Science and medical writing
Entries here are aimed more at science and medical writers (writing about science, medicine, and health for the general reader) than for "scientific and medical writers" (scientists writing for each other).
• Blogs and podcasts about the energy transition
• Blogs, news, essays, shortform pieces about medicine, health, and science
• Books for science, health, and medical writers
• Podcasts about health, health care, medicine and medical science
• How to become a better science writer
• A Day in the Life series (The Open Notebook)
• Science writing seminars, workshops, and internships
• Degree programs in science writing
• Medical, health, and scientific conferences journalists might cover
• Online writing workshops
• Organizations for medical, health care, and science writers
In semi-alphabetical order:
• Conflicts of interest in science and medical writing
• Covering abortion
• Covering the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare)
• Covering (and arguing about) climate change
• Covering energy
• Covering the environment
• Covering health reform
• Covering HIV and AIDS
• Covering medical beats and health care
• Covering Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP
• Covering the opioid crisis: Addiction, treatment, and recovery
• Covering the water crisis
• Diverse voices in science and technology
• Embargoes
• Evidence-based medicine
• Getting the numbers right (and easier to understand)
• HIPAA and patient privacy rules
• How not to misread or misreport research reports
• Medical and scientific images and illustrations (a partial list of sources)
• Medical ghostwriting (and collaboration)
• Miscellaneous short pieces/posts for science and medical writers
(everything that didn't fit one of the categories listed)
• Narrative structure (storytelling) in science and medical writing
• Peer review, reviewed
• How (and if) peer review works
• Politics and fuel policy
• Problems covering government agencies
• Reforming the U.S. health care system (on sister site--many entries)
• Relationships between public information officers (PIOs) and journalists
• Retraction Watch
• Tracking patterns in drug use over time
• Transparency and openness in reporting on science results
• The truth about health care and health care reform (especially under Obama)
• When science bucks science denial, ideology, or special interests
• Where journalists get their medical news and information (blog post)
• Where to get science news (blog post)
SEE ALSO
• Adding images, sound, story, humor, animation (data vizualization, etc.) for ways to enliven a story and clarify an explanation.
• Corporate and technical communications for more on technical writing. For examples and explanations of better ways to tell a science story.
• Covering the pandemic (blog post, Resources for journalists on Covid-19)
• Journalism and journalists for topics of broader interest to journalists, such as
---Artful journalistic interviewing
---Citizen journalism
---Covering COVID-19
---Covering disability
---Covering disaster
---Covering public and private tragedy and trauma
---Covering sexual abuse, assault, harassment, trauma
---Data journalism
---Investigative reporting
---Journalists on journalism (higher-level how-to's, many related to science)
---Covering mental illness and suicide
---Nonfiction
---Open access: Cracks in the fortress of academic publishing
---Podcasts about health care, medicine, and medical science
---Pat's website on Dying, Surviving, and Aging with Grace (not necessarily in that order) for many links on medical and health issues and resources.
Covering medical beats and health care
• Criteria for Excellence in Health and Medical Journalism (Gary Schwitzer, Health News Review, AMA Journal of Ethics, March 2007) A team of people with backgrounds in journalism, medicine, public health and health services research have applied 10 criteria to evaluate and grade health news stories reported in the U.S. that include claims of efficacy or safety.
---Health News Review's ten health news criteria HNR systematically reviewed roughly 2,500 news stories after their debut in 2006. Here they explain the ten criteria that address the basic issues consumers need to know in order to develop informed opinions about these healthcare interventions–and how/whether they matter in their lives.
The criteria remind journalists, when reporting on treatments or tests, to:
---discuss costs.
---describe (quantify) the potential benefits and harms of an intervention.
---use absolute (not just relative) risk/benefit data.
---compare the new product or procedure with existing alternatives.
---seek independent sources who have no conflict of interest.
---look beyond the news release.
---avoid disease-mongering—exaggerating or medicalizing conditions.
---explain to their audience that not all studies are equal (do they grasp the quality of the evidence)
---distinguish between what product or procedure is a new idea and what is just new wrapping on an old one.
---provide information about the availability of the product or procedure.
In addition, the Statement of Principles of the Association of Health Care Journalists includes this clause: "While brevity and immediacy are touchstones of news reporting, health and medical reporting must include sufficient context, background and perspective to be understandable and useful to audiences/readers. Stories that fail to explain how new results or other announcements fit within the broader body of evidence do not serve the interests of the public."
• Where Journalists Get Their Medical News (McNees, Writers and Editors blog)
• Resources for covering RSV and the ‘tripledemic’ (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, AHCJ, 11-21-22) Plus
---RSV Is Surging: What We Know about This Common and Surprisingly Dangerous Virus (Tara Haelle, Scientific American, 11-4-22) Your questions answered about what RSV is, how it spreads, what vaccines are on the way and who is most at risk
---RSV is back: FAQ (Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist, 11-10-22) We are seeing a tsunami of respiratory illnesses and, in its wake, severe disease and overcrowded hospitals. This is mainly driven by RSV, with flu picking up steam, and don't forget Covid. RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus. It’s an RNA virus, so it mutates quickly.
• 5 tips for avoiding mistakes in news headlines about health and medical research (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 10-19-21) Science journalists Deborah Blum, Cristine Russell and Brooke Borel offer advice to help newsrooms avoid common mistakes in writing headlines about health and medical research.
"1. Don’t use these words and phrases when describing research findings: breakthrough, revolutionary, life-changing, game-changing, landmark, miracle, Holy Grail....
3. Don’t confuse correlation with causation. Even when researchers establish causality, remember that it’s almost always inaccurate to say a study “proves” anything....
4. Use absolute numbers rather than relative numbers in headlines (although it’s a good idea to include both in your story)."
And two more.
• Elements of Medical Terminology (American Medical Writers Association's quick reference guide).
For example, under Suffixes:
-megaly: enlargement
-metry: measurement
-oma: swelling, tumor
-opia: vision
-opsy: viewing
-osis: condition -pathy: disease
• Tips for analyzing studies, medical evidence and health care claims (Health News Review) Links to an excellent series of tips, distinctions, conflicts of interest, and so on.
• Just for journalists: Tips and case studies for writing about health care
• The Powerful Constraints on Medical Care in Catholic Hospitals Across America (Rachana Pradhan and Hannah Recht, KFF Health News, 2-17-24) 16% of Births Take Place in Catholic and Catholic-Affiliated Hospitals Each Year. 555,000 babies are born in these facilities. The Catholic Church's ethical and religious directives restrict reproductive and contraceptive care. Katherine Parker Bryden, a nurse midwife in Iowa who works for MercyOne, said she regularly tells pregnant patients that the hospital cannot perform tubal sterilization surgery, to prevent future pregnancies, or refer patients to other hospitals that do. Maldonado, the nurse midwife, still thinks of her patient who was forced to stay pregnant with a baby who could not survive. "To feel like she was going to have to fight to have an abortion of a baby that she wanted?" Maldonado said. "It was just horrible."
• Blots on a field? (Charles Piller, Science, 7-21-22) Matthew Schrag, a neuroscience image sleuth at Vanderbilt, found signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease. He unearthed serious problems with research on a protein subtype of amyloid beta that has been a cornerstone of research and spending on Alzheimer's for over a decade. He identified apparently altered or duplicated images in dozens of journal articles.
• The Tuskegee Syphilis Study revelation’s legacy 50 years later (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 8-4-22) In the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” the U.S. Public Health Service enrolled 600 Black male sharecroppers from Tuskegee, Alabama, and intentionally withheld information and treatment from approximately 200 of the 399 Black men who had syphilis while researchers studied how the disease affected their life course. The researchers did not tell the men they had syphilis but told them they had “bad blood” — and did not collect informed consent from participants when the study began in 1932. See The Tuskegee Timeline (CDC).
• Covering the coronavirus as a journalist (links to several articles on doing so, including Covering COVID-19 and the coronavirus: 5 tips from a Harvard epidemiology professor (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 3-6-2020) Choose experts carefully. Distinguish what is known to be true from what is thought to be true — and what’s speculation or opinion. Use caution when citing research findings from “preprints,” or unpublished academic papers. Ask academics for help gauging the newsworthiness of new theories and claims. To prevent misinformation from spreading, news outlets also should fact-check op-eds. Read the work of journalists who cover science topics well.
• How to Report on Animal Research Fairly and Transparently (Celia Ford, The Open Notebook, 10-18-22) Animal research is a fraught topic within the scientific community and in the public sphere. Ford offers solid advice on the topic, with links to additional material.
• Reporting on Health Disparities (Jyoti Madhusoodanan, Diverse Voices series, Open Notebook, 11-23-21) Comparing her experience with bone marrow transplants with those of a friend, she wrote about how although scientific advances had reduced the disparities in bone marrow registries, social factors resulted in poorer outcomes for people of color. Among other things, she reports: "Sometimes the best experts on a health disparity are not scientists or scholars but rather the patients and families who directly experience it, so it’s important to complement deep dives into research with people’s real-world experiences....Placing health-disparities stories can be particularly challenging for freelancers: Convincing an editor of the links between an observed health disparity and its underlying social determinants can require extensive—often unpaid—pre-reporting."
• Useful sources to aid reporting on pharmacy benefit managers (Joseph Burns, Covering Health, AHCJ, 9-2-22)
See also Pharmacy benefit managers: The benefits they manage do not benefit consumers (Pat McNees, Resources on health, death, and dying)
• How Rich Investors, Not Doctors, Profit From Marking Up ER Bills (Isaac Arnsdorf, ProPublica, 6-12-20) TeamHealth, a medical staffing firm owned by private-equity giant Blackstone, charges multiples more than the cost of ER care. All the money left over after covering costs goes to the company, not the doctors who treated the patients. See also This Doctors Group Is Owned by a Private Equity Firm and Repeatedly Sued the Poor Until We Called Them (Wendi C. Thomas, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, with Maya Miller, Beena Raghavendran and Doris Burke, Profiting from the Poor: Inside Memphis' Debt Machine, ProPublica, 11-27-19) After the Blackstone Group acquired one of the nation’s largest physician staffing firms in 2017, low-income patients faced far more aggressive debt collection lawsuits. They only stopped after ProPublica and MLK50 asked about it.
• How to report on emergency medics being locked out of electronic health records (Marion Renault, Covering Health, AHCJ, 3-4-22) Emergency medics are regularly the first people to provide care to someone on the worst day of their life. But all too often, they are barred from accessing the electronic records of the health care systems where they drop their patients off.
• How to Find and Publish Stories about Global Disease Outbreaks for an International Audience (Pratik Pawar, The Open Notebook, 10-4-22) When COVID-19 hit, Mariana Lenharo, a freelance science and health journalist, found herself cooped up in her native Brazil. While the pandemic impacted everyone in the country, Lenharo’s mind drifted to the children who were born during the Zika epidemic of 2016, and she wondered how those children—who needed intense care and therapy—were faring during the pandemic. To her surprise, Lenharo learned that many of the families who had participated in Zika studies now felt abandoned by those scientists, whom they accused of getting caught up in COVID-19 and failing to share their results. Feeling forgotten, some families said they were now reluctant to take part in research going forward.
Lenharo’s discovery prompted her to write a story for Undark in 2021, in which she explored tough questions about what the research community owes to patients, not just during a health emergency, but also after it’s over—an ethical dilemma that looms large everywhere in an age of global outbreaks. See To Study Zika, They Offered Their Kids. Then They Were Forgotten. (Mariana Lenharo, Undark, 10-6-21)
• Why and how to include more nurses as sources (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 3-9-22) They're the ones who spend time with the patients! See also (for AHCJ members) Tip sheet on where to find nurses to interview and Underrepresentation of nurses in health care coverage continues to be a concern (Diana J. Mason and Barbara Glickstein, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-8-18) and Interviewing nurses for your story? Diversify your sources with this guide to nursing specialty groups (Naseem S. Miller, Journalist's Resource, 12-21-21) Nurses in different specialties can offer perspective about patient care as well as clinical research, ethical issues, and management.
• Another lobbying battle looms on surprise medical bills (Kerry Dooley Young, Covering Health, AHCJ, 10-4-21) The unveiling of a new federal rule last week to prevent “surprise” medical bills is worth covering on its own merit. The expected lobbying battle about this rule also could provide a good news peg for digging into one of the key debates about what’s causing the cost of health care to continue its rise in the U.S. At the heart of recent battles over surprise bills is the question of how much insurers should pay for out-of-network medical care.
The Biden administration’s rule leans toward using payment rates already established within insurers’ networks in resolving disputes about out-of-network care. That approach drew praise from America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for medical insurers. It said the new rule reflected “a strong commitment to consumer affordability and lower health care spending.” In the view of the American Medical Association (AMA), though, the rule is an “an undeserved gift to the insurance industry.” Lawmakers faced significant pressure to address surprise medical bills, due in large part to the reporting of journalists including Sarah Kliff of The New York Times and the contributors to the “Bill of the Month” series from Kaiser Health News and NPR. See also section on Surprise medical bills. Not surprisingly, organizations representing ER doctors, radiologists, anesthesiologists, hospital executives joined the AMA in condemning the rule. "In reporting on the battles on the surprise-billing rules, journalists have a chance to help their audiences understand some of the bigger dynamics at place in health care. We seem to be in what might be called a vicious cycle of consolidation, with insurers growing in size to negotiate with large groups of hospitals and physicians."
---State Balance-Billing Protections (The Commonwealth Fund)
• Reporter explains how he wove data, human stories into compelling series on dental deaths (Mary Otto, Health Journalism, AHCJ, 1-13-16) In a seven-part series, Deadly Dentistry, Brooks Egerton set out to offer what he has described as a look “into dentistry’s netherworld, where professionals take chances with patients’ lives and the government largely tolerates it.” Egerton raises questions about how many dental injuries and deaths may be going unreported across the country – and how many dentists may go undisciplined for malpractice.
• Pedophilia Is a Mental Health Issue. It's Still Not Treated as One (Shayla Love, Vice News, 8-24-2020) “This is a topic that scientists in the fields of mental health are not just uninterested in—it is actively repugnant....The goal of any modern, preventative treatment for pedophilia should be to help people manage their sexual interests rather than try to change them, Cantor said....Online support groups for non-offending pedophiles have only recently entered the public eye. The most well-known group, the Virtuous Pedophiles, was formed in 2012 as a safe place for pedophiles to discuss their struggles and commitment to not offend."
• Reporting on Health: What 18 Journalists Wish They’d Known from the Start (Shira Feder, Open Notebook, 9-1-2020) E.g., Follow scientists on Twitter in any field you’re reporting on, and not just professors but also graduate students and postdocs, who are often far more active. Doing this can help you find better and more diverse sources. Also: Set up Google and PubMed alerts for specific scientists and keywords, so you immediately know about any new publications in a particular field of interest.
• Experts: Restrictive Sharing Policies Have No Place at Medical Meetings (Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today, 6-14-17) Most societies now expect that information will be shared widely.
• Despite pronouncements, no quick turnaround likely for COVID-19 treatments, vaccines (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, AHCJ, 3-20-2020) "An inaccurate statement that President Trump made during a March 19 news briefing - that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine had been approved as a COVID-19 treatment - demonstrates how skeptical journalists should remain when covering the unfolding story about treatments and preventative measures. While there are more than 85 trials for vaccines and treatments underway for COVID-19, scientists don't expect them to be available to the public soon, despite what some headlines suggest."
• Tipsheet: Covering the Coronavirus Epidemic Effectively without Spreading Misinformation (Laura Helmuth, The Open Notebook, 3-2-2020)
• The many challenges of covering the coronavirus (Jon Allsop, CJR, 3-9-2020) The challenge here is to communicate nuance and uncertainty in formats—headlines, tweets, and so on—that reward brevity and clarity.
• How newsrooms can tone down their coronavirus coverage while still reporting responsibly (Al Tompkins, Poynter, 3-4-2020) When you do anecdotal stories about sickness and death from coronavirus, infuse them with the data that points out the wider context of the issue.
• How to Report with Accuracy and Sensitivity on Contested Illnesses (Julie Rehmeyer, TheOpenNotebook, 1-26-21) Julie Rehmeyer had long trusted science to have--if not answers---the tools and foundation to interrogate questions. But following her chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis in 2006, she writes, "This scientific grounding fell away from me."In a reported essay, Rehmeyer describes her personal journey with a contested illness, made even more relevant today as COVID long-haulers sometimes struggle to find acceptance in the scientific and medical communities. Journalists, she says, can play a critical part in framing and contextualizing patients' experiences, learning from and avoiding the mistakes that have left others feeling marginalized. Here, Rehmeyer provides a guide.
• Can’t say we didn’t warn you: Study finds popular health news stories overstate the evidence (Joy Victory, HealthNewsReview, 6-13-18) Large disparities between research and news reports for 50 widely covered academic studies.
• Interviewing Sources about Traumatic Experiences (Sophie Hardach, The Open Notebook, 7-16-19) Straightforward advice, based on experience.
• Stories of health care sticker shock are everywhere. Will they change anything? (Kellie Schmitt, Center for Health Journalism, 6-11-18)
• 'How I Did It' articles (Covering Health, Association of Health Care Journalists) See also AHCJ's Slim Guides: Covering Medical Research, Covering the Health of Local Nursing Homes, Navigating the CDC: A Journalist’s Guide to the CDC Web Site, Covering Obesity: A Guide for Reporters, Covering Health in a Multicultural Society, Covering Hospitals: Using Tools on the Web, Covering the Quality of Health Care: A Resource Guide for Journalists, and see old issues of HealthBeat.
• Roxane Gay’s ‘Hunger’ a worthy, perhaps necessary, read for medical journalists (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 2-18-19) "She describes a bias against people with obesity by health care providers (and its implications for obtaining adequate health care) that are well documented in the research literature. Health reporters who cover obesity issues should be aware of this. Her intimate narrative provides insights into the patient perspective that journalists may rarely get even when interviewing patients....The other major issue Gay confronts in the book is a gang rape that took place when she was 12 years old."
• Newly merged infectious disease organization offers journalists’ resources (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, 8-14-18)
• Vox provides access to ER billing database for reporters (Pia Christensen, Covering Health, AHCJ, 2-21-19) Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) at Vox has been collecting emergency department bills from around the country and has reported a number of stories based on them. Vox has collected nearly 2,000 bills and is now ready to open up the database of bills to local health reporters. Kliff, a senior policy correspondent, says that Vox is hoping to connect reporters with patients who have interesting stories.
• Advice from a reporter experienced in interviewing people in stigmatized populations (Emily Willingham, Covering Health, AHCJ, 2-25-19) A how-she-did-it piece, related to her story for NPR: After Prison, Many People Living With HIV Go Without Treatment (Shots, NPR, 10-9-18) Members of AHCJ can read details on how she found Bryan C. Jones, the patient she focused on.
• Covering health research? Choose your studies (and words) wisely (Chloe Reichel, Journalist's Resource)
• Nurses play vital roles in health care. Why are they invisible in the media?(Carole R. Myers, First Opinion, STAT, 6-13-18) "Nurses make up the largest segment of the health care workforce and have the closest and most sustained proximity to patients. In Gallup polls, they are repeatedly voted to be the most trusted profession. Over the years, nurses have helped improve access to care; blazed new paths in telehealth, informatics, technology development, and genomics; worked to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety; promoted wellness and expanded preventive care; engaged in research with practical applications and impact; and more. In short, nurses have helped transform the delivery of health care to meet the challenges of a graying and increasingly diverse population. Yet their visibility in the media and influence in policymaking are not commensurate with their numbers, position, and expertise."
• The Woodhull study on nursing and the media: Health care's invisible partner: Final report Published: 1997. Posted on the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing Repository: 5-3-18)
• Surviving Suicide in Wyoming (Anna Maria Barry-Jester, FiveThirtyEight, 7-13-16) Self-reliance helps people thrive in a landscape that's big and tough, but it can also put them at risk if they get into a personal crisis. And the story about the story: How Anna Maria Barry-Jester turned a story about Wyoming suicides into a sensitive narrative (David Wollman, Storygram, The Open Notebook, 6-12-18) Wollman, in a Storygram, annotates an award-winning story to shed light on what makes some of the best science writing so outstanding.
• The Open Notebook interviews. TON ("The story behind the best science stories") offers good reading for science and medical writers, under several categories: Interviews, Elements of Craft, Profiles, Pitch Database, and Getting Started in Science Journalism). Here's a good example: Roxanne Khamsi Explores a Potential Revolution in Cancer Treatment (Jeanne Erdmann, TON, 8-20-19). Scroll down to see the way she saves drafts and labels the drafts so that she can return to an earlier one if a new version doesn't work out. The Wired story she talks about is beautifully written and persuasive.
• A breast cancer study in mice gets big headlines, setting up potential for patient ‘disaster,’ experts say (Joy Victory, HealthNewsReview, 4-16-18) When a study is based on mice, not humans, that information should be up front, signaling that "this news is not ready for prime time."
• A breast cancer study in mice gets big headlines, setting up potential for patient ‘disaster,’ experts say (Joy Victory, HealthNewsReview,
• How to cover an epidemic (Chloe Reichel, Journalist's Resource, Shorenstein Center)
• CDC, scientists brief journalists on status of vector-borne diseases in U.S. (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, AHCJ, 6-25-19) Diseases spread by kissing bugs, mosquitoes and ticks are sharply on the rise in the U.S., says an official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A webcast hosted by SciLine highlighted that the combination of climate change, international travel, changing land use, deforestation, and urbanization of rural areas are all driving vector-borne diseases to the highest numbers ever reported.
• Online Course on Covering Ebola for Journalists: How to better report this disease (World Federation of Science Journalists)
• Maryn McKenna's Ebola Archives
• Journalists learn tips for covering emerging infectious diseases (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-16-16)
• In covering Ebola outbreak this time, some lessons to remember (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, Association of Health Care Journalists, 6-7-18) AHCJ has a tip sheet on the subject, for members only.
• How creating a map drove a bigger hepatitis story (Lauren Weber, Association of Health Care Journalists, 2-13-18) While the gravity of the situation in San Diego caught national headlines for the nature of the sanitation aspect, we were the first to report the scoop that separate outbreaks were happening across the country, from Michigan to New York — they just weren't getting national media attention. This was more than just a local malfeasance turned deadly; it was a broader trend nationally among homeless and drug-using populations. HuffPost reporter, drawn by data, paints larger picture of hepatitis outbreak (Susan Heavey, Covering Health, 2-15-18) Same story, more public venue.
• Covering Infectious Disease (Poynter resources on covering Ebola)
• Toolkits, Find an Expert, Online Courses & Resources for Journalists (World Federation of Science Journalists) Toolkits on infectious diseases, nuclear safety, dementia, hepatitis C)
• For stories on solutions to Native health problems, reporters take pains to avoid outside-looking-in trap (Antonia Jennifer Gonzales and Sarah Gustavus, Lessons from the Field, Center for Health Journalism, USC Annenberg) Two reporters share their tips and insights from reporting on health issues in Indian Country.
• Indian Country: Covering Native Health Issues with Sensitivity (Victor Merina, Center for Health Journalism)
• Scientists and Journalists Square Off Over Covering Science and ‘Getting it Right’ (Dana Smith, UnDark, 3-1-18) Some scientists say they should have the right to review stories in which their work or words are covered prior to publication--particularly fact-checking quotes. Journalists disagree. “It’s as if scientists are saying, ‘Journalists are too dumb to get the science right, and so I have to check their work.’”“I’d heard experienced scientists say they had always been allowed to look at drafts, and I’d heard from journalists that their professional ethics explicitly forbade this.”“We have to care about the facts, and we have to fact check ourselves, and we have to not be embarrassed to admit if we don’t get it.”
• Journalist's Toolbox (Society of Professional Journalists). The further you dig, the more you find. Check links along left side, too.
• Is your local hospital stingy or generous with charity care? (Sean Hamill, Center for Health Journalism) Check out these unexplored datasets for story ideas and answers
• Panel dissects forces driving hospital consolidation, offers ideas on what might be done (Kellie Schmitt, Center for Health Journalism, 5-21-15)
• Remaking Health Care (Center for Health Journalism blog that explores how health reform is changing the ways in which we pay for and deliver health care in the U.S.) Many specific ledes, such as As health reform action moves to the state level, here are the trends reporters should watch (Kelly Schmitt, 2-8-18) and While some states push for work requirements, Washington state is using Medicaid to get people housed (Kelly Schmitt, 1-23-18) Lots of story ideas here.
• Digging deep: Strategies for investigations (Chloe Reichel, Journalist's Resource, 11-28-17) Tips on FOIA requests on large public records projects; on sources; on finding stories
• Tips for understanding studies.
• How to Cover an Epidemic (Chloe Reichel, Journalist's Resource, Shorenstein Center)
• Nieman Guide to Covering Pandemic Flu
• Veteran journalist offers advice on covering disease outbreaks (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, AHCJ, 2-13-18)
• Introduction to Epidemiology (CDC, Public Health 101 Series), plus a Also in the series: Introduction to Public Health, to Public Health Surveillance, to Public Health Laboratories, to Prevention Effectiveness, and to Public Health Informatics.
• Navigating the CDC: A Journalist's Guide to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web Site (AHCJ Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism)
• Covering Hospitals: Using Tools on the Web by Bob Rosenblatt and Betsy Rosenblatt Rosso (AHCJ and Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism)
• Covering the Health of Local Nursing Homes (Charles Bell and Bob Rosenblatt, AHCJ, PDF)
• Covering obesity at the local level (AHCJ tip sheet. PDF)
• HealthNewsReview.org rates health and medical news stories (about medical treatments, tests, products and procedures) for accuracy, balance, and completeness -- helping consumers critically analyze claims about health care interventions
• HNR's important review criteria, explained (for example, Does the story adequately discuss the costs of the intervention? Does the story adequately quantify the benefits of the treatment/test/product/procedure? Does the story adequately explain/quantify the harms of the intervention? Does the story seem to grasp the quality of the evidence? Does the story commit disease-mongering? etc. (10 criteria explained).
• Story Reviews - Systematic, Criteria-Driven
• Industry-Independent Experts Journalists Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer's list of more than 100 independent health care experts (meaning they do not have financial ties to drug or medical device manufacturers) to whom reporters can turn
• Covering Medical Research (by HealthNewsReview.org publisher Gary Schwitzer; published by the Association of Health Care Journalists, PDF)
• Links to other resources
• Health News Watchdog blog (publisher's perspective, opinion--different from the systematic story reviews).
Tracking patterns in drug use over time
• Available IQVIA Data (The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science) Real world health and health care data sets.
• Medicaid Spending by Drug (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Data)
• How to cover the ongoing drug shortage dilemma (Karen Blum, Health IT, Tip Sheets, Association of Health Care Journalists, 5-30-24) There are a staggering 323 active drug shortages in the U.S., including antibiotics, diabetes medications and ADHD drugs.
• Medicare Part D Prescribers - by Geography and Drug (CMS) Medicare has Part D data 2013-2021 here.
• Prescriber Checkup (Ryann Grochowski Jones, Lena V. Groeger and Charles Ornstein, ProPublica, Updated February 2019)
• MediCUBE Makes Health Data Actionable (Chris Lehmuth, Patient Outcomes & Safety, Express Scripts, 10-15-15) Still active?
• Pharmacy Price Index: True Cost of Health Care (David Belk's retired site, from Wayback Machine. He used NADAC & GoodRx for prices. H/T Paul Burke for this and several more of these entries.
• Drugs and Medical Devices (Paul Burke, Globe1234) And H/T to AHCJ discussion March 2024.
HIPAA and patient privacy rules
• HIPAA Guide for the Newsroom (Pennsylvania News Media Association) The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. The Act also requires “covered entities” to protect the privacy of individuals’ medical information, and imposes significant penalties on those entities that violate the law.
• A Reporter's Guide to Medical Privacy Law (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press). Topics covered include: What is HIPAA, What records are available under HIPPA, Health care journalists' access to hospitals curtailed under HIPAA, General access to hospitals, Attitudes toward privacy rules may change in times of disaster, Confusing laws keep information confidential on college campuses, etc.
• Helpful links for medical writers (Joanne McAndrews)
• Five Ways an Independent Medical Writer Can Add Value to Your Advisory Board (Ginny Vachon, BioPress International, 6-9-17)
• How journalists can navigate privacy laws (Annie Waldman, ScienceWriters Magazine, 6-14-18) "While some agencies are reasonably accommodating, others exploit every loophole or gray area in the law to deny public records requests, or delay in the hope that the journalist will move on to another story and stop bothering them." Strategies for overcoming or circumventing those restrictions shared with reporters at the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) conference.
• How Health and Education Journalists Can Turn Privacy Laws to Their Advantage (Annie Waldman, ProPubica, 3-19-18) Government agencies often cite privacy to withhold health or education data. Here's how to fight back.
• How to find the ‘forgotten voices’ that will give your health stories power (Tracie Potts, Center for Health Journalism, Craft: Lessons from the Field). See also Other pieces in the "Forgotten Voices" series.
• A news story’s role in the death of son of Mothers Against Medical Error founder (Joy Victory, HealthNewsReview, 4-24-18) Helen Haskell first learned about the surgical procedure that would ultimately kill her son by reading a local newspaper article, which described the surgery, known as the Nuss procedure, as “a revolutionary type of surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina.” It was being marketed as a new way to surgically correct pectus excavatum, a congenital condition that causes a concave chest. "Haskell’s story shows just how high the stakes are when journalists on health care stories become promoters rather than independent analysts–and how long this problem has been in place. For this reason, we chose Haskell’s story to be our first in our ongoing new series examining patient harm from misleading media messages....In the articles we read, there is little–if any–discussion of the potential harms, even though the procedure involves inserting a metal bar into the chest of a (usually healthy) child, and leaving it there for two years....[In April 2018] the Journal of Pediatric Surgery published a study examining the adverse events associated with the surgery, which it noted are underreported. (Underreporting of bad outcomes is a problem for most surgeries, since no governing body in the U.S. regulates surgery, and none tracks complications in a database.)"
• Mothers Against Medical Error (supporting victims of medical harm)
• HIPAA, electronic health records, and patient privacy
• Managing pain and pain medications
• Buying drugs and procedures smartly, cheaply, safely
• Hospitals and hospitalization: What patients need to know
• Generic drugs: overpricing, shortages, and other issues
Climate change: Understanding,
covering, and writing or arguing about it
and about science denial
See also
Covering Energy
Covering the water crisis
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
~Wendell Berry
"There are known knowns; there are known unknowns, and then there are unknown unknowns."
~Donald Rumsfeld, former U.S. Secretary of Defense
"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it."
~ Neil deGrasse Tyson.
"If there's room in the budget for $858 billion in defense spending, there's room for climate action, child care, health care, and housing. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
~ Pramila Jayapal
• As presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said, Don't pay attention to the lightbulbs, pay attention to the big polluters. Climate change deniers want us to focus on lightbulbs instead of the big stuff. In fighting climate change our goal should be to get the biggest polluters to change: oil companies need to become clean energy companies and car companies need to build no-pollution cars; buildings need to use clean energy and people need to minimize their carbon footprint down to the lowest level. At the same time, investors need to pull out of companies that are causing pollution -- a growing field is green investing -- and governments need to pour money into making the laws and building the infrastructure to support changes to reduce pollution.
• Full Report: The Investigative Agenda for Climate Change Journalism (Anne Koch, Deb Nelson and Toby McIntosh, Global Investigative Journalism Network, 2-6-24) The full report is available in a downloadable PDF format. You can view YouTube video of GIJN's webinar on this report (2-6-24).
• To cover climate change well, journalists must be prepared to identify what misinformation looks like (Gerhard Maier, ORF, Reuters Institute, 10-13-23) "It’s important for reporters to know not just what modern climate misinformation and disinformation looks like, but to understand and cover who is behind it, and why.
"The reality is that though outright climate denial still happens, it is becoming more rare. More common now is climate “delay”: the argument that governments and companies should address climate change later, or claims that the economic cost of addressing climate change is too large. Scientists have disproven both these statements. But combating them is often difficult for journalists."
• Nearly half of journalists covering climate crisis globally received threats for their work (Nina Lakhani, climate justice reporter, The Guardian, 6-5-24) Groundbreaking new research also reports that 11% of surveyed have faced physical violence in their reporting. See Covering the Planet Report: Assessing the State of Cimate and Environmental Journalism Globally (Gabi Mocatta, Shaneka Saville, Nicholas Payne, Jerry Lai, Lova Jansson, Kristy Hess, Internews' Earth Journalism Network) The executive summary and summary of recommendations especially recommended.
• New Rules to Overhaul Electric Grids Could Boost Wind and Solar Power (Brad Plumer, NY Times, 5-13-24) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the biggest changes in more than a decade to the way U.S. power lines are planned and funded.
• Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe.
"Practical advice abounds in this compassionate guide to conducting meaningful discussions about the environment. Those in search of a hope-filled approach will find plenty of encouragement."—Publishers Weekly
"As far as heroic characters go, I’m not sure you could do better than Katharine Hayhoe." —Scientific American
• The obscure law that explains why Google backs climate deniers (Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Guardian, 10-11-19) "Google wants to curry favour with conservatives to protect its ‘section 230’ legal immunity. For Google, providing financial backing to groups such as CEI and the Cato Institute – staunch free marketeers – has nothing to do with climate science, and everything to do with its effort to curry favour with conservatives on its most pressing issue in Washington: protecting an obscure section of the US law that is worth billions of dollars to the company. The law – known as section 230 of the Communications Decency Act – was established in the 1990s, at a time when the internet was in its infancy, and helped to give rise to internet giants, from Google to Facebook, by offering legal immunity to the companies for third party comments, in effect treating them as distributors of content and not publishers. Section 230, in effect, allowed Google and Facebook to be shielded from the kinds of libel laws that can ensnare other companies, such as newspapers."
• Vermont Moves to Hold Fossil-Fuel Companies Liable for Climate-Change Damage (Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, 5-27-24) A new constituency is willing to stand up to Big Oil (and Gas and Coal): state government.
• Why it’s time to prepare for the worst on climate change (Robert Pindyck, Opinion, Financial Times, 7-5-23) Business and society must invest in adaptation now despite uncertainty about the impact.
"Even optimistic projections show global emissions continuing to rise over the next decade before falling only gradually. CO₂ remains in the atmosphere for centuries so, even with reduced emissions today, the atmospheric CO₂ concentration will continue to rise, pushing temperatures up.
"We do not know what will happen to sea levels, hurricane frequency and intensity, and other measures of climate change, nor their impact on lost GDP, greater morbidity and mortality, and social disruption. We have no theory from economics, climate science or elsewhere to turn to, nor data to rely on. We have never witnessed the effects of such a temperature rise on an industrial economy."
• A Giant Crater in Siberia Is Belching Up Russia’s Past (Sophie Pinkham, Opinion, NY Times, 5-23-24) Many consequences of climate change fall hardest on developing countries, which historically have contributed little to global emissions. But permafrost melt is disfiguring land in many of the countries that bear the largest responsibility for the crisis — as if mocking the human error that led them to pillage the oil and minerals in the ground without considering the consequences.
• A Republican 2024 Climate Strategy: More Drilling, Less Clean Energy (Lisa Friedman, NY Times, 8-4-23) Project 2025, a conservative “battle plan” for the next Republican president, would stop attempts to cut the pollution that is heating the planet and encourage more emissions.
• Perfect Storm: Harnessing Weather Stories to Cover Climate Change (Kate Fishman, Open Notebook, 7-23-24) Weather is the only topic that most U.S. adults often follow in local news, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center report. Newsrooms know its value; weather stories matter to people and draw them to their websites. But extreme weather, such as wildfires, increasingly frequent hurricanes, and scorching temperatures, also presents reporters with opportunities to provide locally relevant information on climate change. Unfortunately, journalists don’t always take advantage.
"Historically, many outlets have given undue weight to climate change skeptics in their stories. Others have shied away from covering the climate at all, hesitating to wade through misinformation promoted by oil and gas companies, or fearing backlash from political actors or advertisers. Lacking resources is also a barrier: It’s difficult for journalists to take their stories deeper in newsrooms where staffing and funding have been slashed while output expectations remain high. Tackling the complexities of climate change within the confines of a short segment or couple-hundred-word story is its own challenge, too.
But research in one study shows that local media in the U.S. has more power than national outlets to influence attitudes on climate change across political divides. "When writing about climate disasters, extreme weather, and even plain-old rainy days, local and regional journalists have a unique kinship with their readers because they share the same homebase. That’s the beauty of reporting from a community: Local and regional journalists are there to hold people’s stories of what’s happening in their home in the context of what’s happening on our planet.
• A 600-Year-Old Blueprint for Weathering Climate Change (Kathleen DuVal,The Atlantic, 4-2-24) During the Little Ice Age, Native North Americans devised whole new economic, social, and political structures. "What if, instead of doubling down on the ways we have been living, we were to do what 13th- and 14th-century Native North Americans did, and develop more balanced and inclusive economic, social, and political systems to fit our changing climate? What if we put our highest priority on spreading prosperity and distributing decision making more broadly? It sounds unprecedented, but it has happened before."
• How the Republican Party turned against climate science (YouTube, Vox, 8-22-16) A brief history of American inaction on climate change. During George W. Bush’s administration, Republicans are shown agreeing that climate change is a problem. Senator John McCain says utility companies, petroleum companies, and other special interests are blocking progress on congressional action. In 2010, when Pres. Obama asks for a carbon tax on fossil fuels or a cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions, he rolls out a new rule to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Republicans begin not to believe that climate change is real, despite scientific commissions issuing dire warnings about rapidly approaching dangers to Planet Earth. An excellent video, which makes it seem that Obama endorsing efforts to reduce climate warming made it a political issue--because Republicans were not going to support anything Obama recommended. (Not in the video, though he is shown in the first clips: We have also been told that Al Gore's intense arguments about reducing carbon emissions are what turned Republicans and made it a partisan issue.)
• 9 Things Musk and Trump Said About Climate Change, Annotated Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong, NY Timers, 8-13-24) In a conversation on X, Donald J. Trump and Elon Musk spoke for a bit about climate change. Here’s what they got wrong and what they got right.
• How broadcast TV networks covered climate change in 2018 (Ted MacDonald and Lisa Hymas, MediaMatters, 3-11-19) Broadcast TV news coverage of climate change plummeted 45 percent from 2017 to 2018, even as the climate crisis steadily worsened. The facts, presented several different ways. "This large drop occurred despite 2018 providing plenty of compelling reasons to cover climate change: extreme weather affecting much of the globe; new scientific research raising alarm bells; landmark climate reports being published by both the United Nations and the U.S. government; and the Trump administration continuing to undermine climate protections....The networks did a particularly poor job of explaining how climate change exacerbates extreme weather; none of the networks' news reports on the major hurricanes of 2018 even mentioned climate change." The Trump effect?
