Whiskerfish Posted 6:31 pm
20 Dec 2006
As someone with a couple of degrees in biological stuff, I'm always struck by the same things in stories. So few 'environmetnal journalists' actually know what they're talking about - it's quite scary, really.
It's got something to do with the continued deprofessionalisation of the profession (journalists are being paid less and less and expected to churn out more and more to shorter and shorter deadlines, and yes I have figures to prove this) and the fact that so many scientists/biologists are such crap communicators (my personal opinion, no figures available).
We've got to look at ways of fostering really good environmental communicators, who understand enough science to ask the right questions, and can get to the heart of issues in compelling and entertaining ways.
Cheers
Whiskerfish
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Mrgreen Posted 11:39 pm
20 Dec 2006
http://clubofpioneers.com/blog/blog-from-carl-jochen-wint...
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Whiskerfish Posted 11:53 pm
20 Dec 2006
Lesson 1: Do not publish machine-translations and expect people to take you seriously! OK, maybe his English is that bad - my German is worse!
Cheers
Whiskerfish
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caniscandida Posted 3:21 am
21 Dec 2006
As for what Herr Doktor Winter may be telling us about hydrogen as an energy source, I leave that to all you engineer-types. Same deal with Biodiv on biofuels -- though of course I trust Biodiv implicitly.
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
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Biodiversivist Posted 4:52 am
21 Dec 2006
...journalists are being paid less and less and expected to churn out more and more to shorter and shorter deadlines
Gristmill being a prime example of a journalistic sweatshop : )
I have to say, adding the thoughts and opinions of people from all over the planet is a beautiful example of the additive power of intelligence to problem solve, made possible by the internet. Critique and improve, repeat.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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