• Covering extreme weather: What to avoid and how to get it right (Chloe Reichel, Journalist's Resource) WHAT TO AVOID: Perpetuating the misguided notion that climate change “caused” an extreme event. Attributing the number of wildfires or the costs of fires directly to climate change. Forgetting to define “increase” when covering increases in extreme weather. Focusing too heavily on the amount of area burned when trying to convey the severity of a wildfire. Assuming that scientists have equal levels of confidence in attribution analyses, which determine the role climate change played in extreme weather, for different types of weather events in different places. Describing current-day extremes as the “new normal.”
HOW TO GET IT RIGHT: Be specific. Instead of focusing on whether climate change is the cause, ask questions that get at the extent to which climate change played a role in the weather event. Note that links between climate change and wildfires tend to be strongest for fires in uninhabited and relatively inaccessible expanses of forest — and be clear about the climate-related factors most closely linked to fire risk. Ask about and report on fire severity. Include this context in news stories and communicate how well scientists understand the role of climate change for the region and type of weather you are covering. Don’t imply we’ve made it through the worst. Read the story for details and examples.
• The Weatherman Who Tried to Bring Climate Science to a Red State (Cara Buckley, NY Times, 6-20-24) Mr. Gloninger wasn’t alone in receiving audience blowback for talking about global warming, or in responding to climate deniers on social media. Still, among the nation’s approximately 2,000 television meteorologists, the threats faced by Mr. Gloninger stood out.
• Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine (Greenpeace) The Koch Brothers have sent at least $100,343,292 directly to 84 groups denying climate change science since 1997. Greenpeace uses 1997 as a benchmark year due to increased coordinated backlash against global climate negotiations leading to the Kyoto Protocol of 1998. We define climate change denial as “anyone who is obstructing, delaying or trying to derail policy steps that are in line with the scientific consensus that says we need to take rapid steps to decarbonize the economy.” Conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch ponied up $650 million to help Meredith Corporation buy Time Inc. "The Koch brothers continue to finance campaigns to make Americans doubt the seriousness of global warming, increasingly hiding money through nonprofits like DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. Why focus on Charles Koch and David Koch? Many large foundations associated with corporate fortunes are active in financing climate denial groups — Anschutz, Bradley, Coors, DeVos, Dunn, Howard, Pope, Scaife, Searle, and Seid, to name a few. Unlike Koch, most of those fortunes did not come from owning a corporation like Koch Industries, historically rooted in fossil fuel operations."
See also When science bucks science denial, ideology, or special interests
• Solving the Climate Crisis: Frontline Reports from the Race to Save the Earth by John J. Berger. This book highlights people and organizations working on practical solutions to climate change. Meet the author: Climate Writer John Berger Doesn’t Take No for an Answer (ASJA, 2-9-24)
• Tip sheet: Reporting on the health sector’s big impact on greenhouse gas emissions(Joanne Kenen, Covering Health, AHCJ, 8-10-23) The U.S. health care system contributes about 8.5% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions — roughly twice as much as health systems in other industrialized countries. Some hospitals are beginning to address their role in climate change. Others, not so much. And it’s been underreported.
---Reduce Carbon Footprint from Inhaled Anesthesia with New Guidance Published (News, American Society of Anesthesiologists, 6-22-22) New guidance published today in Anesthesia provides actionable steps to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from inhaled anesthetics, particularly desflurane, which is commonly used in general anesthesia, and nitrous oxide (laughing gas).
---Can Hospitals Turn Into Climate Change Fighting Machines? (Joanne Kenen, Politico, 6-6-23) Inside the greening of American health care. The sheer amount of stuff that goes to waste at hospitals is overwhelming. And in hospitals, one "set of pipes carry nitrous oxide. It’s a common anesthetic, also known as laughing gas, and it spews greenhouse gases that linger in the atmosphere for around 114 years. The pipes leak, a lot. Up to 80 percent of the gas can escape." Disposable materials are convenient, but ultimately, they aren’t the only way to prevent infection.
• The surprising environmental cost of rapid testing, mosquito nets, and other lifesaving health products (Annalisa Merelli, STAT, 11-30-23) What happens when products that contribute to climate change also save lives — millions of them? A new report, published on Tuesday by the global health initiative Unitaid, looks into this issue, quantifying the environmental impact of 10 essential public health items.
---From milligrams to megatons: A climate and nature assessment of ten key health products (Unitaid, a global health iniative, November 2023)
• A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana (Mike Baker, NY Times, 6-12-23) Sixteen young people argue that the state is robbing their future by embracing policies that contribute to climate change. In a landmark climate change trial in Montana, a group of young people are contending that the state’s embrace of fossil fuels is destroying pristine environments, upending cultural traditions and robbing young residents of a healthy future. The case, more than a decade in the making, is the first of a series of similar challenges pending in various states as part of an effort to increase pressure on policymakers to take more urgent action on emissions.
• Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe (Sharon Lerner, ProPublica, 5-20-24) Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.
• Have Climate Questions? Get Answers Here. (NY Times Climate Desk)
• Climate Forward An excellent NY Times newsletter, for subscribers only.
• Risk Factor What will climate change cost you? Search an address to see its risk from flooding, wildfire, heat, and wind. (If an address doesn't work, search by town or village.)
• Meltdown: Three Mile Island Whistleblowers, residents, journalists, regulators and others recount the events, controversies, and lingering effects of the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. The documentary, anchored by Government Accountability Project client Richard Parks, who came forward to expose the willful disregard of safety risks in the US’s most infamous nuclear power plant, reveals the necessity of whistleblowers in keeping the public safe and corporations accountable.
• Disinformation Presents New Challenges to Environmental Journalists (Joseph A. Davis, SEJ Backgrounder, 12-14-22) The history of climate denial. Climate denial was a kind of prototype. The environmental beat has seen many other kinds of disinformation — say, about chemical toxicity, endangered species, mining cleanup or water use."The summer of 1988 was hot and dry. Washington, D.C., was unbearable when Earth scientist James Hansen testified before the Senate Energy Committee that global warming had arrived....
"It was also the year that the huge international scientific collaboration, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, was founded....By the next year, 1989, the Global Climate Coalition, or GCC, was also founded. With backing from the likes of Exxon Mobil and the American Petroleum Institute, this lobbying group sought to discourage action to mitigate global warming, as well as to deny anthropogenic climate change and raise doubt about climate science....Eventually, the best environmental journalists started working to expose the dark money behind the climate denial machine....Disinformation is now a beat...Canadian PR maven Jim Hoggan started DeSmog focused on exposing and cutting through the disinformation haze on climate.
• Drilled Podcast devoted to investigating the obstacles to action on climate change.
• Why China and the USA are Fighting Over Greenland (Johnny Harris, YouTube video, 20 minutes) How global warming has placed Greenland in the center of a geopolitical quagmire because of its proximity to melting oceans.
• Warming Could Push the Atlantic Past a ‘Tipping Point’ This Century (Raymond Zhong, NY Times, 7-25-23) The system of ocean currents that regulates the climate for a swath of the planet could collapse sooner than expected, a new analysis found. Check out the hundreds of responses. See more of the Pulizer winner's articles on climate change here.
• The Precarious Future of Big Sur’s Highway 1 (Emily Witt, New Yorker, 5-17-24) How climate change is threatening one of the country’s most famous roadways.
• California's Collusion with a Texas Timber Company Let Ancient Redwoods Be Clearcut (Greg King, History News Network, 6-4-23) It wasn't shocking that a Houston-based energy company would seek to liquidate newly acquired holdings of ancient redwood trees and defy California law to do it. It was shocking that state agencies seemed determined to help them do it. [Editorial note: That "be" in the title should be capitalized. It's a verb.]
• Mapping the Future: HEAT.gov (James Fallows, Breaking the News, 7-30-22) Your tax dollars at work, in an important and good way. ‘Think global,’ with new tools for ‘acting local.’ The new tools include eye-opening maps. See As temperatures rise, the White House launches new extreme heat maps (Alex Pasternack, Fast Company, 7-27-22) A new interactive website aims to show Americans just how hot their neighborhoods are getting, and help them prepare for even deadlier heat. See also Two new maps to notice Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, and a story map about sea turtles.
• The Great Electrician Shortage (David Owen, New Yorker, 4-24-23) Going green will depend on blue-collar workers. Can we train enough of them before time runs out? The Inflation Reduction Act includes billions in tax credits and direct funding for a long list of climate-friendly projects, but all of them depend on the availability of workers who can execute and maintain them. Many skilled trades face shortages, and those shortages have environmental consequences.
• Navin Singh Khadka Connects Global Climate Change to Local Consequences (Abhaya Raj Joshi, Open Notebook, 2-24-23) Khadka talks with journalist Joshi about how he finds compelling climate change stories from all over the world—sometimes without leaving his desk—and draws connections between global changes and local impacts. In covering the Uttarakhand flooding, for example, Khadka skillfully connects this local disaster to the broader dangers of unstable glaciers. It is important to help audiences understand why this story matters to them.
• The difference between skeptics and deniers (NPR, 5-5-23)
• The top ten global warming 'skeptic' arguments answered (Dana Nuccitelli, The Guardian, 5-6-14) Contrarian climate scientist Roy Spencer put forth the top 10 'skeptic' arguments - all are easily answered
• The Science of Climate Change Explained: Facts, Evidence and Proof (Julia Rosen, NY Times, 4-19-21) Definitive answers to the big questions, such as
How do we know climate change is really happening?
How much agreement is there among scientists about climate change?
Do we really only have 150 years of climate data? How is that enough to tell us about centuries of change?
How do we know climate change is caused by humans?
And so on.
• The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action (David Gelles, NY Times, 12-4-22) The Texas Public Policy Foundation is shaping laws, running influence campaigns and taking legal action in a bid to promote fossil fuels.The group is promoting fossil fuels and trying to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy. It is upfront about its opposition to Vineyard Wind and other renewable energy projects, making no apologies for its advocacy work.
• 'There is no planet B': the best books to help us navigate the next 50 years (The Guardian, 10-12-20) Understanding animals, capitalism, the science of cloudseeding ... scifi author Kim Stanley Robinson shares his top picks
---How Many People Can the Earth Support by Joel E. Cohen, whose "clear description of all the factors involved offers an excellent starting point to inform future debates about the Earth’s carrying capacity."
---The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World by Oliver Morton. "He explores how we could inject sulphuric acid into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface, or cultivate plankton to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or build fleets of unmanned ships to seed clouds that would reflect sunlight back into space."
---Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (Experimental Futures) by Donna J. Haraway. "We must establish enduring relationships between generations and species, she argues, and recognise that an improved political economy is both necessary and possible."
---The Dazzle of Day, a novel by Molly Gloss, "tells how a large group of Quakers crosses interstellar space in a generation starship – a restricted environment that resembles ours in many ways. Their method for making decisions has much to teach us, while their encounter with a planet much like ours is a stunning reminder of how much we need to keep in balance with the biosphere that supports us.
• NPR's Life Kit Series Some positive steps we can take.
---Composting can help fight climate change. Get started in 5 easy steps (Julia Simon, Life Kit, NPR, 4-7-20)
---A kid's guide to climate change (plus a printable comic) (Lauren Sommer and Malaka Gharib, NPR, 1-17-23) A comic for kids about what it is and how it's affecting the planet — as explained by kids who are experiencing it. And find out how to print this comic at home!
---5 New Year's resolutions to reduce your carbon footprint (Julia Simon, NPR, 1-13-23) Lowering individual greenhouse emissions may be easier than you think.
---Food waste is a big problem. These small changes can help (Rachel Treisman, Morning Edition, NPR, 1-10-23)
• Climate Solution Series (The Great Northern, 2023)
• CITRA’s Retirees in Service to the Environment (RISE) Program The goal of the RISE Program is to create a new pool of environmental leaders who will play an active role in addressing environmental issues in their own communities.
• Block by block, he aims to fight injustice and save the planet (Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post, 3-26-21) Solar panels and clean heat shouldn’t be limited to the wealthy, says Donnel Baird, who’s bringing green power to low-income neighborhoods
• Measuring air, everywhere (Aclima) "Block by block, we’re putting air pollution and greenhouse gases on the map. Groundbreaking hyperlocal data and analytics to reduce emissions, improve public health, and deliver clean air for all." See Air disparities in the Bay Area
• Tracking Biden’s environmental actions (Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and John Muyskens, Washington Post, 10-20-22) As Biden unwinds dozens of Trump’s de-regulating energy and environmental policies, he’s forging his own.
• The people behind the bizarre non-profit trying to kill Biden's climate agenda (Judd Legum and Kyle Tharp, Popular Information, 8-8-22) A Republican group called United for Clean Power was running millions in ads trying to kill Biden's latest climate legislation. The most aggressive climate advocacy groups, including Sunrise Movement and EarthJustice, are urging Congress to approve it immediately, before Republicans might take the House.
• Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers Are Going Away. Really. (James Fallows, Breaking the News) Change comes slowly, then all at once. James Fallows, Breaking the News. Tons of links to support your next argument.
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• How a Billionaire’s “Attack Philanthropy” Secretly Funded Climate Denialism and Right-Wing Causes (Andy Kroll and Justin Elliott, ProPublica, and Andrew Perez, The Lever, ProPublica, 9-6-22) Emails and interviews reveal privacy-obsessed electronics magnate Barre Seid’s long history of backing efforts to attack climate science, fight Medicaid expansion, and remake the higher education system in a conservative mold.
• Surprise Deal Would Be Most Ambitious Climate Action Undertaken by U.S. ( Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer, Democrats' Climate and Tax Bill, NY Times, 7-28-22) The announcement Wednesday of an agreement in the Senate almost instantly reset the role of the United States in the global effort to fight climate change. The climate legislation’s most immediate effect will be to supercharge the growth of wind and other clean energy industries in the United States, experts said. The bill aims to tackle global warming by using billions of dollars in tax incentives to ramp up wind, solar, geothermal, battery and other clean energy industries over the next decade. Companies would receive financial incentives to keep open nuclear plants that might have closed, or to capture emissions from industrial facilities and bury them underground before they can warm the planet. See also In Compromise, the Climate Left May Be Vindicated (David Wallace-Wells, NY Times, 7-29-22) As recently as a week ago, post-mortems were being written about not just the failure of climate legislation under Biden...The finger-pointing autopsies fell into two predictably defined groups. One, from the climate left, faulted Manchin and the influence of the fossil-fuel business. The other, from the liberal establishment, faulted the climate left for its hard-line rhetoric and political naïveté.
• Ancient Elements of Cool (Philip Kennicott and Sima Diab, Washington Post, 12-28-23) I traveled in the hottest months to the hottest places, looking for ways to stay cool. Here in New Gourna, Egypt, there are no tourists, even though this village, placed on the World Monuments Fund watch list in 2010, may be as important to the future of our warming planet as the tombs and temples of Ancient Egypt are to the past. It was here that the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy began a social housing experiment in 1945, planning a town with traditional Nubian materials and design, defended against the heat with thick walls of mud brick and natural ventilation — passive cooling techniques that had, for millennia, been an essential part of the local architecture.I’ve come here to find what remains of Fathy’s experiment on the Nile in Upper Egypt, some 400 miles south of Cairo. When I visited them, it was my body, not my mind, that registered the magic of their design.
• The Southwest’s Drought and Fires Are a Window to Our Climate Change Future (Mark Olalde, ProPublica, 5-11-22) In a Q&A with ProPublica, experts describe how a new climate reality threatens the Southwest, the fastest-growing region in the U.S., and the 40 million people who rely on the Colorado River, while offering a glimpse at what climate change will bring there and elsewhere.
• The U.N.’s dire climate report confirms: We’re out of time (Eugene Robinson, Opinion, WashPost, 8-9-21) "If the world immediately takes bold, coordinated action to curb climate change, we face a future of punishing heat waves, deadly wildfires and devastating floods — and that’s the optimistic scenario, according to an alarming new U.N. report. If, on the other hand, we continue down the road of half-measures and denial that we’ve been stuck on since scientists first raised the alarm, the hellscape we leave to our grandchildren will be unrecognizable." See video of floods 32 feet high in a German village: On one street in Germany’s floods: Terror, survival, tragedy and the house that floated away.
• The Terrifying Choices Created by Wildfires (Ingfei Chen, New Yorker, 9-6-22) Many Californians are confronting a series of confounding decisions—among them, whether they should fight or flee.
• Annals of a Warming Planet Links to New Yorker stories about climate change and related issues.
• Poison in the Air (Lylla Younes, Ava Kofman, Al Shaw and Lisa Song, with additional reporting by Maya Miller, photography by Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica, 11-2-21) The EPA allows polluters to turn neighborhoods into “sacrifice zones” where residents breathe carcinogens. ProPublica reveals where these places are in a first-of-its-kind map and data analysis.
• Stick to the facts: Climate Central’s Bernadette Woods-Placky on how reporters can better cover climate change (Chinyere Amobi, Center for Health Journalism, USC Annenberg, 2-1-18)
• Climate Central, a nonprofit climate research organization that caters to local reporters and meteorologists through its Climate Matters program. See The Case of the Shifting Snow (2-3-2020) and other research reports.
• How to Talk About Climate Change Across the Political Divide (Eliza Griswold, New Yorker, 9-16-21) Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist and evangelical Christian, has written a book that lays out strategies for discussing the climate crisis in a divided country. With farmers, Hayhoe avoids using the term “climate change,” since the phenomenon is frequently seen as a liberal hoax. “We use the words ‘climate variability’ and ‘long-term trends.’ ”
• Postcards from a World on Fire (NY Times, 12-13-21) 193 stories from individual countries show how climate change is reshaping reality everywhere, from dying coral reefs in Fiji to disappearing oases in Morocco and far, far beyond.
• These 6 charts explain the concept of climate justice (Sonja Klinsky, Fast Company, 11-6-21) It’s important to understand where emissions come from and who climate change is harming the most and these charts really show the differences in both in different parts of the world.
• This tree has stood here for 500 years. Will it be sold for $17,500? (Juliet Eilperin, WaPo, 12-30-21) "The Sitka spruce soaring more than 180 feet skyward has stood on this spot on Prince of Wales Island for centuries. While fierce winds have contorted the towering trunks of its neighbors, the spruce’s trunk is ramrod straight. Standing apart from the rest of the canopy, it ascends to the height of a 17-story building. Even when the top and branches are lopped off, a tree this size would yield at least 6,000 board feet of lumber, said industry consultant Catherine Mater, who assessed the spruce’s potential market value for The Washington Post. It would fetch around $17,500 on the open market."
"But there's another value the spruce holds: the carbon dioxide locked inside its fibers, in its roots, in the soil and in the vegetation that clings to it from its branches to its base, where berry bushes proliferate. The miraculous process that sustains life on Earth is embedded within its vast trunk, a reservoir for the greenhouse gases that now threaten humanity. The spruce draws in carbon dioxide through the tiny holes in its leaves, known as stomata, and water through its roots. The sunlight it absorbs fuels a reaction that splits the water and carbon dioxide into glucose, which traps the carbon, and releases oxygen into the atmosphere."
• Federal Regulators Are Rewriting Environmental Rules So a Massive Pipeline Can Be Built (Ken Ward Jr., ProPublica, 12-8-2020) Federal regulators and West Virginia agencies are rewriting environmental rules again to pave the way for construction of a major natural gas pipeline across Appalachia, even after an appeals court blocked the pipeline for the second time.
• The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action (David Gelles, NY Times, 12-4-22) The Texas Public Policy Foundation is shaping laws, running influence campaigns and taking legal action in a bid to promote fossil fuels.The group is promoting fossil fuels and trying to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy. It is upfront about its opposition to Vineyard Wind and other renewable energy projects, making no apologies for its advocacy work.
• Carbon Monoxide From Generators Poisons Thousands of People a Year. The U.S. Has Failed to Force Safety Changes. ( Perla Trevizo, Lexi Churchill and Ren Larson, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune; Mike Hixenbaugh and Suzy Khimm, NBC News, 12-17-21) Portable generators are among the deadliest consumer products. Two decades after the government identified the danger, and as climate change leads to more power outages, people are left vulnerable by a system that lets the industry regulate itself.
• What’s Polluting the Air? Not Even the EPA Can Say. (Ava Kofman, ProPublica, 12-16-21) Despite the high stakes for public health, the EPA relies on emissions data it knows to be inaccurate. To expose toxic hot spots, we first had to get the facts straight.
• 2°C: Beyond the limit: Extreme climate change has arrived in America (Steven Mufson, Chris Mooney, Juliet Eilperin and John Muyskens, Washington Post series, 8-13-19) Photography by Salwan Georges. Other stories in this fabulously illustrated, award-winning series:
---Dangerous new hot zones are spreading around the world (9-11-19)
---The climate chain reaction that threatens the heart of the Pacific (11-19-19)
• Not Just Another Pipeline (Louise Erdrich, Opinion, NYTimes, 12-28-2020) The expansion of Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline is a breathtaking betrayal of Minnesota’s Indigenous communities — and the environment.
• United States of Climate Change (The Weather Channel) 50 states, 50 stories. Climate change is already here. Click on any state to see its toll. See, for example, California.
• RealClimate. Climate science from climate scientists.
• The pandemic has revived hope that a more sustainable world is possible (Jeremy Caradonna, The Guardian, 6-21-22) Economic growth is inextricably linked to the climate crisis, but the past year has taught us that such growth isn’t essential. The enforced economic slowdown of the pandemic, which inadvertently drove down emissions and induced simple living (gardening, sour dough, local hiking!), provides new momentum for recalibrating cultural values and changing the very trajectory of our globalised industrial society.
• Climate journalism enters the solutions era A growing number of US news outlets are focusing not only on the threats or impacts of climate change, but—finally—on what we can possibly do about it. (Abby Rabinowitz, CJR, 4-21-21) via Science Writing News Roundup #41 (Marianna Limas's Substack newsletter)
• Covering Climate Now Stories about climate change in the Columbia Journalism Review.
• The Climate of Man—Part 1 (Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, 4-18-05) Disappearing islands, thawing permafrost, melting polar ice. How the earth is changing. See also Part 2 (5-2-05) and Part 3: What can be done?
• Why humanity can’t be trusted to repair its own environmental damage (Carlos Lozada's review, WashPost, 2-11-21) In ‘Under a White Sky,’ Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Kolbert argues that even well-intentioned technological fixes risk making matters worse. “What’s the alternative?” Kolbert asks herself about all these layers of human intervention. “Rejecting such technologies as unnatural isn’t going to bring nature back. . . . The issue, at this point, is not whether we’re going to alter nature, but to what end?”
• EPA Takes Action to Combat Industrial Air Pollution (va Kofman and Lisa Song, ProPublica,1-26-22) The EPA announced a raft of targeted actions and specific reforms including stepped-up air monitoring and scrutiny of industrial polluters in the wake of ProPublica’s investigation into toxic hot spots.
• A Nonprofit Promised to Preserve Wildlife. Then It Made Millions Claiming It Could Cut Down Trees.(Lisa Song, and James Temple, MIT Technology Review and ProPublica, 5-10-21) See also
---If Carbon Offsets Require Forests to Stay Standing, What Happens When the Amazon Is on Fire?(Lisa Song, ProPublica, and Paula Moura for ProPublica, 8-26-19)
---These 4 Arguments Can’t Overcome the Facts About Carbon Offsets for Forest Preservation (Lisa Song, Pro Publica, 5-31-19)
--- The Climate Solution Actually Adding Millions of Tons of CO2 Into the Atmosphere (Lisa Song, ProPublica, and James Temple, MIT Technology Review, 4-29-21)
• Climate Solutions: A Special Report An excellent special section of the New York Times, with lots of articles about solutions (not just problems).
• The End of Nature (William McKibben, New Yorker, 9-3-89) "McKibben took the earliest warnings of the crisis seriously and speculated on what climate change would mean for the earth and for humankind. Dismissed by some at the time as sanctimonious or exaggerated, McKibben’s reporting was not only prescient, it became the cause of his life, both as a writer and as a citizen."
• The smallest state and why it's getting smaller (Alex Kuffner, Providence Journal, 12-22-19) Coastal storms and rising sea levels are chipping away at the land mass of mainland Rhode Island and nearby Block Island. "That process is continuing to this day -- indeed, speeding up -- but intensifying construction along the shoreline in recent generations has drawn a line in the sand. With beach houses, businesses and roads built close to the water’s edge, there’s no room anymore for the shoreline to migrate. Moreover, jetties, bulkheads, seawalls and other protective structures are interfering with the normal movement of sediment."
• Hurricane, Fire, Covid-19: Disasters Expose the Hard Reality of Climate Change (Christopher Flavelle and Henry Fountain, NY Times, 8-4-2020) Twin emergencies on two coasts this week — Hurricane Isaias and the Apple Fire — offer a preview of life in a warming world and the steady danger of overlapping disasters.“Climate change is tough for people to grasp, but attribution studies continue to find its DNA in today’s tropical systems, heat waves, droughts and rainstorms,” Marshall Shepherd, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Georgia told the Times. “Climate change shifts us into an era of sustained elevated risk from extreme weather and climate events.
"The coronavirus pandemic has further exposed flaws in the nation’s defenses, including weak construction standards in vulnerable areas, underfunded government agencies, and racial and income disparities that put some communities at greater risk. Experts argue that the country must fundamentally rethink how it prepares for similar disasters as the effects of global warming accelerate."
• "Three Seconds" (video) Excellent award-winning short film about what humans must do to make it to the "fourth second" on earth.
• Our Towns Aren’t Equipped to Handle Climate Emergencies (Kate Aronoff, New Republic, 7-20-2020) Offices of emergency management across the country are a patchwork quilt of cash-strapped departments.
• Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway "Oreskes and Conway take us back in time to see doubt-seeding employed to stall efforts to address such public health and environment threats as cigarette smoke, DDT, ozone depletion and climate change. By tracking a cast of characters led by ‘cold warrior’ physicists Frederick Seitz, Fred Singer, William Neirenberg, and Robert Jastrow, Oreskes and Conway show how action on pressing public policy issues has been delayed time and time again. They turned against the mainstream scientific community because of their conviction that the end of the cold war signaled the potential rise of socialism in the United States. Indeed, “these [anticommunist] scientists looked at environmentalists as ‘watermelons’: green on outside, red on the inside.” This mindset led Seitz, Singer and Co. to take positions working for major corporations and conservative think tanks concerned with keeping the public in the dark about pressing dangers, including the health risks of cigarettes and secondhand smoke, the potential harm of DDT, or our ultimately disastrous dependence on fossil fuel consumption." ~ Government Accountability Organization
• So Long, DDT. See You Around Soon.(podcast and transcript, The Politics of Everything, New Republic, 5-4-22) Hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with Elena Conis, the author of How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT. The United States banned the incredibly toxic pesticide DDT in the early 1970s. But it never went away. Being "exposed to poisons every day that we cannot control at all—whether it’s through pollution in the air or chemicals in our food—surely also is going to be a huge factor in causing diseases like cancer. Those companies kind of won the argument long term, in that those are not the first things we go to when we hear about a cancer diagnosis."
• Air Monitors Alone Won’t Save Communities From Toxic Industrial Air Pollution (Lisa Song and Lylla Younes, ProPublica, 5-18-22) Calvert City, Kentucky, has long had what people in other toxic hot spots have been begging for: monitors to prove they’re being exposed to toxic industrial air pollution. Regulators have years of evidence, but the poison in the air is only growing. The problem: Regulators install air monitors to flag hazardous emissions from local companies, then pull their punches in taking action against the offenders. “Unfortunately, sometimes there’s just the monitoring and nothing happens to change the situation.”
• Exxon’s Snake Oil (Savannah Jacobson, Columbia Journalism Review, 3-26-2020) "Exxon’s public mouthpiece was the press. For more than thirty years, from at least 1972 until at least 2004, the company placed advertorials in the New York Times to cast doubt on the negative effects of fossil fuel emissions. Over the same time span, ExxonMobil gave tens of millions of dollars to [conservative] think tanks and researchers who denied the science of climate change. Taken in sum, Exxon’s media shrewdness and its aggressive political lobbying have set back climate action for decades—putting the nation, and the world, dangerously close to a point of no return." Does that work? In 2009, 40% of Americans opposed a significant clean energy bill. That changed to 63% of Americans "who opposed the same bill after the Heritage Foundation, an ExxonMobil-funded think tank, published a study that misleadingly claimed the bill would increase gas prices to $4 per gallon." How much Exxon and Mobil spent on newspaper advertorials, etc., by year.
• The 3 Big Things That People Misunderstand About Climate Change (Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 2-22-19) David Wallace-Wells, author of the new book The Uninhabitable Earth, describes why climate change might alter our sense of time.
1. Climate change is happening quickly. "[M]ore than half of all the emissions ever produced from the burning of fossil fuels have been produced in just the last three decades."
2. It's not just about sea-level rise.
3. We're underassuming its severity: "2 degrees of warming is functionally a floor for where we’ll be, and not a ceiling." See also his NY Times newsletter exploring climate change, technology, and the future of the planet and how we live on it, and The Uninhabitable Earth , an article for Intelligencer, NY Times Magazine, 7-10-17) (the planet's worst-case scenarios, also available in annotated edition: The facts, research, and science behind that important climate-change article.
• Climate Science as Culture War (Andrew J. Hoffman, Stanford Social Innovation Review, SSIR, Fall 2012) The public debate around climate change is no longer about science—it’s about values, culture, and ideology. 'Climate change has become enmeshed in the so-called culture wars. Acceptance of the scientific consensus is now seen as an alignment with liberal views consistent with other “cultural” issues that divide the country (abortion, gun control, health care, and evolution). This partisan divide on climate change was not the case in the 1990s. It is a recent phenomenon, following in the wake of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty that threatened the material interests of powerful economic and political interests, particularly members of the fossil fuel industry.'
• How are homes in wildland areas driving up the fire danger? (William Heisel, Center for Health Journalism, 10-12-2020) Climate change and forest management practices are crucial parts of the story, but not the entire story. What are we to do when areas were zoned for homes decades or even centuries before our current understanding of wildfire risk?
• Fourth National Climate Assessment (Summary, 2018) Click on summary findings for main conclusions.
• In Case You Missed It ... Some climate change basics (SueEllen Campbell, Yale Climate Connections, 6-22-18). She recommends three primers:
---Global warming, explained (Brad Plumer, Vox, 5-25-15) Answers to 19 key questions.
---Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change (Justin Gillis, NY Times, 7-6-17) "Unflinching answers to a largely different set of 16 questions."
---The Measure of a Fog (Ian Cheney, Undark, Six 5-to-7-minute videos "take a condensed, accessible, and often beautiful look at some of the complexities we face in grasping and solving the climate problem." Thanks, Suellen Campbell!
• Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change (Nathaniel Rich, photos and videos by George Steinmetz, NY Times Magazine, 8-1-18) Must read, and see 'Losing Earth': A Climate Change Curriculum (Pulitzer Center) Lesson plans, tools, activities and other resources to bring "Losing Earth" into the classroom and beyond. But also, read this: Capitalism Killed Our Climate Momentum, Not “Human Nature” (Naomi, Klein, The Intercept, 8-3-18) 'According to Rich, between the years of 1979 and 1989, the basic science of climate change was understood and accepted, the partisan divide over the issue had yet to cleave, the fossil fuel companies hadn’t started their misinformation campaign in earnest, and there was a great deal of global political momentum toward a bold and binding international emissions-reduction agreement. Writing of the key period at the end of the 1980s, Rich says, “The conditions for success could not have been more favorable.” And yet we blew it....“All the facts were known, and nothing stood in our way. Nothing, that is, except ourselves.” Yep, you and me. Not, according to Rich, the fossil fuel companies who sat in on every major policy meeting described in the piece.... [If] we humans really were on the brink of saving ourselves in the ’80s, but were swamped by a tide of elite, free-market fanaticism — one that was opposed by millions of people around the world — then there is something quite concrete we can do about it. We can confront that economic order and try to replace it with something that is rooted in both human and planetary security, one that does not place the quest for growth and profit at all costs at its center."
• Why Good Politics and Good Climate Science Don’t Mix (Maggie Koerth-Baker, FiveThirtyEight, 3-4-19) The easier it is to process information, the more likely people are to believe it. Anything that makes us briefly confused or makes our train of thought stumble will make an idea less believable. Climate deniers have an advantage: they don’t have to be scientific to be politically effective.
• Money Is the Oxygen on Which the Fire of Global Warming Burns (Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 9-17-19) I suspect that the key to disrupting the flow of carbon into the atmosphere may lie in disrupting the flow of money to coal and oil and gas. What if the banking, asset-management, and insurance industries moved away from fossil fuels?
• The Arctic may have crossed key threshold, emitting billions of tons of carbon into the air, in a long-dreaded climate feedback (Andrew Freedman, WaPo, 12-10-19) The 2019 Arctic Report Cardort finds sweeping changes underway across the Arctic. The Arctic region — which is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the world — may already have become the global warming accelerator many have feared.
• Current Era of Climate Change More Uniform than in the Past (Kerry Grens, The Scientist, 7-25-19) In contrast to the global change over the past 150 years, temperature extremes in the preceding 2,000 were regional. Prior climate change events, such as the Little Ice Age of the 16th to 19th centuries, were regional, rather than global as is now occurring.
• The Cataclysmic Break That (Maybe) Occurred in 1950 (Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 4-16-19) Sixty-nine years ago, a new geological era may have begun on Earth. Should the Anthropocene be added as a new epoch to the Geological Time Scale, the standard scientific timeline of Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history? Second, should the Anthropocene, if it does exist, commence in the middle of the 20th century?
• How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change (Emma Marris, NY Times, 1-10-2020) Here’s a five-step plan to deal with the stress and become part of the solution, by the author of Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World
• Why the US bears the most responsibility for climate change, in one chart (Umair Irfan, Vox, 4-24-19) A stunning graph of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Koch brothers, the Fraser Institute, and Climate Denial (SourceWatch). See also 7 Disturbing Facts About the Fraser Institute (North99)
• BBC program: The Climate Question. Among topics covered: Is science fiction holding back climate action? (Death, dystopia and apocalypse: has fiction and film got climate wrong?) What can we do about climate migration? Is it time to ditch the plough? (The plough enabled the growth of civilisation, but with a major carbon cost. Agriculture's great challenge is to feed a growing world population without destroying the climate.) What does the world want from the US? What can we learn about the fight to fix the ozone hole? (In the 1980s world leaders acted quickly to stop an environmental catastrophe.) How can we live with the SUV? (Lockdown saw historic drops in global emissions in every sector--except for SUVs.) The war on trees and what it means for disease (Could Covid-19 be a turning point for stopping deforestation?)
• Secretive national oil companies hold our climate in their hands (Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 10-9-19) State-owned firms such as Saudi Aramco and Gazprom have 90% of known reserves. "State-owned companies with rights over the exploitation of national fossil fuel reserves now account for a majority of oil and gas produced around the world, overtaking publicly listed companies such as ExxonMobil, BP and Shell. But most of these 71 state-controlled companies – with a few exceptions, such as Norway’s Equinor – are remarkable for their secrecy, their lack of accountability to any but a small cadre of top government officials, and their absence from globally coordinated attempts to tackle the climate emergency."
• Hurricanes on the scale of Katrina and Harvey are now 3 times more likely than a century ago: 'We cannot hope to combat storms' (Aylin Woodward, Business Insider, 11-12-19)
• What Happens When Climate Change Affects Your Ability To Sell Your Home? (Robin Young, Here and Now, 8-31-18) Young talks with Elizabeth Boineau, a Charleston, South Carolina, resident who had planned to sell her 1939 Colonial-style house, will have to tear it down because of repeated flooding. Climate gentrification: Homes at higher elevation are at an advantage; homes exposed to flooding are losing value.
• Analyzing climate change/hurricane links (Jan Ellen Spiegel, Yale Climate Connections, 6-11-18) A review of top research scientists' views on climate/hurricane links points to areas of increasing scientific consensus, but with key voids still begging high-confidence understanding and answers.
• A rural take on climate change (Stephen Kulik, CommonWealth Magazine, 2-19-19) The Nature Conservancy-commissioned research indicates rural and small-town Massachusetts voters are concerned about the impacts of climate change, eager to have more transportation options, and strongly support creation of a clean transportation fund that would invest in transportation choices that reduce pollution.
• Covering climate change: What reporters get wrong and how to get it right (Chloe Reichel, Journalists's Resource). How reporters following their instincts might contribute to public apathy about climate change, and how they can adopt a solutions approach to improve their coverage of the subject. Don't focus on gloom and doom, desensitizing readers. Highlight what people are doing to address it. Put a human face on it. Find individual characters to tell their stories. Do the research; don't just cherry-pick quotes.
• A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy (Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, Feb. 2019) The Green New Deal’s mastermind is a precocious New Yorker with big ambitions. Sound familiar? See also 7 Reasons Democrats Won’t Pass a Green New Deal (Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 1-29-19) The task is enormous, and the path is narrow.
• Braving the Drake Passage, swimming with leopard seals and interviewing a non-talker (Cheryl Katz interviews National Geographic writer Craig Welch for Nieman Storyboard, 12-4-18, with "storyboard" Q&A about the hows and whys of the article's structure). Welch is the only writer among skilled photographers who are visual storytellers; together they turn silent subjects into the compelling voices of climate change. Read the storyboard story with notes on craft, then go to the full multimedia version: As the Antarctic Peninsula heats up, the rules of life there are being ripped apart. Alarmed scientists aren’t sure what all the change means for the future. (Craig Welch, with stunning photographs by Paul Nicklen, Cristina Mittermeier & Keith Ladzinski, National Geographic, Nov. 2018)
• Bruno Latour, the Post-Truth Philosopher, Mounts a Defense of Science (Ava Kofman, NY Times Magazine, 10-25-18) A deeply thoughtful piece on the "science wars." 'The past decade has seen a precipitous rise not just in anti-scientific thinking — last year, only 37 percent of conservative Republicans believed in the occurrence of global warming, down from 50 percent in 2008 — but in all manner of reactionary obscurantism, from online conspiracy theories to the much-discussed death of expertise....Even though the evidence in support of global warming has long been overwhelming, some scientists continue to believe that the problem of denialism can be solved through ever more data and greater public education. Political scientists, meanwhile, have shown that so-called “irrational” individuals, especially those who are highly educated, in some cases actually hold onto their opinions more strongly when faced with facts that contradict them....“Down to Earth” extends the sociological analysis that he brought to bear on factory workers in Abidjan and scientists in California to the minds of anti-scientific voters, looking at the ways in which the reception of seemingly universal knowledge is shaped by the values and local circumstances of those to whom it is being communicated....Latour believes that if scientists were transparent about how science really functions — as a process in which people, politics, institutions, peer review and so forth all play their parts — they would be in a stronger position to convince people of their claims.'
• Apocalyptic Climate Reporting Completely Misses the Point (Daniel Aldana Cohen, The Nation, 11-2-18) Recent news commentary ignored the UN climate report’s cautiously optimistic findings.
• Denialism: what drives people to reject the truth (Keith Kahn-Harris, The Guardian, A Long Read, 3-8-18) From vaccines to climate change to genocide, a new age of denialism is upon us. Why have we failed to understand it?
• Trump, The Koch Brothers and Their War on Climate Science (The Real News) Watch the documentary online or read the transcript. How climate change science has been under systematic attack, with funding by the Koch Brothers; how their multi-million dollar campaign allowed a climate change denier to be elected president. Trump politicians linked to Koch support include Mike Pense, Betsy DeVos, Scott Pruitt, Jeff Sessions, Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pompeo.
• RIP Commentator Charles Krauthammer (Bud Ward, Yale Climate Connections, 6-25-18) Death of newspaper and Fox News analyst deprives climate-change 'skeptics' of a forceful ally in challenging climate science. He was particularly critical of those who suggested that climate science in many ways is “settled science.”
• The Big Meltdown (Craig Welch, National Geographic, photos by Paul Nicklen, Cristina Mittermeier, & Keith Lanzinski, Nov 2018) As the Antarctic Peninsula heats up, the rules of life there are being ripped apart. Alarmed scientists aren’t sure what all the change means for the future. Stunning visually.
• Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World (excerpt from Sabrina Shankman's book of the same name, Inside Climate News). The story of seven American hikers who went on a wilderness adventure into Canada's Arctic tundra—polar bear country—and came back with a tale of terror. The riveting book follows the hikers' harrowing encounter with a polar bear; the latest science on the plight of the polar bear, facing starvation as the sea ice disappears; and of the Arctic meltdown, the most advanced symptom of man-made climate change.
• Elaina Plott Explores Everyday Life on a Sinking Island (Olga Kreimer, The Open Notebook,, 2-5-19) Scientists project that Tangier Island, a fishing community in the Chesapeake Bay, might be uninhabitable in 25 years--but locals don't buy it. In her Pacific Standard portrait of a cozy town fighting a changing climate and a changing culture, Elaina Plott shows what climate science and climate politics look like at street level. She spoke to TON Fellow Olga Kreimer about the power of basic questions, the keys to small-town field reporting, and why opinions and empathy might both be overrated.
• Reporter for conservative paper says Pruitt’s EPA put “extreme pressure” on him to “be their lickspittle” (Media Matters staff, 6-12-18) Right-wing media outlets The Daily Caller and the Washington Free Beacon have often acted as de facto press offices for Scott Pruitt's Environmental Protection Agency. Now we learn from Washington Examiner reporter John Siciliano, who covers energy and environment for the conservative-leaning newspaper, that the EPA's press office tried to strong-arm him into writing flattering pieces about the agency and complained to his editors when he refused.
• Climate Change and Global Warming (Global Issues lays out the issues, explanations, facts)
• Do scientists agree on climate change? (NASA) Yes, the vast majority of actively publishing climate scientists – 97 percent – agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change. See this list of leading scientific organizations worldwide that have issued public statements that climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities. Here's another list.
• The 97% consensus on global warming. What the science says (Skeptical Science) That humans are causing global warming is the position of the Academies of Science from 80 countries plus many scientific organizations that study climate science. More specifically, around 95% of active climate researchers actively publishing climate papers endorse the consensus position.
• Letter to a Young Climate Activist on the First Day of the New Decade (Rebecca Solnit, LitHub,1-1-2020) On finding hope and resolve for the future.
• How heat waves affect the elderly (Chloe Reichel, Journalist's Resource, 6-7-18) Research in various countries suggests reducing heat-related mortality of the elderly by counteracting their social isolation (through community-based active monitoring), supplementing goods and health care (especially to underweight elders), targeting action starting with the first heatwave of the season, and mitigating the effects of climate change.
• Reporting on climate change: Tips from Dan Schrag (Jessica Colarossi, Journalist's Resource) "“Climate change is here, it’s happening and going to be with us for thousands of years. Journalists should be thinking more about how humans can manage climate change – not stop it. They also should focus on communicating the realities of a changing climate." "Training for science journalists could consist of an undergraduate degree or training in chemistry or physics, or a science fellowship, depending on the journalist and type of reporting he or she does." You need to understand the science, include the correct context, tell the human story, acknowledge the partisan divide, etc.
• Global Warming Science (Union of Concerned Scientists) See Climate Change is the Fastest Growing Threat to World Heritage (Adam Markham, UCS, 7-3-18)
• Climate Change Is Good for These Crabs’ Genitals (Amorina Kingdon, Hakai, 1-18-18) With climate change, there are winners and losers.
• A claim-by-claim analysis of a climate denial 'news' story (Brooke Borel, Popular Science, 3-20-18) An excerpt from a professional fact-checker's claim-by-claim analysis of a climate denial "news" story.
• EPA to its employees: Ignore science when talking about climate change (John Timmer, Ars Technica, 3-29-18) Leaked memo stresses uncertainties, EPA chief Scott Pruitt’s hope for a debate on climate science: Stress gaps in knowledge and don't mention greenhouse gases or how to avoid them.
• Climate Matters in the Newsroom (Survey results, members of Society of Environmental Journalists, March 2018) Results from a survey designed to identify the needs of journalists who wish to report on climate change
as a local issue and the challenges they face in doing so. Journalists responded to questions as 'Should a story present opposing viewpoints (i.e., including the view of someone who is not convinced of climate change)?'
• 'We're doomed': Mayer Hillman on the climate reality no one else will dare mention (Patrick Barkham, The Guardian, 4-26-18) Though best known for his work on road safety, Hillman is great at using factual data to challenge conventional wisdom. " In 1972, he criticised out-of-town shopping centres more than 20 years before the government changed planning rules to stop their spread. In 1980, he recommended halting the closure of branch line railways – only now are some closed lines reopening. In 1984, he proposed energy ratings for houses – finally adopted as government policy in 2007. And, more than 40 years ago, he presciently challenged society’s pursuit of economic growth." A must-read.
• Why climate change has run its course (Tucker Carlson and Fox News on "climatistas" and climate change: "a boutique issue for rich people." On climate change as a political issue.
• Caring about tomorrow (Jamil Zaki, Wash Post, 8-22-19) Why haven’t we stopped climate change? We’re not wired to empathize with our descendants. Environmental damage has already produced enormous suffering, particularly in the global south. But in the global north, where most carbon emissions are produced, these victims are distant statistics who garner little empathy.
• The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change by David Archer and Stefan Rahmstorf.
• How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic. Coby Beck's series of responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming, organized in four taxonomies: Stages of Denial, Scientific Topics, Types of Argument, and Levels of Sophistication.
• The Birth of Climate Change Denial (WNYC and the United States of Anxiety collaborate on podcast looking at how accepting the reality of climate change became a political issue (38 minutes, 5-17-17)
• What every concerned citizen needs to understand about the CO2 Challenge Facing Humankind (Mike Shatzkin, Medium, 11-27-17) An excellent overview of the problem of climate change and a clear explanation of the two main approaches to putting a price on carbon (and reducing fossil fuel consumption): the carbon tax and the carbon cap, revenue-positive and revenue-neutral approaches; of "drawdown" (pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and the oceans) "Deforestation — clearing land for human habitation or agriculture — is a major contributor to our CO2 problem." (See especially Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken.)
• Global Warming Skeptic Organizations (Union of Concerned Scientists annotated list)
• A golden opportunity for Democrats to show some bipartisanship on climate change, and for all of us to make some progress (Mike Shatzkin, Medium, 10-18-17)
• Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL, a nonpartisan group) "We exist to create the political will for climate solutions by enabling individual breakthroughs in the exercise of personal and political power."
• Climate Leadership Council (CLC, a Republican group)
• The Daily Climate (climate news delivered to your inbox, free, daily)
• Fact-checking President Trump’s claims on the Paris climate change deal (Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee, WaPo, 6-1-17)
• EPA staffers get talking points playing down human role in climate change (Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin, WashPost, 3-28-18) 'The list echoes pronouncements by [EPA Administrator Scott] Pruitt, who along with other Trump administration officials, has repeatedly highlighted uncertainty about the role humans have played in the warming of the planet. Pruitt also has pushed for a government-sponsored exercise to scrutinize climate science and has wondered whether global warming “necessarily is a bad thing.”'
• Global Warming's Terrifying New Math (Bill McKibben, Rolling Stone, 7-19-12)
• Idaho Stripped Climate Change From School Guidelines. Now, It’s a Battle. (Livia Albeck-Ripka, NY Times, 2-6-18)
• Italy introduces compulsory climate change study for all state schools (Reuters, The Feed, 11-6-19) “The entire ministry is being changed to make sustainability and climate the centre of the education model,” Fioramonti said.
• Trump’s EPA chief launches Soviet-style crackdown on free speech (Amanda Marcotte, Salon, 10-25-17) EPA head Scott Pruitt doesn’t want scientists and officials at his agency to talk about climate change. Specifically, he doesn't want EPA staff to admit that climate change is real.
• When Canadian Scientists Were Muzzled by Their Government (Wendy Palen, NY Times, 2-14-17) "Just as the American science community is now struggling with whether to speak out and march or stay quiet and do its work, Canadian scientists wrestled with the same questions. Ultimately, Canada’s scientific community came together to save our research, galvanized support to fight back, and captured the attention and concern of the public. I hope our experience — in the spirit of science transcending borders — can be instructive."
• Murky world of 'science' journals a new frontier for climate deniers (Graham Readfearn, The Guardian, 1-23-18) Deniers have found a platform in emerging publications that publish without rigorous review--taking "advantage of the questionable quality controls in return for getting their work published in what the publishers claim are 'peer-reviewed journals' but that, in reality, are not."
• Why I Won't Debate Science (Kate Marvel, Hot Planet, Scientific American, 6-4-18) Once you put established facts about the world up for argument, you’ve already lost.
• Climate Scepticism: The top 10 (BBC) Ten of the arguments most often made against the consensus of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) along with some of the counter-arguments made by scientists who agree with the IPCC.
• Denialism blog (Mark Hoofnagle, Science Blogs). Don't mistake denialism for debate.
• The reluctant geoengineer (Matt Watson, who came to my attention through NPR story Turning to Scientists to Engineer a Cooler Climate (All Things Considered 10-20-13)
• Climate change: How do we know? (NASA) Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal. - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Site provides many resources, facts, proposed solutions.
• Climate Change & Environment (Food & Water Watch) "Climate change poses the largest environmental threat ever known by humankind. But policymakers are afraid to take the action necessary to stop global warming, even as corporations find new ways to shift all risks to taxpayers and pocket enormous profits."
• How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate by Andrew J. Hoffman
• Climate Change: A Children’s Book Reading List (Karina Yan Glaser, Book Riot, 1-12-17)
• How reliable are climate models? (G.P.Wayne, Skeptical Science) ""Climate models have already predicted many of the phenomena for which we now have empirical evidence. Climate models form a reliable guide to potential climate change."
• How We Know Global Warming Is Real and Human Caused (Donald R. Prothero on Anthropogenic Global Warming, eSkeptic, 2-8-12)
• Wildfires, health and climate change: Research and resources (David Trilling, Journalist's Resource, 7-18-17) "Since 1984, climate change has been responsible for roughly doubling the area that has burned in the American West, according to a 2016 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (That means two areas the size of Switzerland, rather than one, burned over three-plus decades.) The fires are not only releasing carbon into the atmosphere, thereby exacerbating climate change. The smoke is deadly: “Wildfires emit fine particles and ozone precursors that in turn increase the risk of premature death and adverse chronic and acute cardiovascular and respiratory health outcomes,” said a 2016 report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the coalition of government scientists leading federal climate change inquiry." Summarizes results of several studies.
• A low-tech method for combating climate change (Erik Hoffner, Opinion, WorldPost, WaPo, 9-11-18) 'Unlike “end of the pipe” climate fixes such as Carbon Engineering’s, no new technology is needed to develop and scale agroforestry, with the main costs being seeds and training. On a finite planet, these are assets that can be rapidly acquired, multiplied and deployed globally, with results that are useful, empowering and beautiful.'
• Harvey Didn’t Come Out of the Blue. Now Is the Time to Talk About Climate Change. (Naomi Klein, The Intercept, 8-28-17) "[T]hese events have long been predicted by climate scientists. Warmer oceans throw up more powerful storms. Higher sea levels mean those storms surge into places they never reached before. Hotter weather leads to extremes of precipitation: long dry periods interrupted by massive snow or rain dumps, rather than the steadier predictable patterns most of us grew up with. The records being broken year after year — whether for drought, storm surges, wildfires, or just heat — are happening because the planet is markedly warmer than it has been since record-keeping began.
"Covering events like Harvey while ignoring those facts, failing to provide a platform to climate scientists who can make them plain, all while never mentioning President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords, fails in the most basic duty of journalism: to provide important facts and relevant context. It leaves the public with the false impression that these are disasters without root causes, which also means that nothing could have been done to prevent them (and that nothing can be done now to prevent them from getting much worse in the future)....
"What should it mean for the kind of infrastructure we build? What should it mean for the kind of energy we rely upon? (A question with jarring implications for the dominant industry in the region being hit hardest: oil and gas). And what does the hyper-vulnerability to the storm of the sick, poor, and elderly tell us about the kind of safety nets we need to weave, given the rocky future we have already locked in?"
• How Americans Think About Climate Change, in Six Maps (Nadja Popovich, John Schwartz, and Tatiana Schlossber, NY Times, 3-21-17) Americans overwhelmingly believe that global warming is happening, and that carbon emissions should be scaled back. But fewer are sure that the changes will harm them personally. New data released by the Yale Program on Climate Communication gives the most detailed view yet of public opinion on global warming.
• Inside Climate News (a Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering climate change, energy and the environment)
• The Tyee, a solutions-focused outlet based out of Vancouver.
• Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (studies the factors that shift public opinion on the subject)
• Media Coverage of Climate Change (University of Colorado at Boulder’s International Collective on Environment, Culture & Politics produces montly reports)
• Silencing Science Tracker (Columbia Law School) Tracks government attempts to restrict or prohibit scientific research, education or discussion, or the publication or use of scientific information, since the November 2016 election. A joint initiative of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. The Climate Deregulation Tracker identifies steps taken by the Trump administration and Congress to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate mitigation and adaptation measures. Here's a story about these databases of U.S. government efforts to muzzle science since the November 2016 election: New Silencing Science Tracker Launched by the Sabin Center and Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (Romany Webb, Climate Law Blog, 1-19-18).
• Collective Ideation: Challenges and Solutions for Climate Change Reporting (The Lookout Station, April 2018) After the session in Perugia, the outcomes of the session were documented in "Collaborative Ideation: Climate Change Reporting -- Challenges and Ideas for Solutions", a 11-page Google doc (downloadable) that lists 6 challenges the group collaboratively formulated during the session, and a list of solutions per challenge.
• Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers (Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Guardian, 10-11-19) Firm’s public calls for climate action contrast with backing for conservative thinktanks. Google has made “substantial” contributions to some of the most notorious climate deniers in Washington despite its insistence that it supports political action on the climate crisis.
• Hague climate change judgement could inspire a global civil movement (Emma Howard, The Guardian, 6-24-15) Dutch ruling could trigger similar cases worldwide with citizens taking their governments to courts to make them act on climate promises.
• 5(ish) Questions for Douglas Haynes and “Every Day We Live Is the Future” (Nieman Storyboard) The author spent nearly 10 years on his project to show climate change in the extreme micro, telling the stories of two Nicaraguan women. Only when he returned to Nicaragua last month and placed the book in the protagonists’ hands that he began to realize the full significance of his efforts – and theirs. Every Day We Live Is the Future: Surviving in a City of Disasters by Douglas Haynes. made it real for them.” The book "is a dispatch from the frontiers of climate change, told through the lens of the long-term relationships that Haynes developed with two women" who live in Managaua, Nicaragua’s capital, "though they were born in rural areas of the country, and both are engaged in a hard, long-term effort to lift their families out of poverty. They do so in the face of a rapidly changing climate that subjects them to recurrent climate violence. “In richer Global North cities,” Haynes writes, “climate risks are mostly masked and mitigated by infrastructure, technology, bureaucracy, and insurance. But in the Global South, the confluence of the impacts of colonialism, rural-to-urban flight, class divides, and dramatic weather events mean that the urban poor are constantly rebuilding their lives with ever-diminishing resources and support."
• When Is It Time to Retreat from Climate Change? ( Michelle Nijhuis, New Yorker, 3-27-17) Discusses communities that undertook a collective retreat from the effects of climate change, in what disaster experts call managed retreat—abandoning areas vulnerable to floods, tsunamis, and rapid erosion. 'While managed retreat is not always the right choice for communities threatened by climate change, both Katharine Mach and Miyuki Hino said that it may be the right choice more often than we’re willing to admit, and they hope that their analysis will lead to its more forthright consideration. Well more than a hundred million people are expected to face displacement by rising seas before the end of the century. “We’re going to have to think really hard about how and where it happens, who moves and who stays, and whose values matter most,” Mach said. “In so many ways, it’s a perfect unfolding of both the tensions and the opportunities in adaptation.”
• Scientists shocked by Arctic permafrost thawing 70 years sooner than predicted (Reuters, The Guardian, 6-18-19) ‘The climate is now warmer than at any time in last 5,000 years’
• People Want to Know About People (Sipho Kings, NiemanReports, 4-27-18) Stories about global warming, floods, and all forms of catastrophe struggle to resonate when they don't include people.
• How To Convince Conservative Christians That Global Warming Is Real (Chris Mooney, Mother Jones, 5-2-14) Millions of Americans are evangelical Christians. Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe is persuading them that our planet is in peril.
• How to talk climate change with Evangelical Christians Katharine Hayhoe convinces her fellow Evangelical Christians that climate change is real by appealing to their shared religious beliefs.
• Lyme disease and climate change: Research roundup (David Trilling, Journalist's Resource, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, 7-25-17) How is climate change a factor in the spread of Lyme disease? "Ticks are delicate little bugs. They don’t like freezing or getting too dry. Mild winters help them survive; their eggs hatch sooner, lengthening the feeding and molting season. Deer help them move further north into areas where cooler temperatures would have once killed them. “Deer ticks are mostly active when temperatures are above 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and they thrive in areas with at least 85 percent humidity. Thus, warming temperatures associated with climate change are projected to increase the range of suitable tick habitat and are therefore one of multiple factors driving the observed spread of Lyme disease,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which sees the spread of Lyme as an indicator of climate change."
• The reluctant geoengineer (Matt Watson, who came to my attention through NPR story Turning to Scientists to Engineer a Cooler Climate (All Things Considered 10-20-13)
• Lessons From Hurricane Harvey: Houston’s Struggle Is America’s Tale (New York Times, 11-11-17) The Texas city’s response to a powerful storm says much about polarized visions of the country and diverging attitudes toward cities, race, liberty and science. See also Climate, Power, Money And Sorrow: Lessons Of Hurricane Harvey (Adam Frank, NPR, 9-6-17) "Katrina, Sandy and, now, Harvey — with each of these powerful storms we get a view into how a changing climate may play out in the real world beyond arguments and abstractions. What it's always been about are the truly awesome powers inherent to planets and the real human consequences of altering the balance of those powers. Luckily, there's still time to marshal our own great and creative powers and chart a saner course."
• Why conservative Christians don’t believe in climate change (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2015) From the Abstract: "An analysis of resolutions and campaigns by evangelicals over the past 40 years shows that anti-environmentalism within conservative Christianity stems from fears that “stewardship” of God’s creation is drifting toward neo-pagan nature worship, and from apocalyptic beliefs about “end times” that make it pointless to worry about global warming."
• What We Know, And Don’t Know, About Science Denial in America (Stephanie Keep, National Center for Science Education blog, 3-28-18) According to Perceptions of Science in America, a new report from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 'A younger American is more likely than an older American to agree that climate change is man-made but less likely to view childhood vaccines as safe. Political ideology and age are the strongest predictors of view regarding climate change, but education or science knowledge was the strongest predictive factor when it came to came to GMO safety. For me, this was the most important takeaway: there is no single group you can point to and say, these are the people who are “anti-science.”'
• Our Climate Change And Health “Moment”: How Philanthropy Can Help (Matt James, Health Affairs, 3-20-17) Interesting links.
• Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (NASA, selected resources from U.S. government organizations provide information about options for responding to climate change).
• For Earth Day, 24 Magazine Covers About Climate Change (Washington Post, 4-17-19) "We know that the clock is ticking on climate change, yet the sheer volume of news can make it tough for even the most conscientious citizen to comprehend the full scale of the crisis. So for Earth Day, we created a different way to read about climate change: an all-cover issue of The Washington Post Magazine, with each cover illustrating an aspect of climate change that The Post wrote about in the past year or so. Scroll down to see the stories — and the covers we created to highlight them."
• Fight Climate Change in Your Own Garden (Deonna Anderson, Yes! Journalism for People Building a Better World, 11-12-18) Your backyard could be the next front in the war against global warming.
• Climate Change Is Altering Lakes and Streams, Study Suggests (Carl Zimmer, NY times, 1-11-18) Like the ocean, fresh water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But the effects are likely to vary widely from place to place.
• Climate Change Is Turning 99% of These Baby Sea Turtles Female (Ben Guarino, Wash Post, 1-8-18) The temperature outside a green sea turtle egg influences the sex of the growing embryo. And this unusual biological quirk, scientists say, endangers their future in a warmer world.
• Climate education resources (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA)
• California models regulations on high-emission industries (Sarah E. Olson, AAAS meeting coverage, NASW blog, 3-9-18) "Measurements of the greenhouse gas methane near high-emission industrial sites in California have influenced regulatory changes and may outline a path for other states to follow, experts say. The data collected highlights the need to better monitor industries that in the long term contribute significantly to the Golden State's output of methane, and in the short term pose a more immediate threat to communities near production plants."
• U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (NOAA)
• How to keep the environment from getting snubbed: Q&A with writer Emma Marris (UCLA Institute of Environmental Sciences) Are eco-conscious audiences sick of the same old story? Films, books and movies on environmental topics often fall back on a common formula: scaring people with so-called “gloom and doom” narratives. And repeated messages like that turn people off. Marris: I don’t know if it’s fatigue with environmental narratives so much as it’s that we are more interested in how people relate to each other--or relate to a particular animal or species. One additional challenge with climate change is that it’s not an acute problem. It’s a chronic problem, and that’s harder to dramatize.
• Who Should Pay for Climate Change? (Anna Maria Barry-Jester, FiveThirtyEight, 3-22-18) That’s the question in a California courtroom. But before the judge hears the case, he wanted a climate science tutorial.
• 25 Great Articles and Essays about Climate Change (The Electric Typewriter)
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• Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder a biography by Caroline Fraser. The review that drew me to the book: ‘Little House’ and the identity of the prairie struggle (Claire Thompson, High Country News) "The gritty reality behind Laura Ingalls Wilder’s writings."'
• You May Be Surprised to Learn Which 2 Countries Are Making the Globe a Lot Greener (Dan Charles. Goats and Soda, NPR, 2-14-19) India and China are showing that policy can make a difference. The greening of India, geographer Molly Brown says, comes from a huge expansion of irrigated agriculture. In China, a government-sponsored reforestation project was developed in an "attempt to prevent catastrophic dust storms that resulted from earlier deforestation."
• 35 vintage photos taken by the EPA reveal what American cities looked like before pollution was regulated (James Pasley, Business Insider, 8-14-19) In case you weren't around and can't remember.
• Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb. By the start of the 20th century, the near disappearance of beavers from the U.S. at the hands of trappers made wetlands and meadows dry up, hastened erosion, altered streams, and harmed fish, fowl,and amphibians. Booklist starred review: “Envision a perfect stream. Most people picture a clear, fast-moving creek with a narrow course and lots of rocks. This vision, award-winning environmental journalist Goldfarb informs us in this fresh, historically grounded look at North America’s largest rodent, is wrong. Before the ‘ furpocalypse,' during which trappers decimated the once enormous beaver population, streams were mostly murky swamps backed up to cover several acres by beaver–built wooden dams and dotted with beaver lodges constructed out of sticks. The disappearance of beavers severely altered watersheds and contributed to the drying of the West. After attending a conference on beaver ecology, Goldfarb became a beaver acolyte and here writes eloquently of the return of this industrious, habitat–enriching animal, its conflicts with humans and their property, and of the ways both elegant and Rube Goldbergian in which beaver and human needs can be balanced. Goldfarb traveled the country to observe researchers, beaver damage mitigators, county engineers, hydrologists, and wildlife biologists, all working with beavers and studying their positive effects on ecosystems from the western deserts to the replenishing forests of the east. Beavers are kind of magical, Goldfarb tells us: they can make wetlands appear.”
• Environmentalists and Dam Operators, at War for Years, Start Making Peace (Brad Plumer, NY Times, 10-13-2020) Facing a climate crisis, environmental groups and industry agree to work together to bolster hydropower while reducing harm from dams--a sign that the threat of climate change is spurring both sides to rethink their decades-long battle over a large but contentious source of renewable power.
• Long-Awaited EPA Study Says Fracking Pollutes Drinking Water (Anastasia Pantsios, EcoWatch, 6-4-15)
• These Scientists Were Disbanded by the EPA — They Plan to Meet Anyway (Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch, 9-27-19)
• For many reporters covering climate, population remains the elephant in the room (Wudan Yan, CJR, 9-18-19) In 2017, Seth Wynes of Lund University in Sweden and Kimberly Nicholas of the University of British Columbia estimated the carbon emissions that various individual lifestyle choices would have. The foremost way to reduce climate change, their report said, would be to have one fewer child...The runner-ups were living car free, and not taking one transatlantic flight.
• 'Venice Is On Its Knees': Mayor Blames Worst Flood Tide In 50 Years On Climate Change (Bill Chappell NPR, 11-13-19)
• The Flood Watcher (Lucy Schiller, CJR, 11-7-19) "It’s all of the decisions that we’ve ever made, since the 1880s, the 1890s, that are creating the issues that we have today.”
• How to Mourn a Glacier (Lacy M. Johnson, New Yorker,10-20-19) "The last ice age began in the Pleistocene and ended ten thousand years ago, when Iceland was covered in a massive ice sheet thousands of feet thick. The planet has warmed, cooled, and warmed again since then; ice has advanced and retreated, and this movement has carved the mountains and valleys that we claim as our own. But, in the past several years alone, we have witnessed not only an acceleration of the great thaw, but also the sudden bleaching of the coral reefs, the rapid spread of the Sahara desert, continuous sea-level rise, the warming of the oceans, and record-breaking hurricanes each season and every year. This is one of the most distressing things about being alive today: we are witnessing geologic time collapse on a human scale."
• Climate Signs (Emily Raboteau, NY Review of Books, 2-1-19) What happens when signs all around us elicit fear of climate change in our children?
• The Watson Files (Laura Heaton, photos by Nichole Sobecki, Foreign Policy, 5-31-17) What if there were a blueprint for climate adaptation that could end a civil war? An English scientist spent his life developing one — then he vanished without a trace. 'Climate change is viewed as a “threat multiplier” because of its potential to exacerbate everything “from infectious disease to terrorism.”In Somalia, where fishermen-turned-pirates troll the coastline looking for cargo ships to hold hostage and farmers-turned-insurgents menace civilians on land, these reports simply confirm the obvious. “The fact [is] that many of our youth have lost jobs because of desertification, deforestation,” said Buri Hamza, who served as Somalia’s top environmental official. “This is one of the major causes of radicalization."'
• End Plastic Pollution by 2040 (The High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution) Without new and effective control measures, plastic production is set to double in 20 years and plastic waste leaking into the ocean is projected to triple by 2040. This is an unacceptable burden to place on future generations.
• Your Questions About Plastic Waste, Answered (Christopher Joyce, Goats and Soda, NPR, 2-8-19) How can I find out if the plastic I put into recycling in my community is really being recycled and not just sent to some poor country? Aren't there biodegradable plastics that can be used for packaging and if so, why aren't they? How can I, a high schooler in small-town Wisconsin, help reduce plastic waste both locally and globally? Are there people in the U.S. that are plastic shaming like Froilan Grate? What makes some plastics recyclable and others not? What happened to the building blocks for housing, walls, sidewalks, etc. that were to be made from our ocean plastic? What can I do to aid the activist in this story? From NPR's special series, The Plastic Tide ("Exploring plastic waste in our environment")
• The EU is giving citizens the “right to repair” electronics — here’s what that could mean for the world (Klaus Sieg, Ideas.TED.com, 8-12-21) Nearly 80 percent [of EU citizens] would rather repair their devices than replace them. And a majority think that manufacturers should be legally obliged to facilitate the repair of digital devices.See also Millions of tons of plastic are trashed every year. But what if we used it to pave our roads? (Ann Parson, Ideas.TED.com, 6-11-21)
"Life would be tragic if it weren't funny." ~ Stephen Hawking
Covering abortion
“If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament”
This is Version A *(for journalists and newspaper readers)
See also Version B: Abortion as part of women's reproductive rights and health
on a sister website (www.comfortdying.com, practical information)
Resources for reporting about abortion
"An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus. The procedure is best done by a licensed healthcare professional."
~National Library of Medicine
This is a very full, long series of links, which continues after the ProPublica section below on abortion in post-Roe America
• Resources for Journalists Reporting on Abortion (Physicians for Reproductive Health) Very useful.
• Resources for Journalists: 15 Things to Consider When Covering Abortion, the Supreme Court, and a Potential “Post-Roe World” (Lauren Cross and Elizabeth Nash, Guttmacher Institute)
• Abortion on the Ballot: (Grace Paneta,19th News, 12-15-23, updated 7-11-24) Passing a ballot measure is a highly expensive, time-consuming endeavor. This is an overview of where abortion will — and could be — directly on the ballot in 2024, how many signatures organizers need to collect, and the challenges advocates are facing in the states.
Seven states have directly voted on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 — and abortion rights advocates are so far undefeated with ballot measures. "Currently, 23 states enable citizens to put constitutional amendments on the ballot, while others only allow a state legislature to put them before the voters. While not all ballot measures are necessarily constitutional amendments, most of the efforts in 2024 are behind reshaping state constitutions to enshrine reproductive rights."
• ACOG Guide to Language and Abortion (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) Download free.
To help inform language choice for those writing about reproductive health to use language that is medically appropriate, clinically accurate, and without bias. Why "medical abortion" is preferable to "chemical abortion."
"Through eight weeks after last menstrual period, 'embryo.' After that point until delivery, 'fetus.'"
• Abortion-rights group rebrands to Reproductive Freedom for All in post-Roe world (Kimberlee Kruesi, AP News, 9-20-23) NARAL Pro-Choice America, an influential abortion-rights group, is changing its name to Reproductive Freedom for All.
• KFF Health News's many excellent articles about abortion. This link will take you to many thoughtful pieces.
• Reproductive Health resource links (Association of Health Care Journalists) Key Supreme Court cases, professional medical societies, articles, etc.
• Map of World Abortion Laws (Center for Reproductive Rights) The legal status of abortion in countries across the globe, updated in real time. See also its excellent Glossary: Abortion Bans, Restrictions and Protections
• Her Life Was at Risk. She Needed an Abortion. Insurance Refused To Pay. (Sarah Varney, KFF Health News, 8-26-24) Insurance coverage for abortion care in the U.S. is a hodgepodge. Patients often don’t know when or if a procedure or abortion pills are covered, and the proliferation of abortion bans has exacerbated the confusion. Ashley said she got caught in that tangle of uncertainties. Even with an arsenal of medical documentation, Ashley’s health insurer, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, did not cover the abortion procedure. Months later, Ashley logged in to her medical billing portal and was surprised to see that the insurer had paid for her three-night hospital stay but not the abortion. FEP Blue does not cover any abortions whatsoever. Restrictions known as the Hyde Amendment have been passed each year since 1976 by Congress and prohibit federal funds from covering abortion services.
• Walgreens won’t distribute abortion pills in states where GOP AGs object (Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico, 3-2-23) The decision is the latest to demonstrate how widely abortion access can vary state to state in a post-Roe America.
• She hoped her pregnancy story would matter. Then came election night. (Caroline Kitchener, Washington Post, 11-6-24) A Georgia woman who experienced a delay in care because of an abortion ban shared her experience in hopes of influencing her friends and family. Erin and Chase McCallum, who are expecting another child, shared their miscarriage story so voters would grasp the real-life consequences of abortion bans.
• Abortion-rights measures go 7 for 10 in state elections (Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, 11-6-24)
'Seven states passed ballot measures aimed at preserving, expanding or restoring the right to an abortion. The measures won in blue states like New York and Maryland and in red and purple states like Montana, Arizona and Missouri — victories that could dramatically expand abortion access for millions of women. There have now been 14 states that have approved abortion-rights amendments since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
'The measures won despite strong institutional opposition from anti-abortion advocacy groups, GOP politicians, judges and others who tried to stop the measures from even getting on the ballot in the first place.
“In poll after poll, voters said abortion mattered to them — mattered in their lives and mattered in the voting booth. In Missouri, Colorado, New York, Maryland, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, and Florida — the majority of voters were clear and unequivocal: people are dying. People are suffering. Fix this,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund said in a statement.
"But abortion ballot measures were defeated in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota, a reminder that abortion rights remain a complicated patchwork across the country. Prior to Tuesday, abortion-rights amendments had never lost when they were on the ballot.
• Abortion on the Ballot (NY Times, 11-5,6-24) Voters in a record 10 states cast ballots to decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions this year. Ballot measures that passed will lift abortion bans in two states and expand access in others.
States affected: Maryland, Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, New York, Montana, Nevada, Florida, Nebraska, South Dakota.
Defeated measures in three states mean their abortion restrictions will remain in place.
---How Americans in 10 states voted on abortion access measures (Annabelle Timsit, Washington Post, 11-6-24) This election, voters in 10 states — from deep-red Missouri to traditionally blue New York — were asked to decide on ballot measures relating to abortion access and reproductive rights. Measures seeking to preserve, expand or restrict abortion rights were on the ballot in 10 states. Seven of those states voted to protect, preserve or extend abortion rights, while three voted to restrict them, according to The Washington Post’s tally.
• Both My Abortions Were Necessary. Only One Gets Sympathy. (Sarah Elaine Harrison, Opinion, NY Times, 9-25-24) "The Texas ban provides no exception for an abortion in the case of fatal fetal abnormalities — even for the purpose of protecting a second, healthy fetus. To protect myself and the other fetus, we had to quickly travel out of state for a selective reduction. And there was no time to litigate — waiting longer for the procedure would have put the entire pregnancy at additional risk."
---To safeguard healthy twin in utero, she had to 'escape' Texas for abortion procedure (Selena Simmons-Duffin, Shots, Health News from NPR, 2-28-23) "Honestly, overall, I've been so overwhelmed by just anger at how much additional stress we've had to go through," she says. There were also additional costs. She estimates it cost more than $3,000 for her to travel to Colorado for the abortion – she's acutely aware that most people can't drop that much money on short notice.
---A Texas Case Shows That Abortion Ban Exemptions Are a Sham (Michelle Goldberg, Opinion, NY Times, 12-11-23) Soon after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, horror stories started emerging of women denied medically urgent abortions for pregnancies gone dangerously awry. In response, the anti-abortion movement developed a sort of conspiracy theory to rationalize away the results of their policies.
Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two, learned that her latest, much-wanted pregnancy was doomed because of a severe genetic disorder. If the pregnancy continued, she was likely to have a stillbirth, and if she didn’t, the baby had virtually no chance of surviving long outside the womb. Late on Monday, the Texas Supreme Court declared that Cox wasn’t entitled to an abortion and vacated the lower court’s order. “I think it’s the clearest message you could have possibly received from an anti-abortion state that they never meant the medical exemption to mean anything at all,” Duane said.
• Abortion Back at SCOTUS: Can States Ban Emergency Abortion Care for Pregnant Patients? (Laurie Sobel, Alina Salganicoff, and Mabel Felix, Women's Health Policy, KFF, 4-22-24) On April 24, 2024, the Supreme Court was to hear the second case this term involving access to abortion: Idaho v. United States. At stake in this case is whether the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law requiring hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment to patients who present to their emergency rooms, preempts state abortion laws and requires hospitals that accept Medicare to provide abortion care when it is necessary to stabilize a patient’s condition, even when this abortion care violates state law.
---42 U.S. Code § 1395dd - Examination and treatment for emergency medical conditions and women in labor
• Now Republicans Are Trying to Redefine Abortion Itself (Jessica Valenti, who publishes the newsletter Abortion, Everyday, NY Times, 10-2-23)
---Republicans Are Finding Out That ‘Pro-Life’ Means a Lot of Things to a Lot of People (Liz Mair, Opinion, NY Times, 12-4-23)
---What Republicans Are Missing on Abortion Politics, According to a Republican (Jane Coaston, Opinion, NY Times, 11-20-23) "To me, we now need to also take a look at the Equal Rights Amendment. Women really do not have equal rights now, because what the court has given, the court can take away. We always knew that, and now we definitely know it....the Freedom Caucus is already going to try and come back again next year, because they want to take it back to total ban...and this is what I argue to them over and over again — women are not just going to go back to the way things were in the ’40s, ’50s. That’s just not going to happen. And what’s going to happen is, they’re going to get those abortion pills, and they’re going to be counterfeit, and I just hope to goodness people don’t die from it."
• MAGA's awful abortion plan. (Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s Newsletter, 8-13-24) If Trump wins, get ready for Project 2025's Big Brother abortion policy which will
Require "liberal states" to report complete statistical data about abortion to the CDC
Require the CDC to track "abortion across various demographic indicators to assess whether certain populations are targeted by abortion providers"
Withdraw Medicaid funds for states that require abortion insurance
Audit states for Hyde amendment compliance
Reverse Biden administration's support for women's travel to get abortion health care
Declare that abortion is not health care
Deny Planned Parenthood Medicaid funding
Reverse FDA approval of the abortion pill and prohibit sending it by mail.
Prohibit stem cell research and stop testing COVID-19 vaccines on aborted cell lines
No longer require hospital emergency facilities to treat women suffering miscarriages
• Trump's Woman Problem (Robert Reich, 9-9-24) Trump was dead against all abortions in 2016. He put three justices on the Supreme Court who joined Justice Samuel Alito in reversing Roe v. Wade, with the result that one out of three women of childbearing age now lives in a state where abortion is effectively banned.
'The trial judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, noted that “as the evidence at trial … makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did [rape Carroll].”
'The day after Carroll won her lawsuit, Trump appeared on CNN and denounced her as a “whack job.” Carroll then sued Trump a second time, claiming that Trump manhandled her, “pulled down her tights,” groped around her genitals, and raped her, which reputedly left Carroll unable to develop sexual relationships. This time, a jury awarded Carroll $83 million in damages.
• Abortion Experiences, Knowledge, and Attitudes Among Women in the U.S.: Findings from the 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey (Ivette Gomez, Karen Diep, Brittni Frederiksen, Usha Ranji, and Alina Salganicoff, Women's Health Policy, KFF, 8-14-24) Among key takeaways (there are many more):
---Among women of reproductive age, one in seven (14%) have had an abortion at some point in their life. Larger shares of Black (21%) and Hispanic (19%) women report having had an abortion compared to 11% of White women. Across partisanship, similar shares of Republican women, Democratic women, and independents report having had an abortion.
---Nearly one in ten (8%) women of reproductive age personally know someone who has had difficulty getting an abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned, including 11% of Hispanic women and 13% of women living in states with abortion bans.
---Among women of reproductive age who report knowing someone personally who has had difficulty getting an abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned, many say they had to travel out of state for care (68%), did not know where to go (40%), and/or did not have the money to cover the cost (35%). Do read all the takeaways, at a minimum.
---Nearly one in five women (17%) of reproductive age report they have changed their contraceptive practices as a result of Roe being overturned. Actions taken include starting birth control, getting a sterilization procedure, switching to a more effective method, or purchasing emergency contraceptive pills to have on hand.
---While two-thirds of women have heard about medication abortion pills, only 19% of women say people in their state can get medication abortion pills online.
Abortions have all but ceased in the 14 states that have enacted bans since the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe. v. Wade.
• Medication Abortion at Home (Telehealth) (Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC Inc) Abortion at home (via telehealth video appointment) allows you to receive compassionate, expert, abortion care while in the comfort of your own home rather than at a health center. This can be a good option if transportation, childcare, or time off from work make it hard for you to schedule an abortion appointment at one of Planned Parenthood's health centers. Explains how medication abortion
• How Black Feminists Defined Abortion Rights (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, New Yorker, 2-22-22) 'As liberation movements bloomed, they offered a vision of reproductive justice that was about equality, not just “choice.” The powerful men and women championing an end to abortion seek to recast an unwanted pregnancy as an inconvenience for “professional women.” But rich women have always had a bounty of choices when deciding to end a pregnancy and when deciding to have children.
Fitch, who likes to use her own story as a single mother of three as evidence that women can have it all, was able to afford day care and a nanny. It should go without saying that these are not options for poor and working-class women, who without access to abortion will lose their right and ability to control their own destiny. In 2014, three-quarters of abortion patients qualified as low-income or poor, according to the Guttmacher Institute. That year, Black and brown patients accounted for more than half of abortions performed.
'That Dobbs originates in Mississippi, the poorest state in the country, twists this fairy tale into a cruel joke. In Mississippi, nearly half of women-led households live in poverty, almost twice the national average; twelve per cent of women in the state lack health insurance, compared with eight per cent nationally. Barrett’s blithe suggestion that pregnant women simply “go fifteen, sixteen weeks more” ignores, among many burdens, that pregnant women in Mississippi die at higher rates than their peers in most states, including Louisiana and Georgia. And because this case is no longer just about Mississippi, it also ignores the fact that Black women are three to four times more at risk of dying in childbirth than white women.'
• The Soundtrack of the Abortion Rights Movement, Then and Now (Courtney E. Smith, Pitchfork, 11-7-22) Across more than 50 years, the music of artists including Dolly Parton, Alanis Morissette, and Megan Thee Stallion has been used communicate the anger and grief around the fight for reproductive rights.
• Monthly abortions continue to trend up in the US in 2024, new report shows (Deidre McPhillips, CNN, 8-7-24) “While the volume of abortions has increased, we know that this isn’t the full story,” Dr. Alison Norris, co-chair of #WeCount and professor at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health, said in a statement. “Even as we see the increase in abortion volume nationally, the burden on an individual living in a state with an abortion ban is enormous, especially if they need in-person abortion care.&rdquo
• Abortion in the U.S. Dashboard (Kaiser Family Foundation) An ongoing research project tracking state abortion policies and litigation following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Click on the buttons or scroll down to see all the content.
• A Review of Exceptions in State Abortion Bans: Implications for the Provision of Abortion Services (Mabel Felix, Laurie Sobel, and Alina Salganicoff, KFF Health News, 6-6-24)
---Abortion bans and restrictions have led physicians to delay providing miscarriage management care. Many states allow for the removal of a dead fetus or embryo, but pregnant people who are actively miscarrying may be denied care if there is still detectable fetal cardiac activity or until the miscarriage puts the life of the pregnant person in jeopardy.
---Mental health exceptions are rare despite the fact that 20% of pregnancy-related deaths are attributable to mental health conditions.
---Law enforcement involvement is often required to document rape and incest, which often prevents survivors from accessing abortion care. Furthermore, survivors in states where abortion care is restricted can have difficulty finding an abortion provider.
---In many states there is more than one abortion ban in the books, and in some of those states, the exception provisions in the bans are often at odds with each other. These multiple bans and varying exceptions create confusion among patients and providers.
• Louisiana Reclassifies Drugs Used in Abortions as Controlled Dangerous Substances (Rosemary Westwood, WWNO and KFF Health News, 7-24-24)
"Louisiana lawmakers have added two drugs commonly used in pregnancy and reproductive health care to the state’s list of controlled dangerous substances, a move that has alarmed doctors in the state. Mifepristone and misoprostol have many clinical uses, and one use approved by the FDA is to take the pills to induce an abortion at up to 10 weeks of gestation.
"The bill that moved through the Louisiana Legislature this spring lists both medications as Schedule IV drugs under the state’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law, creating penalties of up to 10 years in prison for anyone caught with the drugs without a valid prescription. The new law is the latest move by anti-abortion advocates trying to control access to abortion medications in states with near-total abortion bans, such as Louisiana. The law is the first of its kind, opening a new front in the state-by-state battle over reproductive medicine."
• Rate of Young Women Getting Sterilized Doubled After ‘Roe’ Was Overturned (Aaron Bolton, MTPR and KFF Health News, 6-27-24) New research published in JAMA Health Forum shows how big that wave of young people is nationally. After Roe was overturned in June 2022, doctors said a wave of young people started asking for permanent birth control like tubal ligations, in which the fallopian tubes are removed, or vasectomies. The rate of women 18 to 30 getting tubal ligations doubled in the 16 months following the Dobbs decision. Sophia Ferst, 28, remembers her reaction to learning that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade: She needed to get sterilized. She has always known she doesn't want kids. She also worries about getting pregnant as the result of a sexual assault, then being unable to access abortion services. "That's not a crazy concept anymore," she said. The number of young men getting vasectomies also shot up, but men still get sterilized much less often than women.
• Dobbs Has Created a Health Care Apocalypse (Abby Vesoulis, Mother Jones, 5-24) Relocating for work isn’t a novel concept, but in the age of unfettered abortion restrictions, there has been an exodus of OB-GYNs from abortion-banned states, and dwindling interest among future OB-GYNs to settle in those states. The result is worsening health outcomes for the vulnerable patients and moms who remain.
• Republicans Are Downplaying Abortion, but It Keeps Coming Up (Julie Rovner, KFF Health News, 6-28-24) Torn between a base that wants more restrictions on reproductive health care and a moderate majority that does not, it seems many Republicans would rather take an off-ramp than a victory lap when it comes to abortion. But they can’t escape talking about it. 'The policy high point for abortion opponents — the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to strike down Roe v. Wade — is proving a low point for public support for their cause. More American adults consider themselves “pro-choice” than at any time in the past 30 years, according to a recent survey from Gallup: 54%, compared with 41% who identify as “pro-life.” '
• Post-Dobbs climate has exposed longstanding GOP divisions on abortion (Daniel K. Williams, WashPost, 5-19-23) "Republicans never agreed on the issues at play, but a strategy of appointing conservative judges papered over the divisions for decades. Former president Donald Trump incurred the wrath of SBA Pro-Life America for his opposition to a federal ban on abortion — a “states’ rights” position that the organization declared was “morally indefensible.” With former vice president Mike Pence criticizing Trump’s position and suggesting that a 15-week federal ban should be considered — and with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signaling his antiabortion bona fides by signing a six-week ban into law — it appears that the 2024 GOP presidential primaries might witness a more vigorous intraparty debate on abortion policy than Republicans have seen in decades.
"For some, this is a debate about tactics rather than long-term goals. Even some Republicans who oppose abortion question whether strict bans are politically possible or electorally wise. But the divisions also reflect a deeper reality: Republicans have never reached a consensus on the morality of abortion. Today, more than one-third of Republican voters want abortion to remain legal in all or most cases, while 60 percent want it to be mostly or entirely illegal. And in previous decades, Republican voters were even more divided on the issue."
• A Review of Exceptions in State Abortion Bans: Implications for the Provision of Abortion Services (Mabel Felix, Laurie Sobel, and Alina Salganicoff, Women's Health Policy, KFF, 6-6-24) Abortion is currently banned in 14 states and many other states have attempted to ban or severely restrict access to abortion. Nearly all of these bans include exceptions, which generally fall into four categories: to prevent the death of the pregnant person, when there is risk to the health of the pregnant person, when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, and when there is a lethal fetal anomaly.
"The difficulties these bans and their unclear exceptions create may additionally deter physicians from practicing medicine in states that ban abortion. There have already been reports of physicians expressing reluctance or refusing to relocate to these states, as well as physicians leaving these states due to their restrictive laws and fewer medical school graduates applying for residencies in these states. A substantial portion of these states’ residents already live in maternity deserts – areas where there are no obstetric providers or birth centers – and studies have shown that maternal mortality rates are higher in states that restrict abortion."
• Tracking abortion bans (NY Times, 2022) On four different maps. See also Abortion on the ballot.
• Tracking Abortion Bans Across the Country (Allison McCann and Amy Schoenfeld Walker, NY Times interactive, updated 8-3-24) "Twenty-two states ban abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade, which governed reproductive rights for nearly half a century until the Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2022.
"In some states, the fight over abortion access is still taking place in courtrooms, where advocates have sued to block bans and restrictions. Other states have moved to expand access to abortion by adding legal protections.
• Ballot Tracker: Status of Abortion-Related State Constitutional Amendment Measures for the 2024 Election (KFF) As of 5-29-24: Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, voters in 6 states have weighed in on constitutional amendments regarding abortion, and the side favoring access to abortion prevailed in every state. In 4 of these states – California, Michigan, Ohio, and Vermont – measures amending the state constitution to protect the right to abortion were approved by voters and in the other 2 states – Kentucky and Kansas – measures seeking to curtail the right to abortion failed. A resource rich in information, including numbers.
• How ‘Pro-Life’ Lost All Meaning (Charles Sykes, The Atlantic Daily, 6-24-24) 'For nearly 50 years, I was politically aligned with the folks who celebrated their victory in the Supreme Court. But I watched as a movement that should have championed compassion for women and young children instead tightened its ties to those who embraced performative cruelty, including forced family separations at the border. As I wrote two years ago, the Court’s ruling plunged “a fateful (and deeply personal) choice into the cauldron of the culture war at a moment of maximum demagoguery, extremism, disinformation, and bad faith.”
"[T]he anti-abortion movement won the battle. But it may be in the process of losing the war, as well as the struggle for the hearts and minds of an entire generation, which is watching the indifference and cruelty toward women and wondering whether this movement really is “pro-life.”
---The Anti-Abortion-Rights Movement Prepares to Build a Post-Roe World (Emma Green, The Atlantic, 8-2020) "There is an inherent tension in an anti-abortion-rights project designed to rally social services for women, no matter how ostensibly apolitical it may be. Over the past two decades, the anti-abortion-rights movement has aligned itself almost exclusively with the GOP, which generally favors cutting government funding for housing, food stamps, and other programs that support poor women and children."
---States with the toughest abortion laws have the weakest maternal supports, data shows (Rachel Treisman, Shots-Health News, NPR, 8-18-22) Chart with balloons color coded to show each state's Abortion ban status: Ban in effect, Ban pending/on hold/unclear, No current ban. Size of circle represents state's population size. States with abortion bans tend to have…higher rates of uninsurance for women ages 19-64. This page part of a special NPR series: Reproductive rights in America (Roe v. Wade and the future of reproductive rights in America.) Other stories in the series:
---New rules are in the works about abortion bans in Texas. Almost nobody's happy. (Selena Simmons-Duffin and Diane Webber, 5-25-24)
---6 key facts about abortion laws and the 2024 election (Selena Simmons-Duffin, Elissa Nadworny, 5-22-24) Color-coded bubbles show
Abortion banned
Gestational limit between 6 and 12 weeks*
Gestational limit between 15 and 22 weeks*
Abortion legal beyond 22 weeks*
---Despite state bans, abortions nationwide are up, driven by telehealth (Elissa Nadworny, All Things Considered,5-14-24) Telehealth accounts for 19% of all abortions, new research finds. And while the number of abortions did plummet in ban states, overall abortions across the country are up.
---What abortion politics has to do with new rights for pregnant workers (Selena Simmons-Duffin, 4-27-24) Here are four things to know about the latest battle in the war over abortion between Republican-led states and the Biden administration.
1. The law in question is about protections for pregnant workers.
2. Abortion entered the chat and about 100,000 people chimed in on the regulations.
3. The lawsuit + the politics of the lawsuit
4. In the meantime, pregnant workers have new rights. At the moment, until a judge says otherwise, the new protections for pregnant workers are already in effect. The EEOC has a guide for pregnant workers (What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act) about their new rights under the law and how to file charges against their employers. It's also holding trainings for human resource professionals on how to comply with the law.
---What abortion politics has to do with new rights for pregnant workers (Selena Simmons-Duffin, 4-27-24) A new regulation to protect the rights of pregnant workers is the subject of an anti-abortion lawsuit because it includes abortion as a pregnancy "related medical condition." The case involves just one abortion, but it's likely to have wider implications in the state with some of the strictest abortion laws in the country.
---What's at stake as the Supreme Court hears Idaho case about abortion in emergencies (Selena Simmons-Duffin, 4-23-24) The Supreme Court will consider the question: Should doctors treating pregnancy complications follow state or federal law if the laws conflict? Here's how the case could affect women and doctors. Idaho has an abortion ban that only includes an exception to save the pregnant person’s life and argues that EMTALA does not preempt its ban. In states with abortion bans that don’t have an exception for health, a hospital, can’t under state law, provide abortion as a stabilizing treatment for a pregnant patient presenting with conditions that risk severe and lasting harms, such as sepsis, kidney failure, and fertility loss. Idaho contends there is no conflict between state and federal law, since EMTALA requires physicians to do everything possible to preserve the life of both the pregnant person and their fetus.
---Check out this page for links to many more important stories in this important Reproductive Rights in America series.
• Supreme Court allows Idaho abortion ban to be enacted, first such ruling since Dobbs (Nina Totenberg, NPR, 1-5-24)
• ***Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) (Guttmacher Institute) Laws and policies on abortion have been changing rapidly across the United States since the US Supreme Court overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion in late June in Dobbs v. Jackson. Valuable chart showing what's true in various states. Updated regularly but always check for latest update before pubishing data.
• Here’s Why Abortion Rights Activists Are Taking Their Fight to the States (Grace Segers, New Republic, 12-15-23) Favorable terrain—and friendlier courts—have been found far from Washington, D.C.
• Wins at the Ballot Box for Abortion Rights Still Mean Court Battles for Access (Bram Sable-Smith, KFF Health News, 6-6-24) "Before Ohio voters amended their constitution last year to protect abortion rights, the state’s attorney general, an anti-abortion Republican, said that doing so would upend at least 10 state laws limiting abortions.But those laws remain a hurdle and straightforward access to abortions has yet to resume, said Bethany Lewis, executive director of the Preterm abortion clinic in Cleveland. “Legally, what actually happened in practice was not much,” she said.
"Today, most of those laws limiting abortions — including a 24-hour waiting period and a 20-week abortion ban — continue to govern Ohio health providers, despite the constitutional amendment’s passage with nearly 57% of the vote.... The state-by-state patchwork of constitutional amendments, laws, and regulations that determine where and how abortions are available across the country could take years to crystallize as old rules are reconciled with new ones in legislatures and courtrooms."
• ‘I Still Would Have Had That Abortion’ (Christine Henneberg, New York Review of Books, 6-20-24) Well-meaning supporters of abortion tend to tell stories that focus on decisions rather than experiences. This is the rhetorical legacy of a reproductive rights movement that has for too long focused on “choice” rather than “rights.” “I still ideally would have had that abortion.” More than half of Americans who seek abortions already have at least one child at home.
• The Untold Story of the Network That Took Down Roe v. Wade (Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer, NY Times, 5-8-24) A conservative Christian coalition’s plan to end the federal right to abortion began just days after Trump’s 2016 election. From the book The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America "Great reporting by Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer on how conservatives overturned Roe while everyone else slept." – Jane Mayer, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Money
• Anti-Abortion Hard-Liners Speak Up (Julie Rovner, KFF Health News, 5-23-24) Listen to the 39-minute discussion. Panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins schools of public health and nursing and Politico Magazine.
While Republican candidates in many states downplay their opposition to abortion, the most vehement wing of the movement, which helped overturn Roe v. Wade — those who advocate prosecuting patients, outlawing contraception, and banning IVF — are increasingly outspoken. Meanwhile, some state legislatures continue to advance new restrictions, like a proposal moving in Louisiana to include abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol on the list of the most dangerous drugs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins schools of public health and nursing and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News' Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Shefali Luthra of The 19th about her new book on abortion in post-
• Republicans try to soften stance on abortion as 'abolitionists' go farther (Sarah McCammon, All Things Considered, NPR, 5-21-24) As some Republicans try to moderate their messaging on abortion over concerns about voter backlash this November, some activists are trying to go much further. Anti-abortion activists who describe themselves as "abolitionists" protest outside a fertility clinic in North Carolina in April 2024. Using the language of the antislavery movement, abortion abolitionists like Wiersema say they oppose all abortions — no exceptions — and want to criminalize the procedure.
• Republicans Are Downplaying Abortion, but It Keeps Coming Up (Julie Rovner, KFF Health News, 6-28-24) For generations, the GOP campaigned on eliminating the right to an abortion in the United States. Now, torn between a base that wants more restrictions on reproductive health care and a moderate majority that does not, it seems many Republicans would rather take an off-ramp than a victory lap. And yet, they just can’t escape talking about it. The policy high point for abortion opponents — the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to strike down Roe v. Wade — is proving a low point for public support for their cause. More American adults consider themselves “pro-choice” than at any time in the past 30 years, according to a recent survey from Gallup: 54%, compared with 41% who identify as “pro-life.”
• Abortion rights opponents across the country want to charge women with murder (Rose Conlon, Morning Edition, NPR, 7-13-23) A small but growing faction of the anti-abortion movement is calling for patients to be criminally punished. It's gaining traction in states such as Kansas. For mainstream anti-abortion groups that long promised overturning Roe would not lead to abortion patients being jailed, the abolitionists represent a messaging nightmare. Few analysts see abolitionists achieving their goals anytime soon, but they could influence public opinion and make strict abortion bans look moderate in comparison. Abolitionists want women prosecuted for sidestepping state abortion bans by ordering abortion pills online. While the traditional anti-abortion movement sees women as, quote, "second victims of a predatory abortion industry," abolitionists see women who get abortions as murderers who should be held criminally responsible. (I'm pulling together sentences from various people here.)
• Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America, the book by Shefali Luthra. An urgent investigation into the experience of seeking an abortion after the fall of Roe v. Wade, and the life-threatening consequences of being denied reproductive freedom. "
“Luthra calls the end of Roe a ‘public health crisis,’ and it is one… She also effectively uses public health data to highlight disproportionate racial impacts of abortion bans… But it is when discussing abortion as a human right that Luthra makes her most powerful points: about the limitations of Roe, which was ‘never enough to ensure that everyone could easily, safely access legal abortions’; the injustices of legislation like the 1977 Hyde Amendment, under which no federal health insurance dollars can be used to pay for abortions; and the vulnerable and marginalized individuals in this country who have always been left behind, or left out entirely, in conversations about ‘choice...’
"Luthra rightly criticizes a tendency in the national debate ‘to speak about abortion in only the starkest terms...’ In Undue Burden, she resists such simplistic storytelling.”~New York Review of Books
• What Does the End of Roe Mean? Key Questions and Answers. (Claire Cain Miller and Margot Sanger-Katz, The UpShot, NY Times, 6-20-22) Abortion will remain legal in about half of states, but the rest will probably ban it. The number of abortions will probably fall, particularly among poor women in the South and Midwest.
• Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are 'children' under state law (WBUR/NPR and The Associated Press, 2-20-24) The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatment in the state. They had previously been considered property. "By insisting that these very different biological entities are legally equivalent, the best state-of-the-art fertility care will be made unavailable to the people of Alabama. No health care provider will be willing to provide treatments if those treatments may lead to civil or criminal charges," Amato said.
• Despite state bans, abortions nationwide are up, driven by telehealth (Elissa Nadworny, Iowa Public Radio, 5-14-24) The latest report captures for the first time the impact of providers offering telehealth abortions from states with protections for doctors and clinics known as shield laws – statutes that say they can't be prosecuted or held liable for providing abortion care to people from other states. The report includes abortions happening within the U.S. health care system, and does not include self-managed abortions, when people take pills at home without the oversight of a clinician. For that reason, researchers believe these numbers are still an undercount of abortions happening in the U.S.
According to the report, telehealth abortions now make up 19% of all abortions in the U.S. In comparison, the first WeCount report which spanned April 2022 through August 2022 showed telehealth abortions accounted for just 4% of all abortions. Some states' abortion bans are known as "heartbeat bills," because they make abortion illegal after cardiac activity starts, usually around six weeks of pregnancy.
• Medical residents are avoiding abortion-ban states, survey finds (Julie Rovner & Rachana Pradhan, Cascade PBS and KFF Health News, 5-17-24) Not only OB-GYNs, but young doctors in all specialties are opting to live and work where there are fewer restrictions on reproductive health care.
• Mail-order abortion pills — mifepristone and misoprostol — are safe and effective: Study (Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, The Hill, 5-13-24) They run a low risk of causing serious adverse events.
• Nearly two-thirds of Americans want abortion access: Pew poll (Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, The Hill, 5-13-24) The overwhelming majority — 85 percent — of people who identify as Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the survey.
There was “near unanimous support” among survey respondents who identified as liberal Democrats.
Republicans and Republican-leaning survey respondents were far less likely to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, at just over 40 percent.
• Abortion restrictions increase risk of intimate partner homicide, study finds (Nicole Karlis, Salon, 5-8-24) Homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant and postpartum women in the United States. Researchers found that the enforcement of one TRAP law was linked to a 3.4 percent increase in the rate of intimate partner violence-related homicides.
---Homicide leading cause of death for pregnant women in U.S. (T.H. Chan, Harvard School of Public Health, 10-21-22)
---With homicide a leading cause of maternal death, doctors urged to screen pregnant women for domestic violence (Jacqueline Howard, CNN 10-20-22)
• Groups sue to overturn Idaho "abortion trafficking" law targeting teens (Sarah Varney, Salon, 7-15-23) Advocates challenge a law that forbids helping teens obtain abortion pills or leave the state for abortion care
• The Future of Roe v. Wade: 3 Scenarios, Explained (4-minute video, by Adam Liptak, narrator, Robin Stein, Aaron Byrd, Natalie Reneau, Anjali Singhvi and Jonah M. Kessel, 9-6-18) Clear and interesting analysis for three broad approaches to getting rid of the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. Out of date now that Roe overturned, but worth keeping for the scenarios.
(1a) Nuclear options would flip Roe on its head, saying Constitution prohibits abortion in interest of protecting fetal life (abortion=murder).
1b) Do away with right to privacy, which is basis for Roe v. Wade, and would flip the issue back to states. allow states to regulate abortion. (Right to privacy is the foundation for many other rights.) If right to privacy doesn't include the right to abortion, states could limit or do away with right to abortion.
(2) Overrule Roe v. Wade. Right to privacy no longer includes right to abortion. States free to limit or forbid abortion.
(3) Chip away at abortion rights. The Supreme Court had already upheld some limits on abortion. More severe restrictons are a perfectly imaginable scenario. States can reinterpret "undue burdens" and poor women in red states will no doubt have a hard time getting abortions.
• Republicans Scramble to Contain Their Abortion Disaster (The Weekly Sift, 4-15-24) "...Trump is proud of engineering the conservative Supreme Court majority that decided Dobbs, and he doesn’t want to take any public position beyond letting the states (and not women together with their families and doctors) decide when abortion is permissible. He later said he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban if Congress presented him with one....That let-the-states-decide position looked clever for about a day. But then a state decided: Tuesday, Arizona’s Supreme Court reinstated an 1864 law banning all abortions that aren’t necessary to save a woman’s life....Then Trump had to scramble: He said Arizona went too far, and predicted the situation would be “straightened out”....As of this moment, neither Kari Lake nor Trump (nor any other Republican who either has real power or is running to get it) has made an actual proposal to fix Arizona’s draconian abortion law."
• In Idaho, Taking a Minor Out of State for an Abortion Is Now a Crime: ‘Abortion Trafficking’ (Sarah Varney, KFF Health News, 5-8-23) Under the nation’s first law of its kind, teens must have parental consent to travel for medical care, including in cases of sexual assault or rape. Any adult, including an aunt, grandparent, or sibling, convicted of violating the criminal statute faces up to five years in prison — and could be sued for financial damages.
• State Court Abortion Litigation Tracker (Brennan Center for Justice) Numerous challenges to abortion bans have been filed in state courts since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
• The First Six Weeks of Pregnancy, Explained (Alisha Haridasani Gupta, NY Times, 4-30-24)
Florida has banned most abortions after six weeks. Experts explain how that can often be before a woman knows she is pregnant. And several factors — including stress, perimenopause and certain health conditions — can make the menstrual cycle so unpredictable that it could take longer than six weeks for someone to realize they might be pregnant.
• The Absurd Case About Whether Doctors Can Let You Bleed Out in the ER Is Reaching SCOTUS (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, 4-22-24) The latest abortion struggle is between a federal law meant to keep patients safe and a state effort to outlaw abortion in all but the rarest circumstances.
• Reagan-era emergency health care law is the next abortion flashpoint at the Supreme Court (Tierney Sneed, CNN, 4-24-24) The Biden administration is challenging Idaho’s enforcement of its abortion ban in medical emergencies, putting a spotlight on what has been one of the most politically explosive flashpoints in the aftermath of Roe’s demise.
"The Justice Department maintains that federal law requires hospitals to offer abortions if necessary to stabilize the health of emergency room patients, even in states like Idaho that ban that procedure. At the time the lawsuit was filed, Attorney General Merrick Garland characterized the case as part of the department’s promise to “work tirelessly to protect and advance reproductive freedom” in the wake of Roe’s reversal.
"The lawsuit has proceeded somewhat under the radar and has been overshadowed by the other blockbuster abortion case at the Supreme Court this year, concerning the federal regulations for abortion pills. Yet, the Idaho case could yield the most significant ruling from the court on abortion since the 2022 Roe reversal and one that could further elevate an issue Democrats want front and center in the 2024 election this November.
"Idaho argues that the Biden administration is trying to retrofit the federal law known as EMTALA – or the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act – to “create a nationwide abortion mandate in hospital emergency rooms.”
"Idaho’s abortion law has a narrow exemption for abortions provided to save a pregnant woman’s life. However, the Justice Department argues that federal law overrides state abortion bans that prohibit emergency room doctors from offering the procedure to women whose pregnancies are causing medical emergencies that are not yet life-threatening."
• One Woman’s Abortion (Mrs. X, The Atlantic, Aug 1965) In 1965, eight years before Roe v. Wade, an anonymous woman described the steps she took to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
• Some Republicans Were Willing to Compromise on Abortion Ban Exceptions. Activists Made Sure They Didn’t. (Kavitha Surana, ProPublica, 11-27-23) ProPublica reviewed 12 of the nation’s strictest abortion bans. Few changed in 2023, as state lawmakers caved to pressure from anti-abortion groups opposing exceptions for rape, incest and health risks.
• Alabama I.V.F. Ruling Opens New Front in Election-Year Abortion Battles (Lisa Lerer, Elizabeth Dias and Annie Karni, NY Times, 2-23-24) Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina has been among the Republicans trying to distance themselves from an Alabama Supreme Court ruling declaring frozen embryos should be considered children. The decision was relatively narrow, applying to a specific case in which three couples sued a clinic for inadvertently dropping and destroying their embryos.But anti-abortion activists, who for years have pushed for a fertilized egg to be considered a human person, saw the decision as progress toward accepting fetal personhood and even granting an embryo equality rights under the 14th Amendment. “Alabama needs to go back and look at the law,” Nikki Haley said in an interview with CNN, casting the case as an issue of parental rights, not the question of when life begins. “We don’t want fertility treatments to shut down.” Haley frequently calls for Republicans to “find consensus” on abortion as she campaigns for president.
• How Abortion Became ‘the Defund the Police of the GOP’ (Olivia Reingold, The Free Press, 3-12-24) Republican leaders thought they’d be rewarded for overturning Roe. Instead, conservative voters tell Olivia Reingold, it could lead to a backlash come Election Day. Kelley Stafford, who conceived her son through IVF in 2021 after eight years of trying, says she figured the Supreme Court was simply giving “test tube babies,” which account for three percent of all U.S. births annually, their due respect. Later, when she read more about the ruling, she learned that her eight embryos, which are still in a freezer at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, would no longer be treated as her property. Instead, the state now considered them living children. And disposing of them could, in theory, lead to criminal charges.
• How one reporter tracked the money trail behind efforts to limit medical abortion (Margarita Martín-Hidalgo Birnbaum, How I Did It, Health Equity, 2-7-24) Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, conservative political activists have been targeting access to medication-induced abortions. Amanda Becker, the Washington correspondent for The 19th, “an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy” is among the journalists who have written about those efforts. "In her reporting, Becker learned that conservative legal activist Leonard A. Leo is a key figure in efforts to ban the use of mifepristone to terminate pregnancy. Critically, documents she reviewed show that Leo is linked to a variety of entities that don’t have to disclose much information about the source of their funding."
---Dark money is flowing to groups trying to limit medication abortion. Leonard Leo is again at the center. (Amanda Becker, 19th News, 1-4- 24) Tax filings shed light on the conservative activist's role in the network of groups challenging FDA regulation of mifepristone in a case set to go before the Supreme Court....conservative legal activist Leonard Leo, who has played a well-known role shaping the current judiciary via the Federalist Society and advising former President Donald Trump on Supreme Court picks. Less examined is the vast web of entities linked to Leo that work to promote his conservative Christian worldview by weakening the Voting Rights Act, promoting publicly funded religious schools — and restricting access to medication abortion.
---Group Tied to Influential Conservative Activist Spent $183 Million in a Year (Rebecca Davis O’Brien, NY Times, 5-12-23) Activist Leonard Leo has been instrumental in pushing the federal judiciary to the right. A new tax filing offers a glimpse of the deep pool of money flowing into conservative causes.
• State Abortion Bans Will Harm Women and Families’ Economic Security Across the U.S. (Lauren Hoffman, Osub Ahmed, and Isabela Salas-Betsch, American Progress, 8-25-22) State abortion bans will negatively affect women and families’ economic security as well as state and local economies. States with at least one abortion ban on the books are already difficult places for women and families to thrive
• Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows (Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward, Politico, 5-2-22) “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Alito writes in an initial majority draft circulated inside the court. It's a draft, not the final opinion.
---Alito's Admission (Robert Reich's blog, 6-10-24) "Alito wrote the opinion for the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, issued June 24, 2022, which overruled the court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that established a woman’s right to an abortion.
"Alito’s opinion began by noting that “Abortion presents a profound moral issue on which Americans hold sharply conflicting views,” and then went on to hold that “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. That provision has been held to guarantee some rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, but … the right to abortion does not fall within this category.”
"Alito spent the next 75 pages (including 69 footnotes) seeking to justify his decision. But not once did he admit that his personal religious convictions influenced him."
• ProPublica series on abortion in post-Roe America
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending nearly 50 years of federal protection for abortion, some states began enforcing strict abortion bans while others became new havens for the procedure. ProPublica is investigating how sweeping changes to reproductive health care access in America are affecting people, institutions and governments.
• Doctors Warned Her Pregnancy Could Kill Her. Then Tennessee Outlawed Abortion. (Kavitha Surana, photography by Stacy Kranitz, special to ProPublica, 3-14-23) A Tennessee mother wanted to end her high-risk pregnancy, but doctors feared prosecution.
• An ectopic pregnancy put her life at risk. A Texas hospital refused to treat her. (Caroline Kitchener, WashPost, 2-23-24) The law that has prohibited abortions in Texas since Roe v. Wade was overturned now explicitly allows doctors to treat ectopic pregnancies. But the 25-year-old woman and her mother blame the state’s abortion ban for a delay in care that doctors say put her “in extreme danger of losing her life.” Stories like this underscore the messy collision between abortion laws and medical diagnoses — and the struggles of doctors and hospitals to navigate what many say are inadequate legal protections to treat women with life-threatening conditions.
• The Year After a Denied Abortion (Stacy Kranitz, special to ProPublica, and Kavitha Surana, 2-15-24) Tennessee law prohibits women from having abortions in nearly all circumstances. But once the babies are here, the state provides little help. "We followed one family as they struggled to make it. When she got pregnant, Mayron Michelle Hollis was clinging to stability. At 31, she was three years sober, after first getting introduced to drugs at 12. She had just had a baby three months earlier and was working to repair the damage that her addiction had caused her family. The state of Tennessee had taken away three of her children, and she was fighting to keep her infant daughter, Zooey.
• Voters in at Least 10 States Are Trying to Protect Abortion Rights. GOP Officials Are Throwing Up Roadblocks. ( Cassandra Jaramillo, ProPublica, 10-24-23) Republican officials are undermining citizen-led ballot initiatives that seek to protect the procedure. Ohio is the latest state to get protections on the November ballot.
• Hospitals in Two States Denied an Abortion to a Miscarrying Patient. Investigators Say They Broke Federal Law. (Kavitha Surana, ProPublica, 5-19-23) Doctors told her she might die but she couldn’t have an abortion under state law until she got sicker, documents show. The Biden administration says failing to act violates a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care.
• Her Ex-Husband Is Suing a Clinic Over the Abortion She Had Four Years Ago (Nicole Santa Cruz, 7-15-22) Experts say the Arizona lawsuit shows how civil suits could be used to intimidate providers and punish people who’ve had abortions.
• Tennessee Lobbyists Oppose New Lifesaving Exceptions in Abortion Ban (Kavitha Surana, ProPublica,2-24-23) With an amendment to Tennessee’s abortion ban on the table, a powerful anti-abortion group pushes Republican lawmakers to take the narrowest interpretation on when a doctor can legally intervene in high-risk cases.
• Idaho Banned Abortion. Then It Turned Down Supports for Pregnancies and Births. (Audrey Dutton, ProPublica, 10-3-23) Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, the state’s GOP-led Legislature has disbanded a maternal mortality committee, failed to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage and turned down federal grants for child care.
• Post-Roe America: Abortion Access Divides the Nation After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending nearly 50 years of federal protection for abortion, some states began enforcing strict abortion bans while some became new havens for the procedure. ProPublica is investigating how sweeping changes to reproductive health care access in America are affecting people, institutions and governments.
• Doctors Emerge as Political Force in Battle Over Abortion Laws in Ohio and Elsewhere (Cassandra Jaramillo, ProPublica, 7-31-23) Ohio is among at least five states where physicians have mobilized to protect reproductive rights. Here’s what doctors in the state are doing to protect abortion.
• Maternal Deaths Are Expected to Rise Under Abortion Bans, but the Increase May Be Hard to Measure (Kavitha Surana, ProPubica, 7-27-23) It’s clear that abortion bans can make pregnancy more dangerous, but experts say it may take years for maternal mortality data to reveal the toll.
• Hospitals in Two States Denied an Abortion to a Miscarrying Patient. Investigators Say They Broke Federal Law. (Kavitha Surana, ProPublica, 5-19-23) Doctors told her she might die but she couldn’t have an abortion under state law until she got sicker, documents show. The Biden administration says failing to act violates a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care.
• How South Carolina Ended Up With an All-Male Supreme Court (Jennifer Berry Hawes, ProPublica, 4-28-23) An abortion ban struck down. The lone female justice retiring. And a majority-male legislature rallying behind the one male candidate to replace her. This is how South Carolina ended up with an all-male Supreme Court as new abortion legislation looms. ProPublica series on abortion in post-Roe America
• How Abortion Bans Are Impacting Pregnant Patients Across the Country (Ziva Branstetter, ProPublica,3-29-23) Leading legal scholar Mary Ziegler and Tennessee OB-GYN Dr. Nikki Zite talk to ProPublica about ominous trends and threats to patients’ lives posed by increasingly strict abortion bans.
• Websites Selling Abortion Pills Are Sharing Sensitive Data With Google (Jennifer Gollan, ProPublica, 1-18-23) Some sites selling abortion pills use technology that shares information with third parties like Google. Law enforcement can potentially use this data to prosecute people who end their pregnancies with medication. ProPublica series on abortion in post-Roe America Here is where you can access the rest of this huge series.
• When the Media Muzzles Its Reporters (Marisa Kabas, Dame Magazine, 5-18-22) What are we supposed to make of newsrooms instructing their employees not to comment on current events like abortion and domestic terrorism? Abortion is an all-encompassing, deeply personal and emotional human rights issue, and to expect members of the media to sublimate their feelings about it is unrealistic at best, and cruel at worst. It also puts into sharp relief the fact that most newsrooms have been and continue to be run by one type of person: privileged white men disconnected from activism on the ground.
• A Lab Test That Experts Liken to a Witch Trial Is Helping Send Women to Prison for Murder (Andrea Bernstein, Andy Kroll, Ilya Marritz, ProPublica, 10-7-23) The “lung float” test claims to help determine if a baby was born alive or dead, but many medical examiners say it’s too unreliable. Yet the test is still being used to bring murder charges — and get convictions.
• Dark Money-Fueled WI Supreme Court Candidate’s Anti-Abortion Views Span Decades (Evan Vorpahl,Truthout, 3-26-23) The billionaire-backed State Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly once wrote that “God’s law” applies in court. The state’s highest court has been dominated by right-wing partisans issuing decisions siding with the GOP.
• Reporting on abortion, a round table discussion, Association of Health Care Journalists, 4-30-22) Suggested topics to address:
1. Carrying a baby to term is riskier than having an abortion.
2. Teens are more likely than women in their 20s and 30s to develop pregnancy-related high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia. Some of the states with the toughest abortion restrictions in the country also have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the U.S.
3. The U.S. maternal mortality rate increased between 2018 and 2020, the most recent year for which there is data. Banning abortion in the U.S. may lead to a significant increase in maternal mortality, especially for non-Hispanic Black women.
4. The restrictions may bring legal ramifications for women who have spontaneous abortions and who perform self-managed abortions in the privacy of their homes.
• The Soundtrack of the Abortion Rights Movement, Then and Now (Courtney E. Smith, Pitchfork, 11-7-22) Across more than 50 years, the music of artists including Dolly Parton, Alanis Morissette, and Megan Thee Stallion has been used communicate the anger and grief around the fight for reproductive rights.
• ‘Conscience’ Bills Let Medical Providers Opt Out of Providing a Wide Range of Care(Carly Graf, KFF Health News, 8-3-23) A new Montana law will provide sweeping legal protections to health care practitioners who refuse to prescribe marijuana or participate in procedures and treatments such as abortion, medically assisted death, gender-affirming care, or others that run afoul of their ethical, moral, or religious beliefs or principles. “I tend to call them ‘medical refusal bills,’” said Liz Reiner Platt, the director of Columbia Law School’s Law, Rights, and Religion Project.
“Patients are being denied the standard of care, being denied adequate medical care, because objections to certain routine medical practices are being prioritized over patient health.”
A March 2020 article in the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics said, “Clinicians who object to providing care on the basis of ‘conscience’ have never been more robustly protected than today.” Legal remedies for patients who receive inadequate care as a result have shrunk significantly, the article said.
"But the wave of medical conscience bills introduced in statehouses since that article was published go beyond abortion to include contraception, sterilization, gender-affirming care, and other services. Opponents such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Human Rights Campaign have been vocal opponents of this trend, criticizing it as a backdoor way to restrict the rights of women, LGBTQ+ community members, and other individuals."
• Newsrooms must reframe abortion coverage and the worn-out debate around the rules of objectivity (Kelly McBride, Poynter, 5-5-22) Coverage often fails to capture the complexity of American viewpoints on abortion, and newsroom rules about speech stifle conversation. American newsrooms face two problems when it comes to abortion. The coverage itself often fails to capture the complexity and ambiguity that most Americans express on abortion. On top of that, the internal rules about avoiding political speech tend to stifle this conversation within newsrooms, leaving journalists poorly prepared for capturing the nuances of the issue.
• The Abortion Absolutist (Elaine Godfrey, Politics, The Atlantic, 5-12-23) Warren Hern has been performing late abortions for half a century. After Roe, he is as busy with patients as ever. “He takes the woman’s-choice argument to its logical conclusion, in much the same way that, at this moment, anti-abortion activists are pressing their case to its extreme.”
• Supreme Court grants full stay in mifepristone case: What it means for access across the country (Katie Kindelan, Q&A, GMA, 4-22-23) More than 101 scientific studies affirm the effectiveness of the abortion pills used in the U.S. for twenty years, yet one flagrantly anti-choice federal judge ruled they’re unsafe. When another federal judge ruled otherwise, The Supremes granted a stay.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas ruled in favor of Alliance Defending Freedom -- a conservative Christian legal advocacy group -- which had asked the court to reverse the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone, an oral medication typically taken with misoprostol to end a pregnancy.
The group's lawsuit claimed mifepristone is unsafe and that the FDA didn't study it closely enough before approving its use. The FDA and mainstream medical doctors insist this isn't true, and that there have been no safety concerns during the 23 years the drug has been on the market. More than 101 scientific studies affirm the effectiveness of the abortion pills used in the U.S. for twenty years, yet one flagrantly anti-choice federal judge ruled they’re unsafe. When another federal judge ruled otherwise, The Supremes granted a stay.
Q&A about legal challenges to abortion:
1. Is mifepristone still available in the US?
2. What was the appeals court's decision?
3. Would abortion medication still be available by mail?
4. If I live in a state where abortion is legal, do the abortion pill rulings impact me?
5. What is mifepristone and what role does it play in medication abortion?
6. Is medication abortion possible without mifepristone?
• Abortion Ruling Could Undermine the F.D.A.’s Drug-Approval Authority (Christina Jewett and Pam Belluck, NY Times, 4-10-23) Legal scholars say the ruling by a Texas judge, if upheld, could spur disputes over many medications and upend the drug industry’s reliance on the agency.
• A year since Dobbs, these are the many ways states are protecting abortion(Nicole Nixon, Scott Maucione, Rick Pluta, Bente Birkeland, Mawa Iqbal, Dirk VanderHart, Dana Ferguson, Molly Ingram, NPR National, 6-23-23) In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, 14 states have banned most abortions, but even more have moved to protect abortion rights in various ways.
Eleven states have passed so-called "shield laws," which can safeguard providers and patients against prosecution from other states. At least 15 municipalities and six state governments allocated nearly $208 million to pay for contraception, abortion and support services according to data provided to NPR by the National Institute for Reproductive Health. Some states have opened new clinics and have become destinations for people seeking an abortion as new research shows just how difficult it has become to get in-person care.
California embraces role as 'sanctuary' state, for people who live in places with new restrictions. "Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed new laws to strengthen civil and privacy rights for those who get an abortion and require insurance companies to cover the procedure, along with certain over-the-counter contraceptives....The state also launched a website (California Abortion Access) where people – whether they live in California or not – can find providers, connect with abortion funds for financial aid, and learn about their rights for receiving reproductive care in the state.
Maryland's state legislature appropriated $3.5 million to train health care professionals in reproductive health, to expand the number of people to provide abortion services in the state. The Moore administration stockpiled two-and-a-half years' worth of Mifepristone, a drug generally used in combination with another drug to induce abortions, after recent federal cases put the future of the drug's use in jeopardy.
Michigan Democrats, newly in control, repealed a 1931 law. Gov. Whitmer signed a bill that would, among other things, protect women who have had abortions from employment discrimination (over the objections of the Catholic Church and some other faith organizations that oppose abortion rights). Colorado's governor, Democrat Jared Polis, issued an executive order in July of 2022 giving legal protection to people who come to Colorado for abortions, or to anyone who helps another person cross state lines to obtain the procedure. Illinois has welcomed an influx of out-of-state patients seeking abortions, becoming what advocates call a "Midwestern safe haven" for reproductive health care.
Oregon, Minnesota, and Connecticut have also fought to protect the rights of citizens seeking or providing abortions. In 2022, "Connecticut passed the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act. The law protects healthcare providers and patients from so-called "bounty hunter" lawsuits that seek to prosecute them for traveling out of state for an abortion." Do read the article.
• Dobbs Was a Gift to Domestic Abusers (Melissa Gira Grant, TNR, 5-9-24) Homicide is a leading cause of death in the perinatal period. But just as troublingly, abusers can use abortion bans to prevent partners from leaving or retaliate against them if they do. it’s ...clear that the end of Roe didn’t end abortion; rather, it has turned the decisions we make about our intimate relationships, sex, and pregnancy into opportunities for policing and punishment. Anti-abortion activists and lawmakers claimed Dobbs wouldn’t “punish the mother” for having an abortion. But even where laws don’t expressly criminalize someone for their own abortion, that abortion is considered a crime in many states can still be used against them. Abusers have noticed and taken advantage.
• Will We Lose the Right to Abortion (Katha Pollits, The Nation, 5-15-23) Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's crusade to ban mifepristone is just the beginning of the next fight for reproductive rights. The Nation’s indomitable Katha Pollitt surveys our bleak future if the pill is outlawed and urges us to fund poor women’s access to abortion.
• They tried and failed to get an abortion. Texas family grapples with what it'll mean (Katia Riddle, NPR, 6-22-23) At Tere Haring's crisis pregnancy center in Texas, clients' needs have gone up in the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Haring hands out things like formula, food, baby clothes and cash. Someone needs a high chair? She finds one. Coming up short on rent or an electric bill? She writes a check. Much of Texas is least 300 miles away from the closest abortion provider — and the state has felt acutely the impact of the Supreme Court's decision last June to end the right to an abortion. Anna and Tony knew they could not deal with a seventh child. Their story.
• AAMC Warns of Possible Physician Shortage in States That Ban Abortion (Cheryl Clark, MedPage Today, 4-14-23) Fewer medical students, especially those interested in obstetrics and gynecology, are choosing to do their residency training in states that ban abortion.
• Policies to Roll Back Abortion Rights Will Hit Incarcerated People Particularly Hard (Carly Graf. KFF Health News, 8-22-22) After the Supreme Court removed Roe v. Wade’s constitutional protections for abortions, many reproductive services stand to be prohibited altogether, putting the health of incarcerated women who are pregnant at risk.
That threat is particularly urgent in states where lawmakers have made clear their intentions to roll back abortion rights.
“Previously there was at least some sliver of legal recourse there for an incarcerated person, but that no longer exists for people who live in states where abortion is or will be severely restricted or illegal,” said Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, an OB-GYN, a professor, and the director of the Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness of Incarcerated People program at Johns Hopkins University.
The Prison Policy Project, a nonprofit research organization, estimates about 58,000 people a year are pregnant when they enter prisons or jails, or about 4% of the total number of women in state and federal prisons and 3% of those in local jails.
• Abortion Is Shaking Up Attorneys General Races and Exposing Limits to Their Powers (Lauren Weber and Sam Whitehead, KFF Health News, 8-19-22) Democrat Kimberly Graham, an Iowa county attorney candidate, has declared that she would not prosecute doctors or people for abortion care. She noted that the Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has highlighted how little people realize the “scary amount of discretion and power” prosecutors have.
“The only real accountability to that is called the ballot box,” she said. “Hopefully, among other things, people will start paying more attention to the county attorney and DA races and realizing how incredibly important these positions have always been.”
• Ruling echoes anti-abortion rhetoric (Tina Reed, Axios, 4-10-23) A federal judge's 67-page decision to roll back FDA approval of mifepristone repeatedly borrowed terms from antiabortion advocates, such as "chemical abortion," rather than the generally accepted terms used by the medical community. Ruling echoes anti-abortion rhetoric. In a 2022 letter to the FDA, ACOG and the American Medical Association both cited multiple studies demonstrating the safety of medication abortion.
• Here's what really happened during the abortion drug's approval 23 years ago (Sydney Lupkin, Shots, NPR, 4-14-23) The FDA went through three rounds of reviews over four years, each time issuing an "approvable" letter, meaning the safety and efficacy data was solid. But the agency asked for details about manufacturing and the instructions for the drug mifepristone before ultimately approving it in September 2000. "The agency's medical review mentions dozens of studies done mostly in France, including one that had 16,000 participants. The approval relied on two pivotal French studies and one U.S. study with similar safety and efficacy findings."
• Abortion Is Back at Supreme Court’s Door After Dueling Orders on Pill (Pam Belluck and Adam Liptak, NY Times, 4-13-23) The justices are poised to consider whether the most common method of ending pregnancies can be sharply curtailed in states where abortion remains legal.
• Reporter that investigated judge who issued abortion ruling reveals what she found (CNN video, Inside Politics, 4-9-23) Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Trump, issued a ruling that could restrict the usage of the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone. Washington Post reporter Caroline Kitchener discusses her reporting on Kacsmaryk and why he's so passionate about the issue of abortion.
• Federal judge suspends FDA approval of abortion pill (Eric Boodman, STAT News, 4-7-23) In a case that could reshape pregnancy in America, a federal judge on Friday sided with anti-abortion groups seeking a nationwide ban on abortion pills, ruling that the Food and Drug Administration acted improperly in approving mifepristone in 2000. The ruling will go into effect in seven days if a stay is not granted by an appeals court or by the Supreme Court. In issuing his decision, federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk said that he did not “second-guess FDA’s decision-making lightly,” but said that the FDA “acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns” due to political pressure at the time.
• Wyoming Becomes First State to Outlaw Abortion Pills (David W. Chen and Pam Belluck, NY Times, 3-17-23) Medication abortion providers could serve six months in prison under the law, one of a growing number of efforts by conservative states to target the pills.
• Lawyers Spar Before Judge Over Rescinding of Federal Approval of Abortion Pill Pam Belluck and Allison McCann, NY Times, 3-15-23) The judge said he would decide soon whether to issue a preliminary injunction ordering the F.D.A. to withdraw its approval of the drug or wait for the full trial.
• Walgreens Says It Won’t Offer the Abortion Pill Mifepristone in 21 States (Pam Belluck, NY Times, 3-3-23) Weeks after Republican attorneys general in 21 states threatened legal action against retail pharmacy chains if they dispensed the abortion pill mifepristone, Walgreens said it would not distribute the pill in those states. The chain’s decision triggered extensive blowback.
• As Alex Cooper Reigns at Spotify, the Podcast Host Gets More Comfortable Being Political (J. Clara Chan, Hollywood Reporter, 10-5-22) With an episode focusing on abortion, the 'Call Her Daddy' star says she thinks her audience is ready to go on a deeper journey with her. Cooper flew to Charlotte to document the experiences of women traveling to the city from other states where abortion has been outlawed. The goal of the documentary, she says, is to make abundantly clear the real-world impact of anti-abortion legislation and how its ripple effects are poised to affect every person in the U.S., regardless of whether their state allows abortions.
Watch the video: An Abortion Story (video, Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy, Spotify, Oct. 2022, 30 min.)
• Democratic governors form alliance on abortion rights (Bill Barrow and Geoff Mulvihill, AP News, 2-21-23) Organizers (led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom) described the Reproductive Freedom Alliance as a way for governors and their staffs to share best practices and affirm abortion rights for the approximately 170 million Americans who live in the consortium’s footprint — and even ensuring services for the remainder of U.S. residents who live in states with more restrictive laws. While the group calls itself nonpartisan, so far only Democratic governors have joined.
• Despite Abortion Restrictions, Ob/Gyn Remains Competitive Residency (Rachael Robertson, MedPage Today, 3-25-23) Every slot filled in this year's Match, despite the tumultuous landscape for reproductive healthcare following last year's Supreme Court decision that resulted in a patchwork of abortion access, but some states more desirable. Nationally residents can opt out of performing surgical and medical abortions for religious or moral reasons, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, but they still must train in abortion aftercare.
• Hospital obstetrics on chopping block as facilities pare costs (Arielle Dreher, Axios, 1-17-23) Hospitals trying to shed unprofitable business lines are increasingly scaling back or halting maternity services, adding new stresses to the reproductive care landscape. Obstetric unit closures predate the pandemic but are drawing more concern with pregnancy-related deaths on the rise and an increased need for obstetrics care as more states restrict abortion. Hospital administrators say the closures are driven by low Medicaid reimbursement rates, staffing shortages and, in some cases, declining birth rates in areas the hospitals serve. Medicaid pays for about 40% of U.S. births. Providers and advocacy groups have sounded alarms about "maternal care deserts" in states with strict abortion restrictions, a problem that's manifested itself in longer drive times to facilities that still have OB-GYN services, less access to pre- and post-natal care and poorer birth outcomes in many regions.
• Medication Abortion in the Courts: What’s at Stake? (KFF) Access to medication abortion has emerged as a central issue following the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. There is ongoing litigation in four federal cases about the FDA’s approval and regulation of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in medication abortion. Mifepristone, approved by the FDA in 2000, has a long record of safety and effectiveness and has been used by more than 5 million people in the United States.
In the most watched case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the court could rule to invalidate the FDAs 23-year-old approval of mifepristone or potentially limit the distribution of this drug for abortion, even in states where abortion remains legal. The ruling could also limit the availability of misoprostol, the other drug used in the medication abortion regimen. While these cases focus on abortion, the outcome of the litigation could have broader impact on the FDA’s future authority to regulate a wide range of other drugs.
In advance of the decision, key KFF resources explain the medication abortion landscape related to what’s at stake and how women could be affected.
• For Churches, Abortion Politics Is a Double-Edged Sword (Amanda Taub, The Interpreter, NY Times, 9-21-22) On abortion, "the most prominent issue of Catholic morality in politics, Ireland and Poland went in entirely opposite directions. Why? The experiences of both countries may, in different ways, carry a warning for the religious groups that have formed close alliances with the Republican Party in the United States.A series of scandals involving the abuse and deaths of women and children at the hands of the church, including in state-funded child care facilities and schools, had shattered the church’s public legitimacy and provoked a national reckoning about its role in the Irish state.
"While the church did not suffer the same kind of reputational collapse in Poland that it did in Ireland, it did have to contend with the expectations of Polish society, particularly Polish women. They had widespread access to abortion during Communism, and, many were angered by a compromise that saw the country outlaw abortion as the price of the church’s backing for its transition to democracy.
In the U.S, "following the Civil Rights Act and the rise of the women’s movement, the Republican Party leaned into the issue as a way to shore up support among white, Southern voters. Abortion became seen as an overwhelmingly Republican issue."
"But, as in Poland, abortion restrictions are unpopular with much of the broader public despite their appeal to the Republican base. And now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion restrictions appear to be becoming a liability for the party, as evidenced by the recent vote in Kansas, where voters resoundingly rejected a constitutional amendment that would have banned abortion there."
• Anti-Abortion Activists Rally in DC in a Watershed Moment for Their Movement (Sarah Varney, KHN and PBS NewsHour, 1-23-23) Thousands of anti-abortion activists descended on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20 for the annual March for Life, a long-standing rally held for the first time since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, rescinding a constitutional right to abortion. In this report co-produced by PBS NewsHour, KHN senior correspondent Sarah Varney spoke with March for Life activists gathered in Washington about what this moment means for them and the future of the broader anti-abortion movement. March for Life activists set sights on further restrictions after Roe v. Wade overturned. This year’s gathering signals a turning point for a movement that has had a singular focus for decades. This year, they were there to celebrate its demise, but some are split over what comes next. With Roe now defeated, that focus is fracturing into competing priorities as the practical implications of criminalizing abortion crystallize.
• Women’s March Holds Nationwide Rallies on 50th Anniversary of Roe (Jenna Russell and Ava Sasanim NY Times, 1-22-23) In the latest iteration of the annual march, activists in dozens of cities nationwide rallied in support of abortion rights on Jan. 22 — the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling.With signs declaring “Abortion Is Health Care” and chants about fighting back, activists in dozens of cities nationwide rallied in support of abortion rights on Sunday, the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that was overturned by the Supreme Court, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion. The events, which were expected to draw thousands of people from Honolulu to Hartford, make up the latest iteration of the Women’s March, the protest series that began in 2017 in the wake of the election of President Donald J. Trump. They closely followed the March for Life in Washington, the annual anti-abortion demonstration that was transformed on Friday into a victory rally celebrating the rollback of Roe.
The marches, seen as a way to engage newer activists and energize their ranks for a long fight ahead, also drew veterans like Diana Wiener, 82, who showed up at the New York City event with the handmade sign she has carried to protests for five years. The sign reads “Never Again.” Other protestors chanted "We will not go back" and "Abortion is a human right."
• The Plan to Keep Abortion Rights Atop Voters Minds for the Next Two Years (Grace Segers, New Republic, 1-13-23) Six months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the decision is still seen as an electoral game-changer. “This will remain an issue as Republicans continue to try and chip away at what rights we have,” said Christina Reynolds, the vice president of communications at Emily’s List, an organization that helps Democratic women supportive of abortion rights get elected.
“When abortion is on the ballot, reproductive freedom wins,” argued Jenny Lawson, the vice president of organizing and engagement campaigns at Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “There is no doubt that voters care about abortion rights and that abortions will continue to be a driving issue on the campaign trail and beyond,” Lawson said. (It’s also worth noting that most Americans’ views of abortion are not black and white—the majority of Americans approve of some restrictions on abortion, according to Gallup.)
• Abortion Opponents Take Political Risks by Dropping Exceptions for Rape, Incest, and the Mother’s Life (Julie Rovner, KHN, 6-1-22) If it seems as though the anti-abortion movement has gotten more extreme in recent months, that’s because it has. But it’s not the first time — positions taken by both sides of the abortion debate have ebbed and flowed repeatedly in the 49 years since the Supreme Court declared abortion a constitutional right.
• Indigenous Women in Canada Are Still Being Sterilized Without Their Consent (Ankita Rao, Vice, 9-9-19) In the 20th century, the U.S. and Canada carried out a quiet genocide against Indigenous women through coerced sterilization. In 2019, it’s still happening. See also Web of Incentives in Fatal Indian Sterilizations (Ellen Barry and Suhasini Raj, NY Times, 11-13-14) and Ankita Rao Reckons with the Toll of Forced Sterilization on Vulnerable Women (Emily Laber-Warren, The Open Notebook, 11-19-19) About the process of finding and pursuing the story.
• Exit Polls on Abortion (NBC, 2022) "indicate that abortion was the top issue for 27 percent of voters (only inflation was more important), and 76 percent of voters who listed abortion as the top issue voted Democratic....Surging Republican concern over inflation and crime met surging Democratic concern over elections and abortion, and Democratic concerns often prevailed." (H/T David French's Atlantic newsletter story) As I understand it, these poll results show more Democrats than Republicans viewed the issue as important; more women than men. But see also French's Kansas Demonstrates the Difference Between Polls and Votes "The activist pro-life position is a minority position, but it’s still bigger than the activist pro-choice position, and that has granted the pro-life position an electoral advantage."
• Perspective: Lesson from a pre-Roe vs. Wade experience: Men cannot be silent on abortion rights (Norman Pearlstine, LA Times, 6-16-19) The recent spate of antiabortion legislation in Alabama and other states resuscitated long-dormant and traumatic memories that I had suppressed since adolescence. I think it important to remind myself and to tell others what life was like before Roe vs. Wade. Should Roe vs. Wade be overturned, there will be a spike in illegal abortions resulting in increased injuries and death.
• She Wasn’t Ready for Children. A Judge Wouldn’t Let Her Have an Abortion. (Lizzie Presser, NY Times, 11-29-22) As abortion access dwindles, America’s “parental involvement” laws weigh heavily on teenagers — who may need a court’s permission to end their pregnancies. At the moment, 14 states are poised to protect the right to abortion and do not have, or do not enforce, parental-involvement laws (Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington).
• The Abortion Stories We Didn’t Tell: How decades of silence left us unprepared for the post-Roe fight. (Rebecca Traister, The Cut, 6-30-22) Traister, a writer-at-large for New York magazine and The Cut and the author of Good and Mad, a book about the history and political power of women’s anger, sits down with Kyle Pope, editor and publisher of CJR. They discuss why the press seemed only willing to cover “medically chilling” abortion stories, and how to protect sources as abortion’s legal loopholes disappear.
• With Roe likely in its final days, experts say reporters should sharpen focus on abortion as a health issue (Margarita Martín-Hidalgo Birnbaum, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-3-22) Pregnancy is a medical condition and abortion is an intervention for it, so journalists writing about the topic should take the same approach they would when writing about cancer, diabetes, and other conditions and treatments: focus on mortality risks, patients’ rights to care and bodily autonomy.
• Abortion: scales tip on this divisive, embattled, politicized issue. (Comfortdying.com site) Links to many articles about abortion, for those considering abortion.
• Minnesota Set to Become “Abortion Access Island” in the Midwest, but for Whom? (Jessica Lussenhop, ProPublica, 8-25-22) Out-of-staters have long traveled to Minnesota for abortions, but as neighboring states restrict access to the procedure, data suggests patients of color may not make the trip. See more investigative health stories from ProPublica.
• States With Abortion Bans Are Among Least Supportive for Mothers and Children (Emily Badger, Margot Sanger-Katz and Claire Cain Miller, NY Times, 7-28-22) They tend to have the weakest social services and the worst results in several categories of health and well-being. States hostile to abortion fare worse on a variety of health and well-being outcomes, while states supportive of abortion rights tend to have a more generous social safety net.
• Kansas Votes to Preserve Abortion Rights Protections in Its Constitution (Mitch Smith and Katie Glueck, NY Times, 8-2-22) The defeat of the ballot referendum was the most tangible demonstration yet of a political backlash against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that had protected abortion rights throughout the country. See Here’s how abortion rights supporters won in conservative Kansas. (Maggie Astor and Nate Cohn, NY Times, 8-2-22)
• Why the Defense of Abortion in Kansas Is So Powerful (Sarah Smarsh, NY Times, 8-3-22) "In a state where registered Republicans far outnumber Democrats, the results reveal that conservative politicians bent on controlling women and pregnant people with draconian abortion bans are out of step with their electorates, a majority of whom are capable of nuance often concealed by our two-party system.
"This is not news to many red-state moderates and progressives, who live with excruciating awareness of the gulf between their decent communities and the far-right extremists gerrymandering, voter-suppressing and dark-moneying their way into state and local office.
"Too often, election results say more about the conditions of the franchise — who manages to use it, and what information or misinformation they receive along the way — than they do about the character of a place."
• Abortion Media Coverage Is “Deeply, and Problematically, Politicized” Says Study (Zoe Larkin, MS, 7-1-20) Some of the studies notable findings:
---Reporters portray abortion as more controversial than it actually is. Seventy-seven percent of Americans, across party lines, support the landmark abortion ruling in Roe v. Wade, and 78 percent support abortion in at least some circumstances—solidifying a decisive outpouring of support for legal abortion.
---Abortion is almost always covered as a political issue. It should be covered as a health and medical issue.
---Reporters use misleading anti-choice rhetoric without explanation.
---Abortion coverage often lacks expert voices.
---Abortion coverage uses polarizing language.
---Reporters can do better. Among other things, writers should include the real-life stories of people who have had abortions—those who ultimately bear the consequences of their reporting.
• The media fell for ‘pro-life’ rhetoric — and helped create this mess (Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post, 5-5-22) A conversation with the journalist son of the doctor who endured Buffalo’s abortion wars (and delivered Sullivan's firstborn).
Abortion bans and abortion's legal status
• Supreme Court Asked to Uphold Roe V. Wade in Another Major Abortion Case (KHN Morning Briefing, Summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations, 9-14-21) In a court brief, a Mississippi abortion clinic and doctor urged the Supreme Court justices to strike down a Mississippi state law that effectively bans the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy and warned of national "chaos" if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
• “Banned: The Mississippi Case to End Roe V. Wade”, an award-winning WWNO/WRKF podcast distributed by PRX, is hosted by public health reporter Rosemary Westwood. Read about it here (Inside Radio, 5-25-22) Episodes of Banned track how the 15-week ban moved through the federal courts, illuminating how one footnote might have set the stage for a showdown over Roe v. Wade on December 1, 2021, when the Mississippi case was heard in the U.S. Supreme Court. The series features reporting from inside Jackson Women’s Health Organization in Mississippi, which sued the state of Mississippi over the 15-week ban. The clinic is the only one of its kind in the state of Mississippi. Reporter Rosemary Westwood tracks the origins of the Mississippi law that would likely topple Roe v. Wade and its ascent all the way up to the nation's highest court. Banned follows the stories of the people in Mississippi who got us to that moment, on all sides of the abortion fight, and the story of Mississippi's last abortion clinic — the last defense of Roe v. Wade. Banned reveals how one Mississippi law defied the odds and how it could reshape the United States.
• After Dobbs, Republicans Wrestle With What It Means to Be Anti-Abortion (Lisa Lerer and Katie Glueck, NY Times, 1-20-23) Activists are pushing for tougher abortion restrictions, while politicians fear turning off swing voters who don’t support strict limits like a national ban. Even after a backlash in support of abortion rights cost Republicans key seats in the midterm elections, a restive socially conservative wing is pushing the party’s lawmakers to embrace deeper restrictions. There is little doubt that Democrats will continue to use the abortion issue against Republicans.
• Abortion Debate Ramps Up in States as Congress Deadlocks (Julie Rovner, KHN, 1-23-23) Anti-abortion advocates are pressing for expanded abortion bans and tighter restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned the national right to abortion. But with the debate mostly deadlocked in Washington, the focus is shifting to states convening their first full legislative sessions since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Although some state GOP lawmakers have filed bills to ban abortion pills or make it more difficult for women to travel out of state for an abortion, others seem split about what their next steps should be. Some are even considering measures to ease their states’ existing bans somewhat, particularly after Republicans’ less-than-stellar showing in the 2022 midterm elections and voters’ widespread support for abortion on state ballot measures.
• Remembering What Holocaust Survivor Simone Veil Did for Abortion Rights (Sylvia Edwards Davis, Culture Trip, 7-29-17) Uppermost among her many ‘firsts’ and her salient contributions to society, the late social-reform campaigner, lawyer, and politician Simone Veil "will always be remembered for advancing women’s rights, notably the legalisation of abortion in France. In her position as health minister during the mandate of President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, she was charged with establishing the framework to end the scourge of backstreet abortions. She backed a bill that navigated the complex legal and medical parameters that would allow women the recourse to legal terminations performed in a proper-medical environment.
"The abortion debate was particularly long and difficult for her not just as a besieged politician but as a wife and mother. Through thick and thin, and even when everything pointed to defeat, Veil kept a firm and determined hand on the legislative and political ups and downs without ever losing her composure. Veil Law passed in 1975 with a clear majority, allowing women up to 12 weeks along to undergo a legal abortion."
• What If Roe Fell (Map of states, Center for Reproductive Rights) You can filter map by abortion laws: Abortion bans, abortion restrictions, abortion protections.
Abortion as a divisive, embattled, politicized issue
• Here’s how abortion rights supporters won in conservative Kansas. (Maggie Astor and Nate Cohn, NY Times, 8-2-22) Supporters of abortion rights won a huge and surprising victory on Tuesday in one of the most conservative states in the country, with Kansas voters resoundingly rejecting a constitutional amendment that would have let state legislators ban or significantly restrict abortion. From the bluest counties to the reddest ones, abortion rights performed better than Mr. Biden, and opposition to abortion performed worse than Mr. Trump.
• Kansas Votes to Preserve Abortion Rights Protections in Its Constitution (Mitch Smith and Katie Glueck, NY Times, 8-2-22) The defeat of the ballot referendum was the most tangible demonstration yet of a political backlash against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that had protected abortion rights throughout the country. Registered Republicans far outnumber Democrats in Kansas — and abortion rights activists made explicit appeals to unaffiliated voters and center-right voters.
• With Roe Gone, Republicans Quarrel Over How Far to Push Abortion Bans (Mitch Smith and Julie Bosman, NY Times, 7-27-22) An effort in Indiana to pass an abortion ban with exceptions has exposed rifts among conservatives on how to legislate in a post-Roe world. Republicans are contending with thorny questions about exceptions, nuanced disagreements within their own party and mixed public opinion during an election season in which abortion has become a defining issue.
• Political and Religious Identities and Views on Abortion (Diana Orcés, PRRI,* 4-8-22) PRRI (the Public Religion Research Institute) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting independent research at the intersection of religion, culture, and public policy. I discovered it when researching how Republican and Democratic opinions vary. It turned up as conducting interesting polls.
"In 2021, PRRI asked a series of questions related to how important personal identities are to Americans. About one-third of Americans (35%) said that their religious identity is the most important thing or a very important thing in their lives, compared to about one in five who mentioned their political identity (19%).
"About six in ten Americans who identify strongly with their political identity (61%) agree that “Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed a constitutional right to abortion, was the right decision and should be upheld,” compared to 43% of Americans who identify strongly with their religious identity. Democrats who identify strongly with their political identity are substantially more likely than Republicans to agree with this statement (80% vs. 36%). By contrast, the majority who identify with their religious identity (55%) disagree that “Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed a constitutional right to abortion, was the right decision and should be upheld.” This percentage is particularly high among white evangelical Protestants (78% disagree vs. 20% agree) and white Catholics (60% disagree vs. 38% agree), but white mainline Protestants tend to agree more than disagree on this question (44% disagree vs. 55% agree)."
Most Women Denied Abortions by Texas Law Got Them Another Way (Margot Sanger-Katz, Claire Cain Miller and Quoctrung Bui, NY Times, 3-6-22) New data suggests overall abortions declined much less than previously known, because women traveled to a clinic in a nearby state or ordered abortion pills online. See Association of Texas Senate Bill 8 With Requests for Self-managed Medication Abortion (Abigail R. A. Aiken, Jennifer E. Starling, James G. Scott, et al., JAMA Network, 2-25-22) Medication (mifepristone and misoprostol) for home use was ordered through Aid Access.
See also Abortion and women's reproductive rights.
• Why The Abortion Fight Is Becoming A Battle Over Health Information (Chelsea Conaboy, CommonHealth, WBUR, 5-22-18) As the White House moves to block federal funding for family planning clinics unless they stop providing abortions or abortion referrals, supporters and opponents of abortion rights are gearing up for a familiar and likely protracted fight. Women today have access to safe, private, do-it-yourself abortion — if they know where to look. Or rather, which search terms to type into Google. Abortion pills — typically a combination of misoprostol and mifepristone, the same drugs used in medication abortions initiated at a clinic -- are widely available for sale from online pharmacies.
• State Actions to Protect and Expand Access to Abortion Services (Laurie Sobel, Alina Salganicof, and Amrutha Ramaswamy, Women's Health Policy, KFF, 5-16-22) Should the Supreme Court overturn or weaken the Roe decision in its ruling on the Dobbs case, it will again be up to each state to establish laws protecting or restricting abortion in the absence of a federal standard. While it is estimated that roughly half of the states across the U.S. will move to either outright ban or greatly restrict abortion access, there is growing momentum in a handful of states to not only protect abortion access for their state residents, but also to expand access to people who live in states that ban or restrict abortion.
• Tracking new action on abortion legislation across the states (Washington Post, 2022)
Medication Abortion
• New tip sheet guides reporting on rise of medication abortion and its safety (Kerry Dooley Young, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-31-22) See What the FDA and a major report say about safety of abortion pills (Kerry Dooley Young, 5-31-22) Tip Sheet available to members of the Association of Health Care Journalists, a top resource if you're writing about health care). Two broad tips:
1. Explain the potential risks of mifepristone, also known as RU 486, in proper context, as you should for any medicine. This treatment has been subject to an unusual level of scrutiny because of ongoing political fights over abortion.
2. Describe the funding and context of any studies or reports on medication abortion.
• Medication Abortion Now Accounts for More Than Half of All US Abortions (Guttmacher Institute, Feb. 2022) Throughout the more than 20 years that it has been used in the United States, medication abortion has been proven to be overwhelmingly safe and effective. Because it can be taken safely and effectively outside of a clinic setting, it has long been a target of abortion opponents.
• The Availability and Use of Medication Abortion (Kaiser Family Foundation, Women's Health Policy Fact Sheet, 4-6-22) The use of medication abortion has grown significantly since its approval by the FDA in 2000. In 2011, the FDA added a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to the dispensing requirements for mifepristone permitting only medical providers who had obtained certification from the manufacturer to prescribe and directly dispense the drug. The FDA update of the REMS has the potential to expand the availability of medication abortion and broaden the use of telehealth dispensing. But state bans on telehealth and requirements for in-person dispensation of mifepristone, and requirements for in-person counseling visits and ultrasounds that are not medically recommended will continue to restrict access in many states. (See map: 32 States Only Allow Physicians to Provide Abortion Pills)
Stories from real life
• ‘They’re Just Going to Let Me Die?’ One Woman’s Abortion Odyssey (Neelam Bohra, NY Times, 8-1-22) Madison Underwood was thrilled to learn she was pregnant. But when a rare defect in the developing fetus threatened her life, she was thrust into post-Roe chaos. Tennessee allows abortion if a woman’s life is in danger, but doctors feared making those decisions too soon and facing prosecution. Across the country, the legal landscape was shifting so quickly, some abortion clinics turned patients away before the laws officially took effect or while legal battles played out in state courts.
• An Indiana Doctor Speaks Out on Abortion, and Pays a Price (Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Ava Sasani, NY Times, 7-28-22) Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old, says doctors shouldn’t be silent. But she finds herself at the center of a post-Roe clash shaking the medical community. Threats against abortion providers are hardly new. But the overturning of Roe has created a frightening new legal landscape for doctors.
• I kept my abortion a secret for years, but I'm ready to speak up (Taylor DeVille, Baltimore Banner, 5-5-22) ‘News of the looming Supreme Court decision lit a fire in me to defend our bodies against subjugation. But I’m a journalist, and our standards preclude us from protesting or donating to certain funds. What else can I do but reach out and hope my words touch someone?’
• Our child received a devastating diagnosis before she was born. We decided to protect her (Allison Chang, STAT, 1-7-19) Is she in pain?” I asked quietly as the pearlescent baby-shaped image on the screen folded its legs and then extended them. The radiologist doing my ultrasound had just finished pointing out a cluster of alarming abnormalities in our developing daughter, using a slew of medical terms my husband and I, both medical students, were grimly familiar with.Something was very wrong with our baby. Trisomy 18 is rare, occurring in about 1 in 2,500 pregnancies. The few who live past one year have serious health problems, such as a toddler lacking abdominal wall muscles, revealing the slithering movement of intestines beneath his skin, or a 1-year-old who cannot not defecate on her own, requiring anal sphincter dilation multiple times each day. As parents, we felt it was our duty to protect our daughter from the inevitable suffering she would meet if she were to make it to term. And so, at 15 weeks of gestation, we made the painful decision to end our very wanted pregnancy. For such a heartbreaking event, we had the best-case scenario. Other families aren't as lucky as mine. (The stories of one rational termination of pregnancy and of another, punitive one.)
• The Twenty-First Chromosome and Down Syndrome (Boen Wang, The Sunday Long Read, 9-25-21) Whose life is worth living? Who decides whose life is worth living? Since his son Jamie was born with Down syndrome, Penn State English professor Michael Bérubé has written two memoirs testifying to the richness of Jamie’s life, while also defending reproductive rights. “When parental leave is the law of the land,” he wrote, “when private insurers can’t drop families from the rolls because of ‘high risk’ children, when every child can be fed, clothed, and cared for—then we can start talking about what kind of a choice ‘life’ might be.”
• The Abortion I Didn’t Have (Merritt Tierce, NY Times, 12-2-21) I never thought about ending my pregnancy. Instead, at 19, I erased the future I had imagined for myself.
• The Roe Baby (Joshua Prager, The Atlantic, 9-9-21) Ever since the National Enquirer published its story on “the Roe baby,” anti-abortion-rights activists have claimed her as a metaphor for their cause. But Shelley herself isn’t so sure. “From Shelley’s perspective, it was clear that if she, the Roe baby, could be said to represent anything, it was not the sanctity of life but the difficulty of being born unwanted.”
• Lizzie Presser Reveals the Underground Work of Home-Abortion Providers (Aneri Pattani, The Open Notebook, NASW, 9-4-18) "Before abortion was legal across the United States, underground networks of women—such as the Jane Collective in Chicago—worked secretly to help end unwanted pregnancies.... Then, in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the landmark case Roe v. Wade, asserting a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion....Many women who had fought hard in the legal battle for abortion rights thought the days of underground medical care were over. Forty-five years later, that hasn’t been the case.Today, approximately 200 women are operating outside the law and the medical establishment to provide cheap and accessible home abortions. But the reasons this work is thriving are more complicated than just access to legal abortion procedures: These women serve clients who can’t afford clinical care, live far from clinics, or simply dislike and distrust medical settings....Here, Presser talks to Aneri Pattani about how she was able to get access to such a sensitive story, how she reported it out with diligence and compassion, and how other investigative reporters can do the same."
Here's the story Presser wrote: “Whatever’s your darkest question, you can ask me.” (The California Sunday Magazine, 3-8-18) A secret network of women is working outside the law and the medical establishment to provide safe, cheap home abortions.... ...In Anna’s view and that of many legal scholars, Roe upheld a doctor’s right to perform an abortion, not a woman’s right to choose one. Choice wasn’t just whether a woman could seek an abortion but also how and when she wanted to have it, who she wanted around her, and where she wanted to be." Reported in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.
• She ended a pregnancy so her child wouldn’t suffer. Now she helps others like her. (Ashley Fetters Maloy, Washington Post, 4-26-22) Emma Belle and other parents who experienced TFMR, or termination for medical reasons, are creating an online community to ease the grieving process. TFMR has long been a taboo subject, but recently, TFMR parents have begun to find one another online, on Instagram in particular, and carve out a distinct place for themselves.
• Rise in delivery complications is increasing hospital costs (Maria Castellucci, Modern Healthcare, 1-6-2020) Women are more likely to experience an unexpected outcome during delivery and it's adding to hospital costs, according to a new analysis from Premier. The rate of women with a severe maternal morbidity factor, which are complications during labor such as sepsis, shock or eclampsia, rose by 36% from 2008 to 2018, Premier found. And those vaginal births cost nearly 80% more on average than those without complications. Additionally, cesarean deliveries for women with a severe maternal morbidity factor cost almost twice as much as uncomplicated C-sections on average.Screening women when they present to the hospital for conditions that make them vulnerable to complications (such as substance abuse disorder or obesity) could avoid issues during labor, experts say.
• The Dishonesty of the Abortion Debate (Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, December 2019) "No matter what the law says, women will continue to get abortions. How do I know? Because in the relatively recent past, women would allow strangers to brutalize them, to poke knitting needles and wire hangers into their wombs, to thread catheters through their cervices and fill them with Lysol, or scalding-hot water, or lye. Women have been willing to risk death to get an abortion. When we made abortion legal, we decided we weren’t going to let that happen anymore."
• The “Gilmore Girls” have the right to choose: How television is changing the conversation about abortion (Nico Lang, Salon, 12-7-16) Once upon a time a television character couldn't say she was pregnant, so "Gilmore Girls" have moved the bar, but "to avoid backlash, many shows attempt to have it both ways — representing a woman’s right to choose without dealing with the implications of her following through with an actual abortion."
• These adoptees refuse to be Christian pro-life poster kids (Kathryn Post, Religion News, 7-25-22) They're challenging the often-religious argument that adoption is a simple, sacred and mutually beneficial solution to abortion.
• Unmasked: Women Write About Sex and Intimacy After Fifty edited by Marcia Meier and Kathleen A. Barry. "Sex for women after 50 is invisible for the same reason that contraception, abortion, and sex between two women or two men has been forbidden: sexuality is supposed to be only about procreation. This lie was invented by patriarchy, monotheism, racism and other hierarchies. Sexuality is and always has been also about bonding, communicating, and pleasure. Unmasked helps to restore a human right." ~ Gloria Steinem
• MacKenzie Scott Just Made The Single Largest Donation In Planned Parenthood's History (Paige Skinner, Buzzfeed News, 3-23-22)The $275 million donation comes at a critical time when reproductive rights are under attack across the US.
Abortion in the courts
• Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (Center for Reproductive Rights, 3-19-18) In the most consequential abortion rights case in generations, the U.S. Supreme Court was considering a Mississippi abortion ban that directly challenges Roe v. Wade. See also Guttmacher Institute on the case (11-21)
• The woman behind ‘Roe vs. Wade’ didn’t change her mind on abortion. She was paid (Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 5-19-2020) Director Nick Sweeney started making the film “AKA Jane Roe,” which premiered on FX, in April 2016. He interviewed figures on either side of the abortion issue who were close to McCorvey, including attorney Gloria Allred and Rob Schenck, an evangelical minister and former leader of the antiabortion group Operation Rescue. 'Despite her visible role in the fight against abortion, McCorvey says she was a mercenary, not a true believer. And Schenck, who has also distanced himself from the antiabortion movement, at least particularly corroborates the allegations, saying that she was paid out of concern “that she would go back to the other side,” he says in the film. “There were times I wondered: Is she playing us? And what I didn’t have the guts to say was, because I know damn well we were playing her.”'
• Abortion at SCOTUS: A Review of Potential Cases this Term and Possible Rulings (Laurie Sobel, Amrutha Ramaswan, and Alina Salganicoft, KFF, 10-20-2020) A detailed history and legal issues in question for the two abortion cases pending the Supreme Court’s review. See also A Reconfigured U.S. Supreme Court: Implications for Health Policy (MaryBeth Musumeci and Laurie Sobel, KFF, 10-9-2020) A broader discussion on health care cases to be reviewed or potentially coming before the Court in the current term.
• Anti-Roe justices a part of Catholicism’s conservative wing (Peter Smith, AP News, 6-30-22) The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade at a time when it has an unprecedented Catholic supermajority. The justices who voted to overturn Roe have been shaped by a church whose catechism affirms “the moral evil of every procured abortion” and whose U.S. bishops have declared opposition to abortion their “preeminent priority” in public policy. Eight of the last nine Republican nominees to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, from the Reagan to the Trump presidencies, have had Catholic pedigrees. That religious demographic may seem striking given Republicans’ loyal evangelical Protestant constituency. Partly it’s a matter of the available talent pool: Catholic immigrants’ descendants have intensely pursued legal professions.
• Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows (Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward, Politico, 5-2-22) The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — that largely maintained the right.
• Abortion in the courts: a political football (Heather Cox Richardson, 9-2-21) While it is hard to remember today, the modern-day opposition to abortion had its roots not in a moral defense of life but rather in the need for President Richard Nixon to win votes before the 1972 election. Pushing the idea that abortion was a central issue of American life was about rejecting the equal protection of the laws embraced by the Democrats far more than it was ever about using the government to protect fetuses.
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Supreme Court's decision on abortion (9-3-21) The fact that the Fox News Channel is not mentioning what should have been a landmark triumph of its viewers’ ideology suggests Republicans know that ending safe and legal abortion is deeply unpopular. Their base finally, after all these years, got what it wanted. But now the rest of the nation, which had been assured as recently as the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that Roe v. Wade was settled law that would not be overturned, gets a chance to weigh in.
• Sotomayor’s Defiant Dissent (Justice Sonia Sotomayor, The Nation,9-3-21) In her blistering dissent, the Supreme Court justice calls out her conservative colleagues’ breathtaking disregard of precedent and the Constitution. "Conservatives would have you believe that the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Texas’s law banning abortions after six weeks, and deputizing bounty hunters to enforce it, was a narrow and technical ruling from the high court. It was not. It was a frontal attack on the constitutional rights of women, made all the more despicable by the conservative decision to authorize the Texas attack on women without the benefit of a full, public hearing on the issues....In effect, the Texas Legislature has deputized the State's citizens as bounty hunters, offering them cash prizes for civilly prosecuting their neighbors' medical procedures."
• Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Abortion Restrictions (Adam Liptak, NY Times, 6-29-2020) The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that could have left the state with a single abortion clinic.In Medical Services v. Russo, the court ruled, 5 to 4, that a Louisiana law violated the Constitution when it required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.The case is the first abortion ruling since two Trump appointees joined the court. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. voting with the court’s four-member liberal wing but not adopting its reasoning. The chief justice said respect for precedent compelled him to vote with the majority.
• They helped their friend get an abortion. Now a bitter ex-husband is suing them (Moira Donegan, The Guardian, 4-15-23) Marcus Silva’s lawsuit is a metaphor for the creepy, stupid and cruel nature of the anti-choice movement.
See also Documents in abortion pill lawsuit raise questions about ex-husband's claims (Sarah McCammon, All Things Considered, NPR, 4-10-23) A Texas man says three women helped his now-ex-wife obtain pills for an abortion last year "without his knowledge," and he's suing them for $1 million each. The wrongful death lawsuit, believed to be the first of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed abortion rights last summer, highlights concerns about digital privacy and reproductive health. And it comes as a battle over the future of access to medication abortion plays out in the federal court system. A close analysis of documents related to the case appears to undercut some of the man's claims.
And: A Texas lawsuit could have far-reaching implications for abortion pill access (Sarah McCammon, All Things Considered, NPR, 3-11-23) A Texas man is suing three women for allegedly helping his now-ex-wife obtain a medication abortion. It's believed to be the first such case since the Supreme Court decision upending abortion rights.
• Why The Abortion Fight Is Becoming A Battle Over Health Information (Chelsea Conaboy, CommonHealth, WBUR, 5-22-18) As the White House moves to block federal funding for family planning clinics unless they stop providing abortions or abortion referrals, supporters and opponents of abortion rights are gearing up for a familiar and likely protracted fight. Women today have access to safe, private, do-it-yourself abortion -- if they know where to look. Or rather, which search terms to type into Google. Abortion pills -- typically a combination of misoprostol and mifepristone, the same drugs used in medication abortions initiated at a clinic -- are widely available for sale from online pharmacies. See also Abortion and women's reproductive rights.
• As Leak Theories Circulate, Supreme Court Marshal Takes Up Investigation (Michael D. Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, NY Times, 5-4-22) A leaked draft Supreme Court opinion has led to demonstrations and a renewed focus on Roe v. Wade, prompting speculation over its leaker’s identity and motivation. Not since Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein refused for decades to disclose the identity of their Watergate source has Washington been as eager to unmask a leaker.
• New Texas Abortion Law Likely to Unleash a Torrent of Lawsuits Against Online Education, Advocacy and Other Speech(David Greene, Cindy Cohn, Corynne McSherry, and Sophia Cope, Electronic Frontier Foundation, 9-2-21) ' "SB8 is a “bounty law”: it doesn’t just allow these lawsuits, it provides a significant financial incentive to file them. It guarantees that a person who files and wins such a lawsuit will receive at least $10,000 for each abortion that the speech “aided or abetted,” plus their costs and attorney’s fees. At the same time, SB8 may often shield these bounty hunters from having to pay the defendant’s legal costs should they lose. This removes a key financial disincentive they might have had against bringing meritless lawsuits." '
• As Red States Push Strident Abortion Bans, Other Restrictions Suddenly Look Less Extreme (Julie Rovner, KHN, 3-30-22) The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has yet to make clear its stand on Roe v. Wade. But state lawmakers aren’t waiting to consider a variety of extreme measures: bills that would ban abortions in cases of ectopic pregnancies, allow rapists’ families to object to terminating a victim’s pregnancy, or prohibit the procedure in the case of fetal disability. Do these proposals make the less extreme restrictions seem more mainstream?
• Methodist Pastor David Barnhart:
“The unborn” are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they don’t resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don’t ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don’t need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don’t bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any work at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them, because they cease to be unborn. You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone. They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus, but actually dislike people who breathe. Prisoners? Immigrants? The sick? The poor? Widows? Orphans? All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible? They all get thrown under the bus for the unborn.”
Medical, health, and scientific conferences journalists might cover
• Tip sheet: Questions to ask at medical conferences when time is short (Tara Haelle, Covering Helath, AHCJ, 8-14-23) Having a list of ready questions, whether they’re for the presenting researcher or an outside expert or attendee commenting on the research, can help you get the answers you need quickly in those precious moments at the end of a presentation or whatever brief time you have to pull the commenter away.
• AAAS Meetings The American Association for the Advancement of Science has its annual meeting in mid-February every year. It covers virtually every topic that can be considered "science." It will be held in Washington DC in 2019. (H/T Patricia Daukantas)
• AGU100: Advancing earth and space science "One meeting of scientists that is truly huge is the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union," says one colleague.
• Calendar of upcoming health and medical conferences (Association of Health Care Journalists)
• Clocate (Conferencelocate.com)
• Conference Listings: United States (COMS, by subject under Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Informatics, Engineering, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Healthcare/Medicine, Didactics/History/Philosophy of Science and Technology, and Continuing Professional Education, Courses.
• DocGuide to Medical Meetings
• Doctor's Review
• Excellent but Little-Known Medical Conferences (also Bob Finn, on his Medical Conference Blog, an opinionated, occasionally cranky, occasionally snarky blog on medical meetings from the viewpoint of a medical journalist)
• NatureEvents Directory (science events by date, by country, or by area of interest)
• Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare conference listings
• How to Find Medical Conferences (Bob Finn's links, to be updated soon, perhaps). The other thing to do is find whatever local calendars there are of conferences in town -- at the town's conference center -- for whatever town you're in or are willing to travel to.
• Tips for covering scientific conferences (Mark Taylor, Association of Health Care Journalists). For members only.
Covering the Water Crisis
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." ~Philip K. Dick
• Freshwater Crisis (National Geographic) While nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh. The rest is saline and ocean-based. There is the same amount of freshwater on earth as there always has been, but the population has exploded, leaving the world's water resources in crisis.
• Global water crisis: Facts, FAQs, and how to help (World Vision) Clean water is essential, yet 703 million people lack access to it. 1 in 10 people on the planet are struggling to get the quantity and quality of water they need.
• Water Scarcity (World Wildlife Fund) Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or becoming too polluted to use. More than half the world's wetlands have disappeared.
• Common Water Issues (The U.S. Geological Survey, USGS)
• Global Issues: Water (United Nations) Better access to water is helping create new possibilities for people in some of the world’s most remote communities. Goal 6 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
• Water Topics (Environmental Protection Agency) EPA supports efforts under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act to protect and restore our nation's waters and ensure that every American has access to clean, safe water.
• The Water Crisis (Water.org) Today, 2.2 billion people – 1 in 4 – lack access to safe water and 3.5 billion people – 2 in 5 – lack access to a safe toilet. Women are disproportionately affected by the water crisis, as they are often responsible for collecting water.
• Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know (NRDC, the Natural Resources Defense Council) Our rivers, reservoirs, lakes, and seas are drowning in chemicals, waste, plastic, and other pollutants. Here’s why—and what you can do to help.
• Imminent risk of a global water crisis, warns the UN World Water Development Report 2023 Between two and three billion people worldwide experience water shortages. These shortages will worsen in the coming decades, especially in cities, if international cooperation in this area is not boosted, warn UNESCO and UN-Water in the latest edition of the UN World Water Development Report.
• The smallest state and why it's getting smaller (Alex Kuffner, Providence Journal, 12-22-19) Coastal storms and rising sea levels are chipping away at the land mass of mainland Rhode Island and nearby Block Island. "That process is continuing to this day -- indeed, speeding up -- but intensifying construction along the shoreline in recent generations has drawn a line in the sand. With beach houses, businesses and roads built close to the water’s edge, there’s no room anymore for the shoreline to migrate. Moreover, jetties, bulkheads, seawalls and other protective structures are interfering with the normal movement of sediment."
• Environmentalists and Dam Operators, at War for Years, Start Making Peace (Brad Plumer, NY Times, 10-13-2020) Facing a climate crisis, environmental groups and industry agree to work together to bolster hydropower while reducing harm from dams--a sign that the threat of climate change is spurring both sides to rethink their decades-long battle over a large but contentious source of renewable power.
• Long-Awaited EPA Study Says Fracking Pollutes Drinking Water (Anastasia Pantsios, EcoWatch, 6-4-15)
• Beyond the Poles: The far-reaching dangers of melting ice (NPR's special series: How climate-driven ice loss threatens everyone. Two-thirds of our planet's fresh water is frozen. Warming temperatures are melting the glaciers and ice caps, setting off a cascade of changes worldwide.
---Wildfires are bigger. Arctic ice is melting. Now, scientists say they're linked (Lauren Sommer, Emily Kwong, Berly McCoy, Rebecca Ramirez, NPR, 4-12-23)
---How melting Arctic ice could be fueling extreme wildfires in the Western U.S. (Lauren Sommer, NPR, 4-20-23)
• The Colorado River Is in Crisis, and It's Getting Worse Every Day The Colorado’s water was overpromised when it was first allocated a century ago. Demand in the fast-growing Southwest exceeds supply, and it is growing even as supply drops amid a climate change-driven megadrought and rising temperatures. States and cities are now scrambling to forestall the gravest impacts to growth, farming, drinking water and electricity, while also aiming to protect their own interests.
• Why the Second-Driest State Rejects Water Conservation (Mark Olalde, ProPublica with with The Salt Lake Tribune, 12-16-21) Utah has some of the highest per-capita water use and is the fastest-growing state. Yet a powerful group that steers Utah’s water policy keeps pushing for costly infrastructure over meaningful conservation efforts.
• Climate Change Turns the Tide on Waterfront Living (Jim Morrison, Washington Post magazine,4-13-20) Rising seas and worsening flooding are forcing many communities to plan their retreat from the coasts. A deeply informative, award-winning piece that should be required reading on and near every coast. The water is rising, folks.
• Reporting on Climate Injustice in One of the Hottest Towns in America (Brooke Stephenson, ProPublica, 9-14-21) What does climate injustice look like? A town where farmworkers struggle for access to clean drinking water and comfortable places to sleep while their wealthy neighbors water their lawns generously and park in climate-controlled garages. See ProPublica's excellent reporting on the environment. For example,
--- Pollution Profiteers: Inside California’s Toxic Hauling Industry
--- Fracking: Gas Drilling’s Environmental Threat Vast deposits of natural gas have brought a drilling boom across much of the country, but the technique being used, called hydraulic fracturing, is suspected of causing hundreds of cases of water contamination. Now environmentalists and lawmakers are pushing for closer oversight of the gas industry, which is pushing back.
---California Burning: The Climate Crisis is Setting the State on Fire
---The Cutting: Investigating Industrial Logging in Oregon
---Bombs in Our Backyard: Investigating One of America’s Greatest Polluters The Pentagon has poisoned millions of acres and left Americans to guess at the threat to their health. Its oversight of thousands of toxic sites has been marked by defiance and delay.
---Injection Wells: The Hidden Risks of Pumping Waste Underground Injection wells used to dispose of the nation’s most toxic waste are showing increasing signs of stress as regulatory oversight falls short and scientific assumptions prove flawed.
---Nuclear Safety: After Fukushima
---Sunken Costs: Coal Ash in Georgia How a Southern utility giant passed along the costs of its risky waste disposal practices to Georgians.
• Meaningful and Achievable Steps You Can Take to Reduce Your Risk from PFAs (EPA)
---PFA's Explained (EFA)
---Cancer is killing firefighters. So San Francisco is going PFAS-free. (Susan Shain, High Country News, 5-23-24)
---What are the health effects of PFAS? (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, CDC) Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Your Health
• PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water: An explainer and research roundup (Rachel Layne, Journalist's Resource, 8-9-23) Read about studies on where PFAS are found, health impacts, the efficacy of consumer water filters, new methods of destroying PFAS, and racial disparities in PFAS exposure. There are currently no federal regulations for PFAS in drinking water. But half of all U.S. states already either regulate or are moving to put limits on certain kinds of PFAS, according to Safer States, a public advocacy group that tracks state legislation and policy. We summarize studies on where PFAS are found, health impacts, the efficacy of consumer water filters, new methods of destroying PFAS, and racial disparities in PFAS exposure.
• Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb. By the start of the 20th century, the near disappearance of beavers from the U.S. at the hands of trappers made wetlands and meadows dry up, hastened erosion, altered streams, and harmed fish, fowl,and amphibians.
Booklist starred review: “Envision a perfect stream. Most people picture a clear, fast-moving creek with a narrow course and lots of rocks. This vision, award-winning environmental journalist Goldfarb informs us in this fresh, historically grounded look at North America’s largest rodent, is wrong. Before the ‘ furpocalypse,' during which trappers decimated the once enormous beaver population, streams were mostly murky swamps backed up to cover several acres by beaver–built wooden dams and dotted with beaver lodges constructed out of sticks. The disappearance of beavers severely altered watersheds and contributed to the drying of the West. After attending a conference on beaver ecology, Goldfarb became a beaver acolyte and here writes eloquently of the return of this industrious, habitat–enriching animal, its conflicts with humans and their property, and of the ways both elegant and Rube Goldbergian in which beaver and human needs can be balanced. Goldfarb traveled the country to observe researchers, beaver damage mitigators, county engineers, hydrologists, and wildlife biologists, all working with beavers and studying their positive effects on ecosystems from the western deserts to the replenishing forests of the east. Beavers are kind of magical, Goldfarb tells us: they can make wetlands appear.”
• Environmentalists and Dam Operators, at War for Years, Start Making Peace (Brad Plumer, NY Times, 10-13-2020) Facing a climate crisis, environmental groups and industry agree to work together to bolster hydropower while reducing harm from dams--a sign that the threat of climate change is spurring both sides to rethink their decades-long battle over a large but contentious source of renewable power.
• Long-Awaited EPA Study Says Fracking Pollutes Drinking Water (Anastasia Pantsios, EcoWatch, 6-4-15)
• Beyond Human Endurance (Ruby Mellen and William Neff, Washington Post, 7-28-21) How climate change is making parts of the world too hot and humid to survive. When it comes to heat, the human body is remarkably resilient — it’s the humidity that makes it harder to cool down. And humidity, driven in part by climate change, is increasing. Deadly heat waves have swept the globe and will continue to because of climate change. The trends are prompting doomsday questions: Will parts of the world soon become too hot to live in? How will we survive? A term we rarely hear about, the wet-bulb temperature reflects not only heat, but also how much water is in the air. The higher that number is, the harder it is for sweat to evaporate and for bodies to cool down.
• Emails show mining industry, home-builders pushed for changes in water bill — and got them (Ian James, Arizona Republic, 5-10-21) Mining companies, developers and the agriculture industry were allowed to influence a new law regulating water quality, reporter Ian James found after obtaining more than 400 emails through a public records request.
H/T Local Matters, a weekly roundup of the best investigative and watchdog reporting from local newsrooms around the country.
• Beyond the Poles: The far-reaching dangers of melting ice (NPR's special series: How climate-driven ice loss threatens everyone. Two-thirds of our planet's fresh water is frozen. Warming temperatures are melting the glaciers and ice caps, setting off a cascade of changes worldwide.
---Wildfires are bigger. Arctic ice is melting. Now, scientists say they're linked (Lauren Sommer, Emily Kwong, Berly McCoy, Rebecca Ramirez, NPR, 4-12-23)
---How melting Arctic ice could be fueling extreme wildfires in the Western U.S. (Lauren Sommer, NPR, 4-20-23)
.
Covering Energy
• The Activists Who Embrace Nuclear Power (Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, New Yorker, 2-19-21) In the face of climate change, some environmentalists are fighting not to close power plants but to save them. See also To fight climate change, environmentalists may have to give up a core belief (Shannon Osaka, Washington Post, 9-2-22) To tackle climate, experts say, environmentalists have to embrace big energy projects. Fast.
• US states divided over petrol stations as LA considers ban on new pumps (Aime Williams, Financial Times, 7-24-22) The US political divide on how best to tackle climate change is playing out in starkly different proposals about the building of new petrol stations. "Los Angeles has become the latest US city to propose a ban on new stations, following in the footsteps of four other California towns that have restricted new pumps from being built. But the movement to limit petrol and speed the transition to electric cars has not stretched to states such as North Carolina. In Raleigh, one lawmaker has written a bill proposing that electric car chargers be destroyed unless more petrol stations are built next to them."
• T-Omega re-thinks floating offshore wind turbines for huge cost savings (Loz Blain, New Atlas, 9-8-22) Here's a writer who makes a fairly technical story understandable, even exciting, partly through good illustrations and animations.
• Green Lifestyle Choices Don't Change the Systems That Make Fossil Fuels Attractive (Maggie Koerth-Baker, FiveThirtyEight, 5-6-13) Which is why we need a structural solution, like a carbon tax.
• Instituting carbon-fee-and-dividend (Mike Shatzkin, Medium, 5-10-19) ("the single most powerful policy tool we can create to decarbonize our energy systems" -- a good explanation) and Discouraging the closing of nuclear power plants until we can replace their power with something other than fossil fuels (Shatzkin, 5-9-19). "Renewables are a good thing and we should develop them as quickly as we can. And with enough battery capability, even intermittent renewables can handle much of our energy needs over time. But until the day comes when we can retire a nuclear plant and replace its power with clean energy, we ought to stop closing them unless there is some sort of emergency."
See also Hanford’s Dirty Secret (ICAN reporting, on Beyond Nuclear International, 9-15-19) 'Hanford Waste Management Site in Washington is sometimes referred to as “the most toxic place in America,” yet most people will never have heard of it. While the workers and activists of Hanford speak out, their stories are dismissed because they demonstrate the real cost of nuclear weapons. Before any nuclear site can close it must contend with its dangerous waste.... Hanford has 56 million gallons of radioactive waste held in underground tanks and solid waste buried throughout the site. By the site’s own admission, innumerable spills and solid waste burials were not accurately recorded. The environmental and health effects have been devastating – and ignored.... In 2013, Governor Inslee admitted that one tank was leaking up to 300 gallons a year; the contracted cleanup company knew – and did nothing....Around Hanford, people report unusually high rates of thyroid disorders, cancer, and handicaps, because of river pollution." Must reading.
• No, It Wasn't the Wind Mills (MSNBC, 2-14-2021) Chris Hayes debunks GOP, right-wing media lies about Texas power outages."It is just a lie that wind turbines, 'green energy' are the root causes of the problems in Texas right now,” says Chris Hayes, discussing the right wing attempt to turn Texas power outages into a culture war.
• Hardly Anyone Talks About How Fracking Was an Extraordinary Boondoggle (David Wallace-Wells, Opinion, NY Times, 7-27-22)What does it mean to call one form of energy “expensive” or to say that transitioning to another would “cost too much”? Put another way: Why did the country decide it was OK to lose money on one kind of energy but anathema to lose it on another? Fracking has been, for nearly all of its history, a money-losing boondoggle, profitable only recently, after being propped up by so much investment from Wall Street and private equity that it resembled less an efficient-markets no-brainer and more a speculative empire of bubbles like Uber and WeWork.
• Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking (Unconventional Gas and Oil Extraction),7th edition (Concerned Health Professionals of NY, 12-14-2020) The scientific case against fracking is now deep and wide."This study adds to our knowledge about the various ways in which fracking liberates naturally occurring radioactive materials in shale rock, concentrates, and brings them to the surface. Airborne inhalation is a new route of exposure." See "main findings" up front.
Politics and fuel policy
• How the Republican Party turned against climate science (YouTube, Vox, 8-22-16) A brief history of American inaction on climate change. During George W. Bush’s administration, Republicans are shown agreeing that climate change is a problem. Senator John McCain says utility companies, petroleum companies, and other special interests are blocking progress on congressional action. In 2010, when Pres. Obama asks for a carbon tax on fossil fuels or a cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions, he rolls out a new rule to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Republicans begin not to believe that climate change is real, despite scientific commissions issuing dire warnings about rapidly approaching dangers to Planet Earth. An excellent video, which makes it seem that Obama endorsing efforts to reduce climate warming made it a political issue--because Republicans were not going to support anything Obama recommended. (Not in the video, though he is shown in the first clips: We have also been told that Al Gore's intense arguments about reducing carbon emissions are what turned Republicans and made it a partisan issue.)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil (Savannah Jacobson, Columbia Journalism Review, 3-26-2020) "Exxon’s public mouthpiece was the press. For more than thirty years, from at least 1972 until at least 2004, the company placed advertorials in the New York Times to cast doubt on the negative effects of fossil fuel emissions. Over the same time span, ExxonMobil gave tens of millions of dollars to [conservative] think tanks and researchers who denied the science of climate change. Taken in sum, Exxon’s media shrewdness and its aggressive political lobbying have set back climate action for decades—putting the nation, and the world, dangerously close to a point of no return." Does that work? In 2009, 40% of Americans opposed a significant clean energy bill. That changed to 63% of Americans "who opposed the same bill after the Heritage Foundation, an ExxonMobil-funded think tank, published a study that misleadingly claimed the bill would increase gas prices to $4 per gallon." How much Exxon and Mobil spent on newspaper advertorials, etc., by year.
• Climate Science vs. Fossil Fuel Fiction (Union of Concerned Scientists infographic) Fossil fuel companies and their lobbying groups have been deceiving the public for nearly 30 years about the facts of global warming.
• Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine (Greenpeace) The Koch Brothers have sent at least $100,343,292 directly to 84 groups denying climate change science since 1997. Greenpeace uses 1997 as a benchmark year due to increased coordinated backlash against global climate negotiations leading to the Kyoto Protocol of 1998. We define climate change denial as “anyone who is obstructing, delaying or trying to derail policy steps that are in line with the scientific consensus that says we need to take rapid steps to decarbonize the economy.” Conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch ponied up $650 million to help Meredith Corporation buy Time Inc. "The Koch brothers continue to finance campaigns to make Americans doubt the seriousness of global warming, increasingly hiding money through nonprofits like DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. Why focus on Charles Koch and David Koch? Many large foundations associated with corporate fortunes are active in financing climate denial groups — Anschutz, Bradley, Coors, DeVos, Dunn, Howard, Pope, Scaife, Searle, and Seid, to name a few. Unlike Koch, most of those fortunes did not come from owning a corporation like Koch Industries, historically rooted in fossil fuel operations."
• Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers: The End Is Nigh (James Fallows, Breaking the News, 10-2-21) What you need to know about the most polluting form of machinery still in legal use in the US.
• Welcome To the Anthropocene - The Age Of Human Die-offs Thom Hartman, Daily Kos, 7-27-22) "The growth of a food supply parallels the growth of a population. It’s one of the few laws of nature that has always applied to humans, even though we ignore it or pretend it doesn’t exist.
"Throughout our lifetimes (and the past four centuries) human population has steadily grown because we hadn’t yet hit the new ceilings the agricultural and industrial revolutions gave us to produce and distribute food. However, this halcyon era is coming to an end because of the climate crisis, provoked by 60 years of senior executives in the fossil fuel industry lying to us and buying off politicians while making trillions pouring their poisons into our atmosphere.
"This story of humans wiping out the resources that sustain them has been repeated over and over again throughout human pre-history. It’s far more the norm than the exception....If you thought it was a disgusting spectacle to see the Bundy family stealing federal lands and water at gunpoint, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Water wars between states and regions are just around the corner, and soon large parts of America will begin to lose population as their water supplies vanish.
Podcasts, blogs, etc., about the energy transition
• The Carbon Copy (Canary Media, host Stephen Lacey) Clean energy journalism for a cooler tomorrow
• Catalyst with Shayle Kann)
• Cleaning Up (Michael Liebreich and Bryony Worthington) A weekly conversation with a leader in clean energy, mobility, climate finance or sustainable development. Each episode covers the technical ground on some aspect of the low-carbon transition – and delves into the nature of leadership in the climate transition: whether to be optimistic or pessimistic; how to communicate in order to inspire change; personal credos; and so on.
• Columbia Energy Exchange (Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless, Columbia University) In-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia and civil society.
• The Energy Gang (Wood Mackenzie) on energy and clean tech
• Energy Insiders Podcast that focuses on Australia, which leads the world in some areas like rooftop solar.
• Energy Transition Newsletter (Aethos Labs) A weekly digest of the latest developments in the dynamic world of electric vehicles, renewable energy, and more.
• The Energy Transition Show (Chris Nelder) For example, the Smart Meters and Appliances episode.
• Fully Charged Show (cousin of Everything Electric)
• The Great Simplification (with Nate Hagens) Excellent, persuasive animated series that explores the psychology underpinning the human predicament.
• The Green Transition A new weekly podcast about the state of and advances in Green Technology and Sustainable Energy.
• A Matter of Degrees Drs Leah Stokes and Katharine Wilkinson tell stories about the powerful forces behind climate change — and the tools we have to fix it
• OIES Podcast (Oxford University's Institute for Energy Studies)
• Reimagined Energy ( (Maria McGowan) Weekly conversations with influential experts, academia, and organizations leading the way in renewable energy, sustainable business, and clean technology.
• Shift Key (Robinson Meyer & Jesse Jenkins)
• The 360 on Energy and Carbon (podcast about that industry)
• Watt Matters (Foresight media group)
• What is PlugShare? (blnk, 5-1-24) "As the leading 3rd party EV driver app, PlugShare is a service for EV drivers that is meant to help you locate chargers for your vehicle no matter where you are in the world." What A PlugShare Score Really Means (& How It Could Be Better) (Clean Technica 1-19-23)
• Volts A newsletter, podcast, & community interested in EV charging, heat pumps, wind power, or anything else to do with the push to electrification (decarbonization: leaving fossil fuels behind). "A rare combination of wonky deep diver (clean energy) and politics high flier." ($60 annual subscription).
• Zero (Bloomberg podcast) explores the policies, tactics and clean technologies taking us to a future of zero emissions
Covering the opioid crisis:
Addiction, treatment, and recovery
• Covering Substance Use and Addiction Responsibly (Rachel Crowell, Reported Features, The Open Notebook, 5-16-23) This topic carries a long history of marginalizing the people most directly affected. In addition, deeply ingrained societal misconceptions about substance use make it difficult to separate fact from fiction. Journalists can help reverse this pattern. Good reporting on substance use and addiction is both accurate and sensitive, includes sources with lived experience without compounding their trauma, points out scientific limitations, explores how intersecting issues such as mental health and poverty are at play, and, when possible, frames stories around solutions and hope. Offers tips to keep in mind as you work to sharpen your coverage in this area.
• Expert advice on covering drug addiction (Samuel Thomas, Nieman Storyboard, Power of Narrative Conference, 2022) Veteran social issues reporters Beth Macy and Martha Bebinger balance clear-eyed reporting with sensitive interviewing. The involvement of immersion reporters in the lives of those they write about can be unpredictable and variable. Should they simply document situations, or step in to try to help?
• How to cover opioid lawsuits and settlement money (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-13-22) Billions of dollars will soon to be rolling out in the states to settle thousands of lawsuits filed against opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Journalists will play an essential role in shedding light on whether the dollars will actually go towards addressing the opioid crisis, which killed an estimated 80,816 Americans in 2021, and more than 500,000 since 1999, according to CDC data.
To help reporters cover this topic, Taylor Knopf, a North Carolina health news reporter, Shelly Weizman, a lawyer at the Georgetown University O’Neill Institute for National and Global Law center and Albie Park, an addiction counselor, offered resources and tips during a session at Health Journalism 2022 in Austin.
Weizman and Park said their biggest concern was that most of the settlement money wouldn’t go to trying to address the opioid epidemic, but instead would end up in general state and local government coffers to be used for other things like roads and education. This is what happened with the settlement dollars from tobacco lawsuits settled in 1998. Must reading if you're covering this topic.
• The AP Learns to Talk About Addiction. Will Other Media Follow? (Maia Szalavitz, UnDark, 6-6-17) The influential stylebook discards ‘addict’ and ‘alcoholic’ for nonjudgmental language that recognizes addiction as a medical disorder. “Addict” should no longer be used as a noun. “Instead,” the stylebook says, “choose phrasing like ‘he was addicted.’” In short, separate the person from the disease. "Language is complicated and often slow to change — and for a group that has been criminalized, fighting stigma and misinformation is a constant struggle. But when the media start treating people with addiction with the same respect that they use for other patients, perhaps the rest of America will start to accept that addiction is a medical problem and that moralizing and punishment have failed." On the same message: Journalists, Stop Using Words Like Addict and Drug Abuser (Zachary Siegel, Slate, 6-6-17) Being called an “addict” defines my humanity with one small facet of my identity, essentially erasing the rest of me.
• Stigma Primer for Journalists: A Guide to Better Reporting on Substance Use and the People It Impacts (Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction) Includes links to further resources on the topic.
• Four facts every journalist should know when covering the opioid epidemic (Kenneth Feder and Noa Krawczyk, CJR, 8-15-17) #4: A person might have an addiction, but this does not make him or her “an addict.” The word addict carries heavy negative connotations, and the press should not foist this label on persons who are struggling with a chronic illness.
• Journalists on Covering Opioid Addiction and Abuse (C-SPAN, 10-18-17) Journalists from the Washington Post and CBS’s “60 Minutes” discussed their work on a joint investigation into the influence U.S. pharmaceutical companies have over Congress and the federal agencies tasked with regulating their businesses. They talked about their cross-platform collaboration and their methods for identifying and interviewing sources, as well as the response from the public and the subjects of their investigation.
• Covering Addiction Through Solutions Journalism: Solutions, Evidence, and Evidence-based Solutions (Sydney Schaefer, 1-25-18) In this special topics course, a group of students from Temple University’s Department of Journalism in the Klein College of Media and Communication spends a full semester reporting on addiction solutions. Topics to be discussed: harm reduction, detox, inpatient and outpatient rehab, recovery housing, support groups, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), medication-assisted recovery, recovery through fitness, community efforts. Plus questions like How do news organizations impact the public's perception of addiction How has the news media's portrayal of addiction evolved over time? How do race and socioeconomic status play a role in addiction coverage? How can we shift to a solutions-oriented approach in our addiction reporting?
• There’s a highly successful treatment for opioid addiction. But stigma is holding it back. (German Lopez, Vox, 11-15-17) Medication-assisted treatment is often called the gold standard of addiction care. But much of the country has resisted it. Over the past few years, America’s harrowing opioid epidemic — now the deadliest drug overdose crisis in the country’s history — has led to a lot of rethinking about how to deal with addiction. For addiction treatment providers, that’s led to new debates about the merits of the abstinence-only model — many of which essentially consider addiction a failure of willpower — so long supported in the US....The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, for example, used to subscribe almost exclusively to the abstinence-only model, based on an interpretation of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous popularized in American addiction treatment in the past several decades. But in 2012, Hazelden announced a big switch: It would provide medication-assisted treatment...America is finally considering how its response to addiction can be better rooted in science instead of the moralistic stigmatization that’s existed for so long. The research is clear: Medication-assisted treatment works. Lopez compares the safety, ease of use, and effectiveness of methadone, buprenorphine (also known as Suboxone), and Naltrexone.
Medical journalist Norman Bauman responds: The Vox article that she cites goes through the arguments, and the scientific literature (and even quotes Maia Szalavitz). This is bizarre. You have a story that says, "There are arguments on both sides," the evidence she cites shows that arguments on the abstinence side are wrong, and she still supports abstinence.
"The short answer is that methadone/buprenorphine/Suboxone programs are highly effective (or at least the best we've got), and the drug-free programs are failures for the overwhelming majority of patients. Some programs look as if they have reasonably good outcomes after 6 months (although you have to look at dropout rates and the other things in the HealthNewsReview checklist). But only methadone/buprenorphine/Suboxone is effective in the long-term (=>3 year) studies. It's the same pattern with nicotine or obesity. If you compel people into drug-free programs, they will reliably relapse, and get HCV, HIV, and overdose deaths, in great numbers. (That's what happened in Indiana under Pence) There are a few exceptions of people who do manage with abstinence, but you have to make it clear that they are exceptions. If you showed up in the ER with a heart attack, and they offered you one treatment with 10% survival, and another treatment with 90% survival, which one would you take?
(And of course a story that finds people who succeeded long-term with abstinence is going to have survivor bias. Survivorship Bias The people who died aren't going to be around to talk about the failures of abstinence.")
• No Quick Fixes: Telling the Story of Long-term Recovery from Opioid Addiction (Susan Stellin, Nieman Reports,1-24-18) As more people in recovery decide to share their stories, journalists are exploring the under-reported experiences of people who have been drug-free for many years. As media outlets shift from covering the problem of addiction to highlighting potential solutions, many reporters are finding that it's easier to focus on what's wrong with our treatment system rather than identifying how it can or should be fixed. There's a lack of good data about basic questions.
Norman Bauman responds: "As I've said, there are two kinds of balance: (1) False balance. A story that says, "On the one hand, one side says this; on the other hand, one side says that; it's our job to judge who's right. (2) Objective reporting. A story that says, "These are the arguments on side, these are the arguments on the other side, and I (do/don't) have to tell you that the evidence clearly favors one side. I've always argued for (2). This Nieman story is a good example of (1).
This author has an emotional stake in the issue. Her husband is a former IV drug user who has committed to abstinence. I hope he makes it but the odds are pretty good that he will relapse, and if he doesn't, he's a rare exception.
Norman continues: "I'll tell you how to write about opioid drug treatment. Look at the evidence. Look for a review article in the major peer-reviewed journals (the medical librarians recommended NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, and BMJ to me, and those journals always cite Cochrane). Ask the proponents on all sides for evidence published in the peer-reviewed journals. Go through the HealthNewsReview checklist Tips for analyzing studies, medical evidence and health care claims. If somebody says, "I don't have peer-reviewed studies to support my treatments," then he's a medical fraud. It's like treating diabetes with naturopathy."
• Addiction to opioids (Substance abuse and recovery--addiction as a medical condition)
• Notable Narrative: The Cincinnati Enquirer’s stunning “Seven Days of Heroin” (Katia Savchuk, Nieman Storyboard, 9-25-17) As far as Terry DeMio knows, she’s the only journalist in the country with the title “heroin reporter.” She’s been covering the opioid epidemic for The Cincinnati Enquirer for five years, including two on the beat full time. Over one week in July, the paper sent out more than 60 reporters, photographers and videographers to document the impact of heroin in Greater Cincinnati. “We just wanted to show people: This is what a heroin epidemic looks like.”
• Painkiller politics: Effort to curb prescribing under fire (Matthew Perrone, Associated Press, 12-20-15). Perrone examines struggling efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rein in opioid abuse by releasing new guidelines on their use. Facing pushback from the drug industry and the FDA, CDC moved its deadline. Read the story!
• While heroin use grabs headlines, don’t forget coverage of prescription pain meds (Susan Heavey, Covering Health, Association of Health Care Journalists, 1-11-16)
• Only One In Twenty Justice-Referred Adults In Specialty Treatment For Opioid Use Receive Methadone Or Buprenorphine (Noa Krawczyk, Caroline E. Picher, Kenneth A. Feder, and Brendan Saloner, Health Affairs, Dec. 2017) "Of all criminal justice sources, courts and diversionary programs were least likely to refer people to agonist treatment. Our findings suggest that an opportunity is being missed to promote effective, evidence-based care for justice-involved people who seek treatment for opioid use disorder."
• Waiting for Breaking Good: The Media and Addiction Recovery (PDF, William White essay, 2014). He offers twelve points, only some of which are touched on here: 1, Distorted media coverage of active addiction fuels social stigma and contributes to the discrimination that many people in recovery face as they enter the recovery process. 4. Media outlets portray addiction recovery as an exception to the rule....yet scientific studies of alcohol and drug problems in the community consistently reveal that most addictions end in recovery, not with perpetual addiction, prolonged institutionalization, or death. 6. When the story of recovery is told, it is most often told from the perspective of the initiate rather than the perspective of long-term recovery. 10. The media tell the story of recovery only as a personal story rather than a larger story of the role of family and community in addiction recovery. Journalistic coverage of recovery is “rare and tangential,” contributing to a popular perception that overcoming addiction is the exception rather than the norm.
• Covering the opioid crisis Editor-in-Chief Steve Cornwell goes behind the scenes of The Dialog’s coverage of the overdose crisis (12-22-17
• The Opioid Epidemic: A Crisis Years in the Making (Maya Salam, NY Times, 10-26-17) A roundup of the Times's best reporting on the epidemic, including short answers to hard questions about it.
• Strong social media presence helps Md. reporter cover her community’s opioid crisis (Susan Heavey, Covering Health, AHCJ, 10-25-17)
• Turning the Focus from Opioid Addiction to Treatment and Recovery (Susan Stellin, Nieman Reports, Winter 2018) What is still missing from most media coverage is the perspective of people who have been drug-free for many years.
• Mental health services locator, by state (SAMHSA, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration)
• National Addiction Rehab Locator
• Addiction to opioids and psychoactive drugs (background and links to important articles)
• Addiction, treatment and recovery (links to important articles)
• Fraudulent practices in addiction treatment (patient brokers, shoddy care, urine-testing millionaires, Google-gaming rehab ads, and more)
• Opioid addiction with a dark side (e.g., methadone and buprenorphine being subject to "street use" and abuse -- partly because of the hoops we make people jump through to get access to them)
• Helpful books about addiction and recovery
• Culprits in the opioid crisis Who caused what? Who worsened the situation? How can we effectively address the crisis?
• Recovering from addiction: A difficult path (and not short-term)
Peer Review, Reviewed
•The wonderful new trend of ‘peer review’ threads on Twitter (Tara Haille, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-18-21) "Peer review is the process by which journal papers are reviewed for quality, clarity, usefulness and robustness by other researchers in the field before publication. Preprints are papers that have not yet gone through peer review. But anyone who covers medical research knows that simply having been peer-reviewed is no guarantee that a paper really is high-quality or deserved to be published."
• Journalists reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic relied on research that had yet to be peer reviewed (Alice Fleerackers and Lauren A Maggio, The Conversation, 11-24-22) "Journalists have historically been discouraged from reporting on preprints because of fears that the findings could be exaggerated, inaccurate or flat-out wrong. But our new research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed things by pushing preprint-based journalism into the mainstream....
"Traditionally, studies must be read and critiqued by at least two independent experts before they can be published in a scientific journal — a process known as “peer review.” This isn’t the case with preprints, which are posted online almost immediately, without formal review...Unfortunately, many of these outlets failed to mention that these studies were preprints, leaving audiences unaware that the science they were reading hadn’t been peer reviewed."
• What Constitutes Peer Review of Data? A Survey of Peer Review Guidelines (Todd A Carpenter, Scholarly Kitchen, 4-11-17) Peer review of data is similar to peer review of an article, but it includes a lot more issues that make the process a lot more complicated.
• White papers, working papers, and peer-reviewed research articles: What’s the difference? (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 5-3-18) Journalists rely on three types of research papers most often in their work: White papers, working papers and peer-reviewed journal articles. We explain each, pointing out its strengths and weaknesses.
• How to tell good research from flawed research: 13 questions journalists should ask (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 3-28-17) These questions can help journalists avoid biased or otherwise flawed research.
• PLOS ONE Accelerating the publication of peer-reviewed science
• Dana-Farber retractions: meet the blogger who spotted problems in dozens of cancer papers (Max Kozlov, Nature,1-24-24) Nature talks to Sholto David about his process for flagging image manipulation and his tips for scientists under scrutiny.
• Writing for review: Prepping pundits to painlessly publish peer-reviewed papers, Part 1 (Geoffrey Hart, An American Editor, 4-7-21) How editors can help authors prepare their manuscripts for peer review (also useful for authors!). And Part 2 (4-20-21) Things to expect during peer review and how to respond to peer review.
• The wonderful new trend of 'peer review' threads on Twitter (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-18-21) The discussions by physicians, infectious disease experts and epidemiologists about SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 and the pandemic, in general, has been invaluable for a journalist covering these topics
• 10 point guide to dodging publishing pitfalls
• Peer Review Is Science’s Wheel of Misfortune (Ariel Procaccia, Bloomberg, 1-29-20) The system for evaluating the quality of research papers works little better than flipping coins. Budding scholars pay the price.
• The Hubbub about Sci-Hub (McNees round-up of articles on Elsevier and other big science publishers' fight against the Russian woman who put many science articles online free, where people who could not afford pricey science journals could access them. Why did they put all those scientific papers and articles online? "Elsevier, like other journal publishers, pays nothing to acquire researchers’ studies. Moreover, publishers don’t pay for the volunteer peer reviewers or editors. But they charge those same researchers, reviewers and editors, not to mention the public, whose tax dollars most likely funded the study in the first place, to read the resulting articles." As of June 2017, Elsevier et al. won $15 million in damages from Alexandra Elbakyan.
A couple of articles that have been taken down pointed up some of the problems in this field--among them that three firms collect most of the profits from academic publishing, provide very little added value, and rely heavily on two virtually free inputs: the articles and the peer review process. Journal prices keep going up, library budgets keep going down, teachers depend on academic publishing to achieve tenure, and the peer review process is definitely not foolproof. The part of academic written output that is not formally published but merely printed up or posted on the Internet is often called the “grey literature." Most scientific and scholarly journals, and many academic and scholarly books, though not all, are based on some form of peer review or editorial refereeing to qualify texts for publication. Peer review quality and selectivity standards vary greatly from journal to journal, publisher to publisher, and field to field
• What is open peer review? A systematic review (Tony Ross-Hellauer, PMC, 8-31-17)
How and if peer review works
"Peer review is the process by which journal papers are reviewed for quality, clarity, usefulness and robustness by other researchers in the field before publication. Preprints are papers that have not yet gone through peer review. But anyone who covers medical research knows that simply having been peer-reviewed is no guarantee that a paper really is high-quality or deserved to be published." ~The wonderful new trend of ‘peer review’ threads on Twitter (Tara Haille, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-18-21)
• ‘The notices are utterly unhelpful’: A look at how journals have handled allegations about hundreds of papers (Retraction Watch 5-20-21) Retraction Watch ‘The notices are utterly unhelpful’: A look at how journals have handled allegations about hundreds of papers. The Retraction Watch Mass Resignations List
• What Constitutes Peer Review of Data? A Survey of Peer Review Guidelines (Todd A Carpenter, The Scholarly Kitchen, 4-11-17)
• Meet the ‘data thugs’ out to expose shoddy and questionable research (Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky of Retraction Watch, Science, 2-14-18) Data whistleblowers Nick Brown and James Heathers,have helped start a conversation about publicly confronting potentially problematic results in science journals and have had some success in getting journals to act. They say just about anyone with rudimentary math skills and a willingness to go public could replicate what they are doing. So why aren’t more scientists following suit? Says Heathers, "In short, peer review misses all the hard stuff, and a worrying amount of the easy stuff."
• A new record: Major publisher (Springer) retracting more than 100 studies from cancer journal over fake peer reviews (Retraction Watch)
• Classical Peer Review: An Empty Gun (Richard Smith, PubMed Central, 12-20-10) "The Cochrane Collaboration, the organization that through its systematic reviews produces the most reliable evidence in medicine and health care, has reviewed the evidence on peer review of manuscripts and of grant proposals. This is its conclusion on peer review of manuscripts: 'At present, little empirical evidence is available to support the use of editorial peer review as a mechanism to ensure quality of biomedical research'. And here is its conclusion on peer review of grant proposals: 'There is little empirical evidence on the effects of grant giving peer review. No studies assessing the impact of peer review on the quality of funded research are presently available'.
"If peer review is to be thought of primarily as a quality assurance method, then sadly we have lots of evidence of its failures. The pretentiously named medical literature is shot through with poor studies."
"We have little or no evidence that peer review 'works,' but we have lots of evidence of its downside....
"Firstly, it is very expensive in terms of money and academic time. The cost in time and money is much increased by studies working their way down the food chain of journals. And we know that if authors persist long enough, you can get anything published.
"This expensive and time consuming process might be acceptable if it sorted the information effectively, with the most important studies being in the most important journals. Not only does this not happen (see below) but this ineffective sorting of information introduces an important bias - because the 'sexier' articles end up in the 'top' journals. The many people who read these journals because they think that they are reading what is most important are actually being presented with a distorted view of science."
• What Constitutes Peer Review of Data? A Survey of Peer Review Guidelines (Todd A Carpenter, The Scholarly Kitchen, 4-11-17)
• Humor among peer reviewers. César Sánchez, in his blog Twisted Bacteria, quotes from the annual December issue of Environmental Microbiology, which features humorous quotes peer reviewers made while assessing manuscripts submitted to the journal.
• Investigating Science: All Hands on Deck (Liza Gross, 7-3-18) A plea to save HealthNewsReview.org, with its valuable peer reviews of health research.
• Uncovering new peer review problems – this time at The BMJ (Kevin Lomangino, HealthNewsReview, 4-18-18) 'Melissa S. Anderson said that even if these reviewers provided an accurate assessment of the science, the fact that they are close collaborators of the authors casts significant doubt on their conclusions. “If it looks bad, it’s a conflict of interest.”'
Retraction Watch
• Retraction Watch, a project of the nonprofit Center for Scientific Integrity "Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process."
"Use its searchable online database to identify trends, such as a spike in retractions on a particular topic or from a specific researcher or institution," writes Denise-Marie Ordway in "4 tips for tracking flawed research," postscript to a piece about how academic journals and journalists perpetuate misinformation in their handling of research retractions.
• The Retraction Watch FAQ, including comments policy
• Retraction Watch Database User Guide Frequently asked questions and answers.
• 'New York Times' Retracts Core of Hit Podcast Series 'Caliphate' On ISIS (David Folkenflik, NY Times, 12-18-2020) The New York Times has retracted the core of its hit 2018 podcast series Caliphate after an internal review found the paper failed to heed red flags indicating that the man it relied upon for its narrative about the allure of terrorism could not be trusted to tell the truth. Canadian authorities this fall accused the man, Shehroze Chaudhry, of lying about those activities. He currently faces criminal charges in a federal court in Ontario of perpetrating a terrorism hoax. The newspaper has reassigned its star terrorism reporter, Rukmini Callimachi, who hosted the series.
---An Arrest in Canada Casts a Shadow on a New York Times Star, and The Times (Ben Smith, NY Times, 10-11-20) "We fell in love with the fact that we had gotten a member of ISIS who would describe his life in the caliphate and would describe his crimes," New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet tells NPR in an interview on Thursday. "I think we were so in love with it that when we saw evidence that maybe he was a fabulist, when we saw evidence that he was making some of it up, we didn't listen hard enough."
• Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures (Nidhi Subbaraman, Wall Street Journal, 5-14-24) Fake studies have flooded the publishers of top scientific journals, leading to thousands of retractions and millions of dollars in lost revenue. Wiley to shutter 19 more journals, some tainted by large-scale research fraud.
• Retractions: A Missed Opportunity? (Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 6-16-22) New paper says retractions take too long to meaningfully influence public debates about important topics.
• The Retraction Watch Mass Resignations List (Retraction Watch) In 2023 alone, editors of five journals on topics ranging from mathematics to biogeography all quit at once because of disputes with their publishing companies. Mass resignations of editors from scholarly journals aren’t new – the Open Access Directory has a list of some such actions going back to 1989. But the frequency appears to have picked up in recent years, as well as the attention some mass resignation events draw.
• How hijacked journals keep fooling one of the world’s leading databases (Retraction Watch, 5-26-21)
• The retraction countdown: How quickly do journals pull papers? (Retraction Watch) The time between identifying a problem to retracting the paper can vary — and sometimes last years.After the University of Maryland asked 11 journals to take action on 26 papers by cancer researcher Anil Jaiswal, some acted relatively quickly—issuing retractions or corrections within four to six months—while others have not taken any action yet. (Comment: There’s a direct correlation between how much buzz the misconduct has generated on PubPeer, RW, social media or the popular press.)
• Retracted coronavirus (COVID-19) papers
• Academic journals, journalists perpetuate misinformation in their handling of research retractions, a new study finds(Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 5-25-21) Journals can take months to years to retract unreliable research. Journalists often fail to tell the public when scientific discoveries later are determined invalid or fraudulent, a new paper reveals. DO READ: 4 tips for tracking flawed research.
• What a massive database of retracted papers reveals about science publishing’s ‘death penalty’ (Jeffrey Brainard, Jia You, Science, 10-25-18) Better editorial oversight, not more flawed papers, might explain a flood of retractions.
• Retraction Watch:The notices are utterly unhelpful (Retraction Watch, 5-20-21) A look at how journals have handled allegations about hundreds of papers.
Covering HIV and AIDS
• Covering HIV angles and updated HIV and AIDS resources tip sheet (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, AHCJ, 6-25-21)
• Reporting on HIV and AIDS: A Primer (NLGJA, Association of LGBTQ Journalists)
• HIV Transmission (CDC) Answers some of the most common questions about the risk of HIV transmission for different types of sex, injection drug use, and other activities. You can also download materials about HIV transmission.
• HIV-Plus Style Guide: Reporting on People wiht HIV and AIDS First, ask these three questions when covering an HIV-related story:
Is HIV relevant to the story? If it is not meaningfully linked to the story, there is no need to mention it.
What is your source for the HIV diagnosis? Don’t rely on hearsay. If someone’s HIV status is relevant, make sure your source knows with certainty the person’s diagnosis.
What is the most accurate language to use? Avoid using derogatory words, and be as specific as possible when describing someone living with HIV to help prevent stereotypes. Use these terminology guidelines below as your guide.
• Lecture 4: Reporting Tools for Covering HIV/AIDS (KFF)
• HIV/AIDS Reporting Manual, Style Guide, KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2012)
• Tip Sheet: Respectfully Covering HIV and AIDS (GLAAD, 10-24-17)
• Medicaid and HIV (Kaiser Family Foundation) Medicaid is the largest source of insurance coverage for people with HIV, estimated to cover 42% of the adult population, compared to just 13% of the adult population overall.
• The Affordable Care Act and HIV/AIDS (HIV.gov, 10-7-22)
• What Is the HIV Care Continuum? (HIV.gov) This public health model outlines the steps or stages that people with HIV go through from diagnosis to achieving and maintaining viral suppression (a very low or undetectable amount of HIV in the blood) through care and treatment with HIV medicine called antiretroviral therapy or ART.
Diverse voices in science writing
(with support from Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation and The Open Notebook)
• Including Diverse Voices in Science Stories (Christina Selby,The Open Notebook) A necessary first step in countering one’s own social biases is recognizing and acknowledging that they exist. Relying heavily on past media coverage to find expert sources can perpetuate the exclusion of underrepresented groups. Breaking out of that mold requires casting a wider net and searching more systematically for sources. Includes tips for finding scientists of color who have experience working with the media, a case study from one newsroom already tracking sources, databases to find diverse sources, a host of Twitter accounts and lists to help get you acquainted, affinity groups and field-specific resources, and much more.
• Diverse Voices in Science Journalism (The Open Notebook and the National Association of Science Writers Diversity Committee) An excellent series on the experiences, expertise, and perspectives of science journalists from communities underrepresented in science journalism.
• Expanding the Geographical Borders of Your Source List (Karen Emslie, Diverse Voices series, Open Notebook, 5-9-23) Building a geographically diverse source list, with a particularly long, detailed list of Resources for Finding Scientist Sources in the Global South
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources (The Open Notebook) Links to dozens of resources.
• Why Janie Can't Engineer: Raising Girls to Succeed (Pat McNees site) See also, on same site: Cool Science Sites for Kids and New Formulas for America's Workforce: Engaging More Girls in Science and Engineering.
• A Science Writer’s Guide to U.S. Visas (Meenakshi Prabhune, TheOpenNotebook, 5-28-19)
• Decolonizing Science Writing in South Africa (Sibusiso Biyela, The Open Notebook, National Association of Science Writers, 2-12-19) Sibusiso Biyela was assigned to write a piece in Zulu about a new dinosaur species discovered in South Africa. But Zulu doesn't have words for "dinosaur" or "fossil." "My news piece wasn't just a news piece," Biyela writes. "It was an attempt to tell a science story in a language that science overlooked--to help right a societal wrong." He discusses how he navigated those challenges, and he draws on both his experiences and the work of others by reporting on science in an indigenous African language..
• The Science Byline Counting Project: Where Are the Women—and Where Are They Not? (Cynthia Graber and Katharine Gammon, TON, 2-10-16)
• Why Is It So Hard for Foreign Journalists to Break into U.S. and European Outlets? (Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, TON, 8-29-17) A conversation among a half-dozen editors and writers.
• Gender Differences in Pitching: Results from the TON Pitching Habits Survey (Jane C. Hu, TON, NASW, 2-14-17)
• Writing When on the Autism Spectrum (Kelly Brenner, TON, NASW, 10-9-18) 'But many of us in the autism community—including me—favor “identify-first” language. We believe that autistic people can speak for ourselves, and that it is we who should dictate the language we use to describe ourselves. And we regard autism not as an illness we suffer from but as an inextricable part of our identity, and we would rather frame it as something positive.' "Yes, autistic traits are part of us, but we can learn to manage and even capitalize on them."
• On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness (Alex Riley, TON, 7-18-17) "There’s no one-size-fits-all prescription for writing about science while managing a mental illness. The relationship between the two is different for everyone....I see the days when I can write as a gift from my brain. I cherish them, and they can even help me recover."
• Writing Well About Disability (Rachel Zamzow, TON, 10-24-17) "Treating disabled people as sources of inspiration simply because they have a disability reduces them to objects of others’ entertainment and curiosity....“Social media has been the game changer, because now people with disabilities, disability organizations, and disability-rights advocates are able to kind of drive the coverage." Directories, databases, and lists of diverse resources for journalists
Directories and databases representing diversity of various types
• Database of Diverse Databases (Editors of Color) Find field-specific experts in various scientific fields.
• Disabled writers doing journalism.
• Diverse Sources Database of scientific experts from underrepresented communities, to find underrepresented voices and perspectives in your science, health and environment work.
• 500 Queer Scientists
• NPR Source of the Week (browse by area of expertise, last name, or geographic location)
• People of Color Experts (POC Experts directory)
• Women in Physics Speakers List and the Minority Speakers List (American Physical Society)
• Women+ Sourcelist, 744 tech policy experts.
• The Women’s Media Center’s SheSource
When science bucks science denial, ideology, or special interests
• How to cover academic research fraud and errors: 4 big takeaways from our webinar (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalitst's Resource, 12-5-23) In 2022, academic journals retracted more than 4,600 scientific papers, often because of ethical violations or research fraud, according to the Retraction Watch blog and database. Read these tips from Ivan Oransky, Elisabeth Bik and Jodi Cohen, three experts who have covered research misconduct or have hands-on experience monitoring or detecting it. Bottom line: Early in the reporting process, ask independent experts to help you confirm whether a research study has problems.
The Journalist’s Resource created a tip sheet on using PubPeer in August. Tip #1 from that tip sheet: Install a free PubPeer browser extension. When you look up a published research paper, or when you visit a website that links to a research paper, the browser extension will alert you to any comments made about it on PubPeer.
---5 tips for using PubPeer to investigate scientific research errors and misconduct (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalitst's Resource, 8-1-23) PubPeer, a website where scholars critique one another’s work, is an excellent investigative reporting tool. These five tips will help you make the best use of it. Tip #1 from that tip sheet: Install a free PubPeer browser extension.
---Science Integrity Digest (A blog about science integrity, by Elisabeth Bik, for Harbers-Bik LLC) .
• Is There a Crisis of Truth? (Steven Shapin, Los Angeles Review of Books, 12-2-19) "Astrology and homeopathy flourish in modern Western societies, almost a majority of the American adult public doesn't believe in evolution, and a third of young Americans think that the Earth may be flat....The problem we confront is better described not as too little science in public culture but as too much. Given the absurdities and errors abroad in the land, it may seem crazy to say this, yet the point can be pressed. Consider, again, the climate change deniers, the anti-vaxxers, and the creationists. They're wrong-headed of course, but, like the Moon-landing deniers and the Flat-Earthers, their rejection of Right Thinking is not delivered as anti-science. Instead, it comes garnished with the supposed facts, theories, approved methods, and postures of objectivity and disinterestedness associated with genuine science. Wrong-headedness often advertises its embrace of officially cherished scientific values — skepticism, disinterestedness, universalism, the distinction between secure facts and provisional theories — and frequently does so more vigorously than the science rejected. The deniers' notion of science sometimes seems, so to speak, hyperscientific, more royalist than the king."
• How to Talk to a Science Denier (Discussion on The Takeaway, Melissa Harris-Perry, Lee McIntyre, and parents, NYC Studios, 9-1-21) Listen or read transcript. How do we get the skeptics, anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists on board to take the vaccine? With so much misinformation and disinformation about the COVID vaccines and about masking, a lot of people are getting their information from unreliable sources. Why? Because some of those unreliable sources are places that make them feel like they're smart, they belong, they are right to have questions. One way to begin to have a conversation with someone who distrusts you is simply to listen, to let them at first just get it out of their system because they're emotionally upset and they need to know that they've been heard.
• Opinion: Trolling Is Taking a Toll on Science Journalism (Lisa Palmer & Silvio Waisbord, Undark, 5-5-22) Science journalists say they face threats of online harassment — and that newsrooms are doing little to protect them. Reporters can be left to wrestle with the consequences of online harassment by themselves.Some newsrooms offer general digital safety training, but those may address topics that aren’t directly geared toward confronting online abuses and attacks.
• When ideology or special interests hijack science topics (Susan D'Agostino, National Association of Science Writesrs, 11-14-19). Among points made by this NASW panel: “Universities present themselves as great bastions of liberal humanistic values,” said panelist Beryl Benderly, a prize-winning journalist and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She quickly added that, in reality, universities are “systemic exploiters on a massive, massive, disgraceful scale of cheap labor and the aspirations of idealistic young people.” The latter is a fact-based assessment of universities’ swelling ranks of contingent faculty who do not earn living wages and doctoral students who serve as cheap labor before graduating into flooded job markets. In citing the false narrative put forth by university administrators and tenured faculty, Benderly did not suggest that they lie with intention. Rather, all panelists emphasized human adeptness in dismissing information that conflicts with one’s own worldview."
On the same panel: "'I go in understanding that my top priority is to question my own understanding,' said said Tamar Haspel, a columnist for the Washington Post. This writer was reminded of her reasons for having entered science journalism. That is, writing about science, like science itself, is about discovery. The process benefits when minds are wide open."
• What You Believe about “Science Denial” May Be All Wrong (Kari Fischer, Opinion, The Scientist, 2-11-19) "Whether it be climate change debates, vaccine fears, or skepticism of genetically engineered crops, the media is full of stories about those who distrust the conclusions or motivations of the scientific community....In November 2018, Rutgers Global Health Institute and the New York Academy of Sciences hosted a conference entitled Science Denial: Lessons and Solutions, supported in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Livestreamed here.). Among lessons learned: "It's not 'science denial' and labeling someone a 'denier' only leads to their re-entrenchment. Plus, few people reject science in its entirety. We are much more likely to encounter individuals who believe in climate change, for example, but choose not to inoculate their children due to vaccine hesitancy. More importantly, we ALL have a tendency to cherry-pick facts that support our beliefs, and eschew those that fail to comport with our motivations, ideologies, or fears." Keep it relevant: "When we transition to sharing information, we should present it in a way that is relatable to our target audience and their community. Rather than talking about how climate change is disastrous for polar bears, which most people are not likely to encounter, we can describe ways in which it will affect them immediately. For example, one speaker from northern Wisconsin learned from local winter loggers that the ground was not freezing as much in recent years, causing their machinery to sink in the mud. In addition, we can help our audience arrive at a new understanding by asking them to evaluate the evidence for themselves, so try offering data instead of conclusions." Excellent advice; read the whole brief article.
• How to Debate a Science Denier (Diana Kwon, Scientific American, 6-25-19) "A new finding shows that marshaling facts and identifying an opponent's rhetorical techniques are effective at dampening a skeptic's message...These results counter a so-called backfire effect, in which debating a science denier may actually reinforce people's misconceptions. While a handful of studies have provided evidence that such unintended results may be widespread, more recent investigations have found that these effects may be limited to specific circumstances—such as among people whose fundamental beliefs about a functioning society are challenged by the new information."
• Yes, it's worth arguing with science deniers — and here are some techniques you can use (Laura Hazard Owen, Nieman Lab, 6-28-19) "We wanted to see if we could pre-emptively debunk, or 'pre-bunk,' fake news by exposing people to a weak dose of the methods used to create and spread disinformation, so they have a better understanding of how they might be deceived," said Sander van der Linden, director of the Social Decision-Making Lab at the University of Cambridge...Researchers created the Bad News Game, a browser-based game in which players pretend to be a fake news creator: Players gain followers and credibility by going through a number of scenarios, each focusing on one of six strategies commonly used in the spread of misinformation [impersonating people online, using emotional language, polarization, conspiracy theories, discrediting opponents, and trolling people online]. At the end of each scenario, players earn a specific fake news badge…Players are rewarded for making use of the strategies that they learn in the game, and are punished (in terms of losing credibility or followers) for choosing options in line with ethical journalistic behavior. They gradually go from being an anonymous social media presence to running a (fictional) fake news empire.
SEE ALSO
Climate change: Understanding, covering, and writing or arguing about it
Organizations for Medical and Science Writers
• Alliance for Health Reform provides excellent Web resources and will help you find experts to interview. See in particular Covering Health Issues: A Sourcebook for Journalists .
• American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM), geared to academics, though physicians also get CME credits for attending annual conference. Offers a Supercourse (a global repository of lectures on public health and preventive health care, on epidemiology and global health. Supercourse described here.
••• American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) promotes excellence in medical communication through education, publications, and networking. Provides training and certificates and is working with several other organizations toward providing certification (a more expensive and elaborate ongoing process). Cynthia Haggard had a history of AMWA on her excellent Clarifying blog.
• Appalachian Science Communicators
• Arab Science Journalists Association (ASJA)
• Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE)
• Association of British Science Writers (ABSW)
• Associations of science journalists that belong to the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), including (among forty national, regional, or international organizations) the Arab Science Journalists Association (ASJA) and the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW)
• Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE)
••• Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ). Extremely helpful organization. listserv, and conference for health and medical writers, with excellent resources available only to members. These include Covering Medical Research, the 2010 slim guide for understanding and reporting on studies (by Gary Schwitzer with Ivan Oransky), for AHCJ and the Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism; Covering Health in a Multicultural Society: A resource guide for journalists; Covering Hospitals: Using Tools on the Web; Covering Obesity: A Guide for Reporters ; Covering the Health of Local Nursing Homes ; Covering the Quality of Health Care: A Resource Guide for Journalists; Covering Medical Research: A Guide for Reporting on Studies; and Navigating the CDC: A Journalist’s Guide to the CDC Web Site . Plus issues of Health Beat, AHCJ's journal.
• Association of Health Care Journalists Statement of Principless
• Association of Independent Information Professionals (aiip, an industry association for owners of independent information businesses)
• Atomic Reporters Supporting journalists covering nuclear news
• AuthorAID -- a global research community providing networking, mentoring, resources and training to help developing country researchers publish their work
••• Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS). See Becoming a board-certified editor.
• Canadian Science Writers' Association (CSWA). Here's one issue they took up: Unmuzzle scientists, federal leaders urged (Emily Chung, CBC News, 4-16-11) 'A group representing 500 science journalists and communicators across Canada sent an open letter Tuesday to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May documenting recent instances where they say federal scientists have been barred from talking about research funded by taxpayers "We urge you to free the scientists to speak," the letter said. "Take off the muzzles and eliminate the script writers and allow scientists — they do have PhDs after all — to speak for themselves." '
• The Congress of Regional Science Writers Groups (SciWriCongress) An online resource for managers and leaders of regional science writers groups (see NASW, below).
• Council of Science Editors (CSE) (formerly the Council of Biology Editors, CBE). See CSE's Facebook page for style tips from CSE's manual, journal Science Editor, Scientific Style and Format
• Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW). CASW has its own descriptions of four science writers organizations.
• DC Science Writers Association (DCSWA, pronounced DUCK-swah)
• DC Science Cafe
• DC Science Comedy
• Drug Information Association (DIA)
• Environment and Energy Collaborative (NPR, Original reporting on climate, environment, and an energy system in transition)
• The European Association of Science Editors (EASE)
• European Medical Writers Association (EMWA)
• Guild of Health Writers (UK)
• Health and Science Communications Association (H&SCA)
• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (known as the Vancouver Group, ICMJE). (I am not providing a link because my Norton software rates the site as unsafe in terms of computer threats.)
• International Science Writers Association (ISWA)
• International Society for the History of Medicine (SIHM)
• International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), pronounced IzMap (for stakeholders involved in the publication of medical research, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and device companies, medical publications and communications agencies, medical journal publishers and editors, and professional medical writers). Provides a formal, voluntary professional certification examination
• International Society of Managing and Technical Editors (ISMTE), training and networking for editorial office staff in academic, scientific, medical, technical and professional publishing
• JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments, the first PubMed-indexed video methods journal in biology)
• Medical Journalists’ Association (UK)
••• National Association of Science Writers (NASW), a major national U.S. association. NASW maintains eight public email lists for the discussion of subjects of interest to science writers (see NASW discussion groups) and two lists available only to members (including NASW Jobs). It publishes A Field Guide for Science Writers by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig. See also NASW's list of Local science writing groups and a full list of Writer resources, including Online resources for science writers, which includes a database of funding sources for science writers, a Fair Pay Tip Sheet, The Fine Print (contracts various members have shared), WordsWorth (journalists reporting on their clients), and (for nonmembers also) Marketing and publishing resources. A particular favorite of mine: Advance Copy: Backstories on books by NASW members (in which NASW book editor Lynne Lamberg asks NASW authors to tell how they came up with the idea for their book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. She also asks what they wish they had known before they began working on their book, what they might do differently the next time, and what tips they can offer aspiring authors. See also Problems covering government agencies for a discussion of issues associated with the relative power of journalists and public information officers (PIOs) in NASW (a persistent touchy spot).Additional short books of possible interest
---The Science Writers' Essay Handbook: How to Craft Compelling True Stories in Any Medium by Michelle Nijhuis
---The Science Writers' Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age by Writers of SciLance, ed.by Thomas Hayden and Michelle Nijhuis
---The Science Writers' Investigative Reporting Handbook: A Beginner's Guide to Investigations by Liza Gross
• National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals (NC-CME)
• National Education Technology Writers Association (NETWA)
• New England Science Writers (NESW)
• Northern California Science Writers Association (NCSWA, pronounced NICK swa)
• Northwest Science Writers Association (NSWA)
• Nurse Author & Editor (newsletters may be helpful)
• The Open Notebook's Science Writers Database
• Organizations for technical writers (links to an international list of professional organizations, maintained by Peter Ring consultants, Denmark)
• Penn State Association of Science Writers (a/k/a Penn State Science Writers Group)
• Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS) (making better healthcare products possible)
• Science and Medicine SIG of the American Society of Indexers (ASI)
• Science Literacy Foundation seeks to empower science journalists to publish in the "science news desert" through grants, programs, and other efforts. The Foundation also has plans to do scicomm research to see why these communications have become so difficult throughout some of the US.
• Science Storytellers (kids interview scientists just as journalists do)
• Science Writers & Communicators of Canada
• Science Writers Database The Open Notebook’s free, public database of journalists, writers, editors, and other communicators who cover science and related fields. You can browse the database or use its search, sort, and filter tools to find potential colleagues, freelancers, conference panelists, mentors, voices to follow on social media, and more.
• Science Writers in New York (SWINY, or ScienceWritersNYC) Subscribe to their wonderful Virtual Conversations (video, online): ScienceWritersNYC YouTube videos (virtual conversations with various specialists).
• SciWriCongress (#SciWriCongress #SciWriUnited) An online resource for managers and leaders of regional science writers groups, supports more than 16 local professional networks in US.
••• Society for Technical Communication (STC), many local chapter
••• Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)
• Solutions Journalism Network (covering what’s missing in today’s news: how people are responding to problems)
• Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science (SAHMS)
• World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), for editors of peer-reviewed medical journals)
• World Conference of Science Journalists (Helsinki, Finland, June 24-28, 2013). ‘Killer’ science journalists of the future ready to take over the world! (Bora Zivkovic, Scientific American blog, 9-23-12, reporting on the 2012 World Conference of Science Journalists)
••• World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), made up of forty member associations. Held its first U.S.-based conference Oct. 26-30, 2017, in San Francisco (theme: Bridging Science and Societies).
Science writing (and reporting) seminars, workshops, and internships
• Truth in Numbers (Cathy Shufro, Dartmouth Medicine.) A story about Medicine in the Media. During the nine years since it was initiated, 500 journalists have attended the course, which is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Medicine in the Media at Geisel, and the White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Vermont. "We want doctors, the public, and policymakers to know what they can and cannot get from various medications, treatments, and interventions." Related reading: Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics, by Steven Woloshin, Lisa M. Schwartz, and H. Gilbert Welch.
• Science Reporting Quick Tips
---Finding Expert Scientific Sources (The Open Notebook)
---Finding and Including Diverse Sources
---Making Sense of Scientific Studies
---Stats Terms for Covering Science
• Spotting Shady Statistics (TON)
• The Intern’s Survival Guide (Rachael Lallensack, The Open Notebook, NASW, 8-28-18) Drawing on her own experience and that of some of her former supervisors and colleagues (including Jane Lee, Lindzi Wessel, David Grimm, Lauren Morello), Rachael presents tips for how to survive and thrive at internships important to many science writers.
"Overwhelmingly, the feedback I got from editors while reporting this story boiled down to a simple directive: ask more questions." Ask for help, build a network, overcome self-doubt ("Play the long game"), develop an organizational strategy for keeping track of key information ("such as deadlines, interviews and meetings, and plans for following up with sources").
• Science Journalism Master Classes (The Open Notebook, supported by a grant from The Kavli Foundation Sharpen your ability to find and vet story ideas, craft effective pitches, report and write impactful stories, collaborate with editors, and more.
• Finding and Landing the Right Internship in Science Writing (Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, The Open Notebook, 5-23-17)
• The Open Notebook (links to more reported features on this invaluable site).
• Medicine in the Media: : Debunking journal reports and news at #NIHMiM12 (NIH canceled its Medicine in the Media in 2013 because of sequestration, but you can read Judy Stone's 2012 piece on the course in Scientific American, 10-19-12) The course was co-sponsored by the NIH, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Very helpful links.
• Archived events, Knight Digital Media Center (available to registered members only)
• Narrative Medicine workshops provide narrative training with stories of illness to enable "practitioners to comprehend patients’ experiences and to understand what they themselves undergo as clinicians." (See separate entry for Narrative Medicine, for more information.)
• Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop
• Writing in the Sciences (Stanford Online) Courses by Platform (Stanford Openedx)
Related:
• Certification for medical writers. The Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP) exam is a three-hour, 150-item, multiple-choice computer-based examination, open to both members of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) members and nonmembers. Holding the certificate shows you have a thorough working knowledge of all aspects of medical publishing, including planning, execution, and professional ethics.
• Writing Science: Transforming Students’ Science Writing by Tapping into Writing Instruction Scholarship and Best Practices (Bethann Garramon Merkle, Bulletin, Ecological Society of America, 1-2-19) Highlights from the book Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom on how to become a better writing instructor.
•Medical Writer Certification (American Medical Writers Association) and MWC FAQs
• CMEP ( continuing medical education credit points )
• Google "science writing workshop" and you'll find some courses associated with colleges and universities. See also
• Bars and Pies Make Better Desserts than Figures , a sample chapter from Clinical Chemistry Guide to Scientific Writing (Clinical Chemistry's series of educational articles on how to design and write scientific research papers for publication--free online). Articles included:
Part 1. The Title Says It All
Part 2. The Abstract and the Elevator Talk: A Tale of Two Summaries
Part 3. "It was a cold and rainy night": Set the Scene with a Good Introduction
Part 4. Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why: The Ingredients in the Recipe for a Successful Methods Section
Part 5. Show Your Cards: The Results Section and the Poker Game
Part 6. If an IRDAM Journal Is What You Choose, Then Sequential Results Are What You Use
Part 7. Put Your Best Figure Forward: Line Graphs and Scattergrams
Part 8. Bars and Pies Make Better Desserts than Figures
Part 9. Bring Your Best to the Table
Part 10. The Discussion Section: Your Closing Argument
Part 11. Giving Credit: Citations and References
Part 12. How to Write a Rave Review
Part 13. Top 10 Tips for Responding to Reviewer and Editor Comments
Part 14. Passing the Paternité Test
• Working as a Medical Writer (Sarah A. Webb, Science, 6-22-07)
Degree programs in science writing
• Boston University, Science Journalism. Here is their FAQs page.
• MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing (a one-year Master's degree program). Here's Scope (the program's student publication)
• NYU Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) (New York University, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute) Who We Are: Storytellers with a Passion for Science. What We Do: A Customized Curriculum, a Hands-On Approach. Where We Work: NYC, the World Capital of Science Journalism.
• University of California at Santa Cruz (Science Communication Program)
• Program on Hiatus (Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed, 5-3-13). "The Hopkins science writing program was always an odd fit for the institution, Finkbeiner said -- not that it contradicted the research university’s mission, but because it was housed alongside a master of fine arts program in fiction and poetry in the writing seminars department. It also relied wholly on part-time employees and adjunct instructors....Programs that exist independently seem to be faring worse than those that can draw on the resources of a full-fledged journalism school."
• Johns Hopkins Graduate Science Writing Program to Close (Michael Price, Science, 5-1-13)
• Columbia Suspends Environmental Journalism Program (Curtis Brainard, CJR, 10-19-09). Falling employment, rising education costs to blame. "Although our graduates have done well in their careers, even those still employed are finding few opportunities to do the kind of substantive reporting for which the dual degree program has trained them, as they scramble to do their own work plus that of laid-off colleagues. "
Online writing workshops, courses
• Analytical writing for science & technology (T.M.Georges' online course, recommended by Sarah Wernick)
• Chest's Medical Writing Tip of the Month (your own personal online medical writing course). Chest Online--and it's free! PDF files of such articles as Reporting a Systematic Review; Hypothesis Testing, Study Power, and Sample Size; Comments on Writing Letters to the Editor: Moving From Duels and Fencing to Belles Lettres; Translating Patient Education Materials; Reporting "Basic Results" in ClinicalTrials.gov; Backing Up Your Statements: How To Perform Literature Searches To Prove Your Points; When a Picture Needs 1,000 Words; Abstracts for Professional Meetings: Small But Mighty; On the Table: Form and Function. Genuinely informative series.
• ****Clinical Chemistry Guide to Scientific Writing (free, online--full text, from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• Online course offerings, Medical editing (University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Liberal and
Professional studies)
• Science Journalism Master Classes (The Open Notebook) are a series of short, online courses delivered by email. Funded by the Kavli Foundation, these hands-on courses are free. They are designed to help science writers wherever they are in their careers. They will help you sharpen your ability to find and vet story ideas, craft effective pitches, report and write impactful stories, spot scientific hype, collaborate with editors, and more. Classes are free, thanks to a generous grant from The Kavli Foundation. Each course drills into one skill or habit, presented in a series of five to eight lessons, delivered by email. You can sign up for our courses at any time and get started immediately—there’s no set start date. Each lesson includes a (brief) self-directed homework assignment. Most assignments should take less than an hour to complete. Each day during this six-day course, subscribers will get an email from Emily Laber-Warren, who heads the Health & Science Reporting program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Session topics include
How to Find an Angle for Any Science Story
How to Pitch Stories that Sell
How to Spot Scientific Hype and Misinformation
How to Ace the Study Story
How to Center People in Science Stories
• Online Course in Science Journalism (WFSJ and SciDev.Net), created by the World Federation of Science Journalists in close cooperation with the Science and Development Network, for use by professional journalists, journalism students and teachers. The first eight lessons (free for use by anyone in the world):
1) Planning and structuring your work (Jan Lublinkski)
2) Finding and judging science stories (Julie Clayton)
3) The interview (Christina Scott)
4) Writing skills (Nadia El-Awady)
5) What is science? (Gervais Mbarga and Jean-Marc Fleury)
6) Reporting on controversies (KS Jayaraman)
7) Reporting on science policy (Hepeng Jia and Richard Stone)
8) How to shoot science (Šárka Speváková and Carolyn Robinson).
For each course there is an e-lecture, self-teaching questions, assignments, and PDF versions. Read the User's Guide to the Online Course in Science Journalism . The course is available in English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Turkish.
• Freelance Medical Writing.: Make a 6-Figure Income and Work at Home Using Your Scientific/Medical Background (Books 1-6 from Emma Hitt Nichols' online course). Available as one book or several:
• 1–Medical Writing Prerequisite Skills and First Steps
• 2–Setting up Shop
• 3–Writing the Medical News
• 4–Writing Continuing Medical Education
• 5–Feature Article Writing for Science Journals, Magazines, and Trade Mags
• 6–Running Your Freelance Medical Writing Business
Problems covering government agencies
• Our job isn't to spin news (Sandra Sanchez, Commentary, The Monitor, 9-29-17) Op-ed emphasizing that it is not journalists' jobs to "spin" news for government officials.
• Today’s federal agencies are ‘highly message-controlled.’ Here’s what that means for health reporting (Trudy Lieberman, Columbia Journalism Review, 11-10-15)
• Talk to the Hand (Jenni Bergal, Nieman Reports, Spring 2014) Public health reporters say federal agencies are restricting access and information, limiting their ability to cover crucial health issues
• For successful information requests, be familiar with guidelines for public affairs staff of the Department of Health and Human Services (Irene M. Wielawski, Covering Health, 7-27-15). See earlier piece: HHS releases guidelines for handling media requests (Pia Christensen, Covering Health, 9-22-11)
• A Game of Chicken: Inside Salmonella (Lynne Terry, Watchdog, The Oregonian, 5-1-15)
• FDA Whistleblower Report (FDAWebView). "This page is reserved for individual FDA employees who wish to report management abuse in the interest of government integrity and public health. Information entered here will be inaccessible to all persons other than the Editor of Dickinson's FDA Webview. Any information that might identify you will be deleted before any use is made of this information.
• Activists Rush to Save Government Science Data — If They Can Find It (Amy Harmon, NY Times, 3-6-17). I became aware of this story through InfoDocket (Library Journal).
Relationships between journalists and public information officers (PIOs)
• Lessons for Public Information Officers from Paul Revere (Doug Levy, Medium, 4-18-18) Also on LinkedIn "Nothing replaces human, personal contact. When emergency responders go door-to-door, compliance reaches close to 100 percent. No other method consistently gets above 75 percent. For emergency responders in 2018, the lessons are clear: establish trust before the next disaster so that people know what to do when you tell them to take shelter, evacuate, or not worry....Even if they are trusted, public information officers also must know that some people in their area may need to get urgent messages differently - because of special needs or other factors."
• In the space between: public information officers in science (Bethann Garramon Merkle, Marty Downs, and Annaliese Hettinger, Exploring Ecological Careers, The Ecological Society of America, 10-1-19) "Whether coming from science (as MD has), or from communications and education (as BGM did), being a PIO provides opportunities to stretch our brains around enormously challenging concepts and see the key click in the lock when we make them understandable to others. PIOs get to bring attention to science that is both delightful and important; to taste the best, most interesting moments of scientific discovery; and – every now and then – to help connect communities."
• Push or Pull: Recommendations and Alternative Approaches for Public Science Communicators (Catherine V. Schmitt, Science and Environmental Communication, Frontiers in Communication, 4-3-18) How science communication professionals can do the work that news writers cannot. Offers some best practices for press releases, and presents examples of other “pull” approaches to communicating science that more closely align with both the process of science and with the interests and values of public audiences. "Supporting the idea that a scientific paper or research finding represents a conclusion or aha! discovery of some kind has been called one of the biggest failures of science reporting....The “production infrastructure” of the news media is asynchronous with science: episodic instead of chronic, short instead of long, urgent instead of cautious....So, when does it make sense to push a communication?"
• A veteran science communicator’s guidelines for PR news releases on medical research (Earle Holland, Health News Review, 11-28-18) Eight principles that represent a blueprint for public information officers to consider when reporting on their research--to offer a fair and honest assessment of discoveries, unembellished by the desires of institutions to polish their image-- and to avoid being embarrassed as the University of Maryland was over its chocolate milk-concussion fiasco, or the University of Iowa over its claims that oregano can affect the cancer-wasting syndrome.
• For successful information requests, be familiar with guidelines for HHS public affairs staff (Irene M. Wielawski, Covering Health, AHCJ, 7-27-17)
• Public information officers (Society of Professional Journalists) Who they are, why they're a problem for journalists and the public, and what we're doing about it. Lots of links to resources on this page.
• Resolution No. 2: Calling on Journalists to Oppose the Mandated Clearance Culture "WHEREAS the Society recognizes the legitimate need for organizations to withhold certain information for legal or proprietary reasons; WHEREAS, nevertheless, SPJ has clearly stated in previous resolutions its concerns regarding the harm done by restrictions on access, including mandates that reporters always go through PIOs"... "BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that journalists should resist official efforts to make reporters nothing more than stenographers and openly oppose restrictions on access."
A problem for journalists these days, especially those covering the federal government, is that many agencies insist that journalists go through public information officers (PIOs) to interview government staff. This layer of bureaucracy slows down and often seems an effort to divert the open flow of information. Maybe it's the lawyers who are advising: Be careful what you say, fearing litigation? Some of the following pieces are about the roadblocks to open communication with the public that journalists are experiencing. It's YOUR government. Demand the open flow of information that helps define a democracy.
Included here are a few stories about conflicts that arise when science journalists and public information officers (PIOs) belong in the same organization, because their professional obligations don't align, even though they both want accurate communication of science.
---A Looming Rift in Science Journalism (Aleszu Bajak, Undark, 5-27-16) The issue: Should anyone among the more than 2,300 dues-paying members of the National Association of Science Writers – "which has grown to include not just reporters and editors, but communications personnel representing a range of academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits" – be allowed to serve on the organization's board? Journalists and public information officers (PIOs) "have a common interest in accurately communicating science to the public, [but] they can often have competing agendas." By name, it is an organization of "science writers," not "science journalists," and PIOs make up a substantial part of the membership. But, some argue, a PIO whose paycheck comes from Bureau X might have a conflict of interest weighing in on a public discussion of right or wrongdoing in Bureau X. On the other hand, NASW is able to afford many more activities beneficial to members because of the dues paid by PIOs and the organizations that employ them. (This is true for other science writers organizations as well.) Do a search on "science writers" and "PIOs" for more such pieces on an interesting issue with good arguments on both sides of the issue.] See, for example, The Medical/P.R.Writer: A Troubling Chimera in Science Newsrooms (NASW newsletter, Spring 1989)
---NASW Has Changed. Its Leadership Policy Should Too. (Rick Borchelt, Undark, 10-25-16) For the National Association of Science Writers to remain inclusive, its leadership policy must adapt to reflect its changing membership. Since 1998 public information officers (PIOs) and journalists are equal dues-paying members of the National Association of Science Writers, except that "Only bona fide journalists may serve as officers (that is, president, vice president, secretary or treasurer) within NASW." This, it is argued, ignores the reality that "to survive in this changed world, many science writers — including many excellent former journalists — need to avail themselves of support not just from journalism but from a variety of sources of income." He believes NASW should end what he calls a “caste system.”A "shrinking minority" of members "identify as journalists." "And there is plenty to do to cultivate and nurture science writing that can be productively addressed by a professional organization whose members are able to put aside their hats as journalists, freelancers, PIOs, educators, or authors, and come together to focus on the challenges of science communication."
---Opposing a bylaws change at the National Association of Science Writers (Maryn McKenna, Medium, Oct. 2018) An organization that professes journalism principles should be led by journalists
---The Other Big Vote: The Future of Science Journalism (Seth Mnookin, Undark, 10-25-16) Members of the National Association of Science Writers will decide this weekend whether or not to allow public relations officials to become officers of the group, and not just board members. "What is true is that journalists and PIOs have different roles and responsibilities — and that those responsibilities affect the ways in which we are able to speak out in public." "This type of multi-tiered membership is not unusual among journalism organizations."
---Do PIOs need science journalists any more? (Tanya Lewis, ScienceWriters meeting coverage, NASW, 10-28-12) A panel discussion that illuminates how science is covered.
---The Medical/P.R. Writer: A Troubling Chimera in Science Newsrooms? by David Zimmerman. Scroll down for his piece "Representing Whose Interest?"
• A Journalist's Guide to the Federal Courts
• AHCJ, HHS officials address appeal process for inadequate responses by PIOs (Irene M. Wielawski, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-30-14)
• Science Journalists Vs. Public Information Officers (Paul Raeburn, Undark, 6-1-16) Despite recent disagreements over who should control the professional group to which they both belong, the battle ended decades ago. Do read the comments and all these articles.
• Guidelines on the Provision of Information to News Media (HHS, January 2017)
• HHS Public Affairs Contacts
• PIO Censorship in the Era of Trump (Kathryn Foxhall, Sunshine Week, American Society of News Editors and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 3-13-17)
• A Looming Rift in Science Journalism (Aleszu Bajak, Cross Sections, UnDark, 5-27-16) A new report suggests that a roiling debate may tear apart one of the country’s oldest professional journalistic organizations.
• How Journalists Can Help Hold Scientists Accountable (Michael Schulson, Pacific Standard, 3-22-16)
• Survey: Journalists Report Impediments by Federal Public Information Officers (Society of Professional Journalists, 3-12-12) An online survey of 146 Washington, D.C.-area reporters in February indicated overwhelming frustration from journalists trying to interview federal employees or get basic information for the public. The survey was conducted by SPJ's Freedom of Information Committee.
• Public Information Officers, various pieces about PIOs. (National Association of Science Writers)
• The seven deadly sins of the science PIO (and how to avoid them) (Amanda Mascarelli, NASW, 10-16-11)
Embargoes
• Embargo on press releases, rationale for (PLoS). Breaking an embargo is a journalistic no-no, with good reason.
• Embargo Watch (Ivan Oransky, keeping an eye on how scientific information embargoes affect news coverage)
• Embargoes and more: How to get my attention (and attention from other journalists) in a wired world (Ivan Oransky's tips at a Council of Science Editors meeting, 2011), which leads to Oransky's interesting explanation and criticism of the Ingelfinger Rule ("the policy by which journals refuse to publish anything that’s appeared in the mainstream press or in other journals" though they still publish authors who self-plagiarize).
• The worst abuse of an embargo this medical journalist has ever seen (Larry Husten, KevinMD, 9-12-11)
How not to misread or misreport research reports
Plus the bad news about "fake news" and
Journalists should understand the "Hierarchy of Evidence Pyramid" and know when not to generalize from items low on the pyramid (picture these forming a pyramid):
Randomized controlled double-blind studies
Cohort studies
Case control studies
Case series
Case reports
Animal research
In vitro (test tube) research
Ideas, editorials, opinions
That's on page 10 of Covering Medical Research: A Guide for Reporting on Studies (PDF, Association of Health Care Journalists, 2009). Then read on!
• One Size Does Not Fit All: How to Make Sense of Different Kinds of Scientific Studies (Kelly Tyrrell,The Open Notebook, 11-1-22) Observational studies, experimental studies, randomized controlled studies; cohort studies, case-control studies, and cross-sectional studies; computer modelling studies. An excellent long explanation of basic differences between types of scientific studies
• A Researcher’s Guide to Statistical Significance and Sample Size Calculations(CloudResearch)
---Part 1: What Does It Mean for Research to Be Statistically Significant? Measuring statistical significance: understanding the P value (significance) What factors affect the power of hypothesis test? (sample size, significance level, standard deviations, effect size) How do practical significance and statistical sigificance differ?
---Part 2: How to Calculate Statistical Significance
---Part 3: Determining Sample Size: How Many Survey Participants Do You Need?
• The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research (Medicine in the Media) Questions to guide your reporting. How to highlight study cautions. A chart with useful Q&As about scientific terms.
• Op-ed: Covering science at dangerous speeds (Ivan Oransky, Columbia Journalism Review, 5-4-2020) How not to get it (especially Covid-19) wrong, especially if medical science is not your usual beat. Always read the entire paper. Ask 'dumb' questions. Ask smart questions. Quantify. What are the side effects? Who dropped out? Are there alternatives? Etc. and explained.
• Don’t say ‘prove’: How to report on the conclusiveness of research findings (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 2-13-23) Studies conducted in fields outside of mathematics do not “prove” anything. They find evidence. Use language that correctly conveys the strength of the evidence (with examples).
• 5 tips for avoiding mistakes in news headlines about health and medical research (Journalist's Resource, 10-19-21) Deborah Blum, Cristine Russell and Brooke Borel offer advice to help newsrooms avoid common mistakes in writing headlines about health and medical research.
• Association vs Causation: Observational Studies -- Does the language fit the evidence? (Mark Zweig and Emily DeVoto, HealthNewsReview) When studies find an association between two things, it does NOT mean that one thing caused the other to happen. Observational studies are useful for identifying trends but do not demonstrate cause and effect. "A subtle trap occurs in the transition from the cautious, nondirectional, noncausal, passive language that scientists use in reporting the results of observational studies to the active language favored in mass media. Active language is fine in general – who wants to write like a scientist? But problems can arise when the use of causal language is not justified by the study design. For example, a description of an association (e.g., associated with reduced risk) can become, via a change to the active voice (reduces risk), an unwarranted description of cause and effect."
• Terms used in medical studies (Glossary, Association of Health Care Journalists)
• 8 ways journalists can access academic research for free (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 7-7-23) A lot of academic research exists behind paywalls. We outline eight ways reporters can get free access to high-quality scholarship.
• How to Read a Scientific Paper (Alexandra Witze, The Open Notebook, NASW, 11-6-18) Scientific papers provide crucial information and sources for many, if not most, science stories. But they can be frustratingly dense and inscrutable, especially for new science writers who don't have a background in science. Witze lays out, step-by-step, how to tackle a scientific paper--what a typical scientific paper contains, and how to read and make sense of the various sections of the paper. See more Open Notebook stories about science journalism.
• Demystifying Academic Hierarchies: Who’s Who on a Paper, and Whom Should You Interview? (Celia Ford, The Open Notebook, 7-19-22) A principal investigator’s coauthors are often the ones getting their hands dirty in the lab: graduate students, postdocs, undergraduate research assistants, staff scientists, technicians, and lab managers with lots of technical know-how. While academic outside sources are critical voices to include in science pieces, they aren’t your only options. Clinicians, politicians, legal experts, social workers, and other community members can provide extra context about what a study means on the ground. When reporting on a potentially thorny topic, it’s crucial to seek several outside opinions.
• Tip sheet offers guidance on reading and making sense of scientific studies (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 7-10-2020)
• Covering a controversial study: How to dig deep on a deadline (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 8-22-19)
• How to Vet Industry PR Claims (Knvul Sheikh, The Open Notebook, 3-26-19) Science journalists are not just storytellers. They serve as watchdogs, too, informing readers about everything from the environmental impact of space delivery capsules to product launches of drugs that might end up in your medicine cabinet. When story leads slip into our inboxes in the form of press releases, how do reporters sift through the PR claims and,verify information? Four journalists discuss the problem: Nidhi Subbaraman (Buzzfeed), Hal Hodson (The Economist). Sarah Scoles (freelance, Wired, Popular Science), Emily Hayes (Scrip and Pink Sheet, pharmaceutical industry publications). "The statements that companies make—often cloaked in impenetrable business jargon that barely means anything at all—aim to advance a narrative that’s good for business, even if it’s misleading...And I’m (slightly) more skeptical of government press releases than I am of academic ones. Federal agencies and organizations have a long history of obscuring information they don’t want the public to know about, or slanting true information they do release to avoid upsetting people or making themselves look bad," says Scoles.
• What’s standard deviation? 4 things journalists covering research need to know (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 8-11-22) She explains: 1. The standard deviation of a dataset is a number that indicates how much variation there is within the data. 2. Scientists can use standard deviation to make predictions, investigate trends and answer other key research questions. 3. In some studies, scientists report their findings in terms of standard deviations instead of a unit of measurement such as inches or pounds. 4. Scientists can use standard deviation to help them confirm whether a data point they consider an outlier actually is an outlier.
• Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data (UW iSchool, YouTube videos of 56 lectures on such topics as Sounds Too Good to Be True, Entertain Multiple Hypotheses, Fermi Estimations, Unfair Comparisons, Spurious Correlaitons.
• Observational Studies – Does The Language Fit The Evidence? – Association Versus Causation (Mark Zweig and Emily DeVoto, Health News Review) "Because observational studies are not randomized, they cannot control for all of the other inevitable, often unmeasurable, exposures or factors that may actually be causing the results. Thus, any link between cause and effect in observational studies is speculative at best....A subtle trap occurs in the transition from the cautious, nondirectional, noncausal, passive language that scientists use in reporting the results of observational studies to the active language favored in mass media." "An important part of reporting results of research in health news lies in attention to language that may in subtle ways imply cause-and-effect relationships, where the underlying study design does not warrant such language. We urge health care journalists to be mindful of when causal language is warranted by the study design and when it is not." A must-read for journalists.
• Journalists: 9 tips to combat stem cell hype in your news stories (Joy Victory, HealthNewsReview, 6-27-16) "Given that so much of stem cell research is in the early phase–where things like basic safety are still being established–it’s rare that any sort of big, bold statements are acceptable....The onus is on journalists to be careful when using words like “breakthrough, paradigm shift, revolution, cure, and game-changer”–even when this language comes from scientists, peer-reviewed abstracts, studies and institutional news releases. And be wary of single-anecdote news stories.... It’s important for journalists to establish exactly what a study was primarily trying to find out (is it safe for rats?), and not be distracted by exciting secondary endpoints (did it help the rats get better?)....Understand the difference between clinical endpoints (are they relevant to a patient’s care?) and surrogate endpoints."
• A primer on composite outcomes (Kevin Lomangino, HealthNewsReview) Distinguish between clinically significant end points and secondary end points. "It’s increasingly clear that surrogate endpoints don’t tell the entire story when it comes to a treatment’s effectiveness....we learned that a drug which raises cholesterol (a surrogate for cardiovascular disease risk) had no effect on the incidence of heart attacks and strokes."
• HealthNewsReview.org rates health and medical news stories (about medical treatments, tests, products and procedures) for accuracy, balance, and completeness -- helping consumers critically analyze claims about health care interventions
• 5 things to keep in mind when fact-checking claims about science (Alexios Mantzarlis, Poynter, 11-5-15)
• SciCheck(launched by FactCheck.org) focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy
• How scientists fool themselves – and how they can stop (Regina Nuzzo, Nature, 10-7-15) Focuses on four common cognitive fallacies that undermine the scientific process, from “hypothesis myopia” to the “Texas sharpshooter,” from "asymmetric attention" to "just-so storytelling."
• Climate Feedback(a worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in climate change media coverage--to help readers know which news to trust)
• 4 essential questions to ask about scientific studies (Poynter) Not the usual questions. #4: Has anyone on the team changed a behavior based on the research findings? Why or why not?
• Here’s How Cornell Scientist Brian Wansink Turned Shoddy Data Into Viral Studies About How We Eat (Stephanie M. Lee, BuzzFeed News, 2-25-18) Brian Wansink won fame, funding, and influence for his science-backed advice on healthy eating. Now, emails show how the Cornell professor and his colleagues have hacked and massaged low-quality data into headline-friendly studies to “go virally big time.”
• HNR's ten important review criteria, explained (for example, Does the story adequately discuss the costs of the intervention? Does the story adequately quantify the benefits of the treatment/test/product/procedure? Does the story adequately explain/quantify the harms of the intervention? Does the story seem to grasp the quality of the evidence? Does the story commit disease-mongering? Does the story use independent sources and identify conflicts of interest? Does the story compare the new approach with existing alternatives? Does the story establish the availability of the treatment/test/product/procedure? Does the story establish the true novelty of the approach? Does the story appear to rely solely or largely on a news release? (Sample HealthNewsReview.org warning: "This story is pretty much a rewrite of a drug-company or medical center news release.") On the same page you will find review criteria for news releases, which includes additional comments: Does the news release identify funding sources & disclose conflicts of interest? Does the news release include unjustifiable, sensational language, including in the quotes of researchers?
• Scientists hold key to winning fight against 'fake news' (Navaneeth Mohan, Phys.org. 5-25-18) Lessons from NASA's Kelly twins report: Make sure the people writing your reports and releases get the science solidly right.
• Reporting on Retractions (Pratik Pawar, The Open Notebook,5-31-22) “In the year 2000, there were about 40 or 38 retractions,” says Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, which reports on retractions of scientific papers. Last year, according to Retraction Watch’s records, there were more than 3,500. “When the scientific community is engaging in work that is fraudulent or improper and is just not self-correcting, it’s up to us as journalists to take on some of the responsibility to police the field,” says Charles Piller, an investigative journalist at Science, who covers violations in scientific and clinical research. However, reporting on such misconduct, and retractions in general, can be challenging
• The fight against fake-paper factories that churn out sham science (Holly Else & Richard Van Noorden, News Feature, Nature, 3-23-21) Some publishers say they are battling industrialized cheating. A Nature analysis examines the 'paper mill' problem — and how editors are trying to cope.
• Hundreds of extreme self-citing scientists revealed in new database (Richard Van Noorden & Dalmeet Singh Chawla, News Feature, Nature, 8-19-19) Some highly cited academics seem to be heavy self-promoters — but researchers warn against policing self-citation.
• When research findings don’t agree (Chloe Reichel, Journalist's Resource, Shorenstein Center, 1-25-18) Two studies published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in January 2017 probed the same question: Which factors are the main contributors to disparities in cancer survival? Though the studies shared a common aim, they reached different conclusions about the main factors that contribute to disparities in cancer survival.. One attributed survival differences to the stage at which patients were diagnosed. The other concluded insurance status is the primary factor involved. Dr. Lauren Wallner of the University of Michigan offers advice on making sense of divergent findings in academic research. Linked to in this piece:
---Helping Patients Decide: Ten Steps to Better Risk Communication (Angela Fagerlin Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher Peter A. Ubel, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 10-5-11)
---The Right Tool is What They Need, Not What We Have: A Taxonomy of Appropriate Levels of Precision In Patient Risk Communication (Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, Deep Blue, 9-6-12) Download PDF.
---STROBE Statement: Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology
• How do you know if a research study is any good? (David Levine captures advice given by three panelists--Bonnie D. Kerker, Carolyn 'Cari' Olson, and Ivan Oransky--at the second joint meeting of Science Writers in New York (SWINY), Elsevier, 12-11-12) For example: Carolyn Olson: ‘To evaluate a study, you need context.’ Dr. Bonnie Kerker: ‘How meaningful is this study?’ She noted that although Randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard, it is very difficult to do an RCT in public health. To detect risk factors associated with disease, public health researchers are more likely to conduct a prospective cohort study. Dr. Ivan Oransky (“Evaluating Medical Evidence for Journalists”), warned journalists to make sure they understand the studies they write about — and to be willing to question the methods or findings. “Writing about a study after reading just a press release on abstract, without reading the entire paper, is journalistic malpractice,” he said.
• ‘Ultra-processed’ foods and cancer: Headlines show the right way, and the wrong way, to frame study results (Kevin Lomangino, HealthNewsReview, 2-15-18) Today’s headlines on ultra-processed foods and cancer offer a good case study in the right way — and the wrong way — to frame the results of an observational study about diet and the risk of disease. Too many headlines overstate the findings of observational studies, a mainstay of nutrition research.
• Retraction Watch offers some transparency about transparency (AHCJ) In the years since its inception, Retraction Watch has documented hundreds of troubled scientific papers that were eventually retracted, as well as other related controversies. Founders Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus have learned a lot in that time about following up on retractions, errors or other problematic aspects of scientific research. The authors mention:
---The Office of Research Integrity (ORI), U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services. Contact them if you suspect science fraud or scientific misconduct "(or go directly to the universities and oversight organizations who would do the investigating. Give 'research integrity officers, or the equivalent, at the institutions where the authors in question work; the head start instead of the authors suspected of misconduct."
---PubPeer. When a paper smells a little off, check PubPeer "where commenters can anonymously post about a published work. This could be particularly helpful for a reporter covering a study that isn’t embargoed. It only takes a moment to stop at PubPeer and do a quick search to see what’s been said about a paper you’re writing about or using in research."
• One bad stat can spoil the bunch – another cautionary tale (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 7-21-17)
• Headline vs. study: Sometimes fishy, sometimes pulling a rabbit out of a hat (Michael Joyce, HealthNewsReview.org, 5-14-18) Too often news releases or news stories about research misguide people because the headline promises more than the content delivers--8 of 14 headlines overstate evidence (3 examples given).
• Writing & Publishing a Scientific Paper (YouTube, Jennifer Cullen, ScienceDocs consultant, 8-6-18)
• The Scientific Paper Is Obsolete (James Somers, The Atlantic, 4-5-18) Scientific papers haven't changed much since they their origins in the 1600s. Now they are long, full of jargon and symbols, dependent on "chains of computer programs that generate data, and clean up data, and plot data, and run statistical models on data. These programs tend to be both so sloppily written and so central to the results that it’s contributed to a replication crisis, or put another way, a failure of the paper to perform its most basic task: to report what you’ve actually discovered, clearly enough that someone else can discover it for themselves." What comes next?
• Understanding statistical bias when covering the use of genomics in medical studies (Tara Haelle, Health Journalism, AHCJ, 2-10-22) Genomics is the reason most researchers see precision medicine as the future of all medicine. But when not handled appropriately by researchers, use of genomics in medical studies can also introduce bias.
• Caffeine and Parkinson’s: One researcher, two studies, and opposite results. What happens? (Michael Joyce, HealthNewsReview, 9-29-17) Journalists should consider how they frame the results of "preliminary" studies, and whether they should be more selective about which studies get promoted in the first place. People often take preliminary results as the truth and act on them, but they are often overturned.
• The March of Science — The True Story (Lisa Rosenbaum, New England Journal of Medicine, 2017; 377:188-191, 7-13-17). Required reading. As Norman Bauman summarizes, "journalists should include the strength of evidence in their stories. That's even more important than 'who paid for the study?' We should distinguish controlled studies, which can demonstrate causality, from associational studies, which can never demonstrate causality." Rosenbaum says scientists should frame scientific findings "more effectively to signal their degree of uncertainty and thus enduring credibility." "... the media could preface any new finding with what the literature says, on balance, about the topic in question; readers might then understand that any marked aberration is less likely to be true." She makes several important points, including this one: "in a polarized society, what we really need to resist may be human nature — this impulse to believe what we want to believe....Asked to evaluate the evidence’s quality and persuasiveness [when two studies were compared], participants rated research that contradicted their prior beliefs poorly in both respects, and unexpectedly, exposure to it resulted in more, not less, polarization between the two groups." [Examples: climate science and nutrition science.] Psychologist Daniel Wegner Wegner "described two fundamental impulses driving scientific progress: 'We must know the truth' and 'We must avoid error.'...If we go overboard in either direction, though , we risk a field that is not knowledgeable at all.” And "although communicating science’s dynamic by focusing heavily on its failings risks heightening public disbelief, the remedy is not to hide our errors. Such suppression will 'rebound' and undoubtedly fuel further distrust. Instead, I think we have to learn to tell stories that emphasize that what makes science right is the enduring capacity to admit we are wrong. Such is the slow, imperfect march of science." She points out that to communicate with the public you have to tell a good story.
• Breakthrough research reveals parachutes don’t prevent death when jumping from a plane (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 2-26-19) "If most people already think an intervention works, then a randomly controlled trial (RCT) may end up with enough bias in its design that the conclusion ends up clinically meaningless. Sometimes, an RCT is truly unethical, and other times an RCT really might be needed to test an intervention taken for granted. Health journalists should scrutinize an RCT’s methods closely."
• The American Heart Association Evidence-Based Scoring System. The American Diabetes Association also has an "evidence grading system."
• How Two Studies on Cancer Screening Led to Two Results (H. Gilbert Welch, Steven Woloshin, and Lisa M. Schwartz, NY Times, 3-13-07). A crystal-clear explanation of how two studies — in the country’s two most prestigious medical journals — arrive at diametrically opposite conclusions. A screening that increases survival rates does not necessarily reduce mortality -- it could have started measuring at an early age. And because all lung cancer patients get treated, overdiagnosis means some people receive treatment that can’t help them (because they do not need it) and can only cause harm. Dr. Welch is the author of Should I Be Tested for Cancer?: Maybe Not and Here's Why. As one reader writes, "Even when a treatment can cut the deaths from a particular cancer in half, most current treatments create non-cancer deaths, many of which will be improperly reported."
• Resveratrol Redux, Or: Should I Just Stop Writing About Health? (Virginia Hughes, Only Human, a Phenomena Science Salon blog, 5-12-16) But when it comes to writing health stories, it’s hard — really, really hard — to include that slow scientific progression [natural in science] in a way that a reader will absorb. And I think that’s because readers don’t seek out health stories to satisfy abstract intellectual curiosities. They want to glean some kind of practical knowledge. See also The Problems of Health Journalism (Storify-ed).
• Sharon Begley’s Brief Guide to Writing Medical News (The Open Notebook, 2-2-16) How can you separate findings that are likely to be true from those destined for the dustbin of science? She links to (and explains succinctly) False positive mammograms and cancer risk: An epidemiological whodunit (Saurabh Jha, HealthNewsReview, 12-23-15)
• Why Most Published Research Findings Are False (John P. A. Ioannidis,PLoS Medicine, 8-30-05) When is a research finding more or less likely to be true (or false)?
• Drinking alcohol key to living past 90? What you need to know (Michael Joyce, HealthNewsReview, 2-21-18) Here’s a recipe for misinformation: Take two topics well known to generate clicks: alcohol and longevity. Find a study that suggests alcohol increases longevity. Fail to mention the study is observational but still emphasize cause-and-effect language in your headline. Here’s what you get: Drinking Alcohol Key to Living Past 90. Clickbait.
• Food Industry Enlisted Academics in G.M.O. Lobbying War, Emails Show (Eric Lipton, NY Times, 9-5-15)
• Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets (Anahad O'Connor, Fitness blog, NY Times, 8-9-15)
• 64 more papers retracted for fake reviews, this time from Springer journals (Retraction Watch). One of many, which you can find on the Retraction Watch site.
• A new record: Major publisher (Springer) retracting more than 100 studies from cancer journal over fake peer reviews (Retraction Watch)
• Randomized trials are no panacea for what ails nutrition research (Reijo Laatikainen, HealthNewsReview, 8-26-15). Randomized controlled trials are the "gold standard" for evidence, but researchers face pressure to design their studies in a way that increases the likelihood of observing a positive result. ("Studies with positive results are more likely to get published in authoritative journals. And publication in authoritative journals leads to funding, prestige, and career advancement for researchers.") Adherence to the trial by participants is far from complete. And when participants can guess which part of the trial they are in, there may be a placebo effect for what they consume. And those are just some of the problems.
• You Can’t Trust What You Read About Nutrition (Christie Aschwanden, FiveThirtyEight Science, 1-6-16) "...short of locking people in a room and carefully measuring out all their meals, it’s hard to know exactly what people eat. So nearly all nutrition studies rely on measures of food consumption that require people to remember and report what they ate. The most common of these are food diaries, recall surveys and the food frequency questionnaire, or FFQ." But recalling what you ate is difficult, perceptions of serving size differ, people underreport foods deemed unhealthy, reporting what you eat changes how you eat while reporting it, etc. "observational studies using memory-based measures of dietary intake are" too crude as tools with which to generalize what's good or bad for you.
• How the sausage inside a nutrition study is made (Kevin Lomangino, HealthNewsReview, 1-6-16) Christie Aschwanden's piece (above) makes points HNR often makes: 1. Questionnaire-based nutrition data are inaccurate. 2. “Positive” results are often false-positives. 3. Correlation doesn’t equal causation. 4. Benefits are overstated through reporting of relative risks.
• Against Stigma: Writing Responsibly About Mental Illness (Emily DePrang, Reporting on Health blog, 4-2-14). Write about mental illness more regularly and outside of a criminal context. There are plenty of fascinating stories.
• “Thousands of lives lost”? Why calls for faster drug approvals need more scrutiny HealthNewsReview)
• All about Stories: How to Tell Them, How They’re Changing, and What They Have to Do with Science (Lena Groeger, Scientific American, 6-6-11, reporting on the World Science Festival)
• Author list on a scientific paper (Jorge Cham comic, PhD Comics)
• Award-winning articles on health and medicine (Association of Health Care Journalists)
• Four steps for effective science communication (Baruch Fischhoff, Sci Dev Net) "The first step is to identify the uncertainties and questions that matter to the audience." "Scientists should adopt a systematic approach to explaining what they do, and do not, know."
• Naming names: is there an (unbiased) doctor in the house? (Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee, Medicine and the Media, BMJ, 7-23-08) In an attempt to disentangle commercial messages from science, they compiled a list of nearly 100 independent medical experts to whom reporters can turn. See List of Industry-Independent Experts (Health News Review)
• Spin happens: How we cover medical studies affects readers’ attitude toward results (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 9-13-19) A study of Google Health News stories found that 88% of stories about medical studies had at least some type of spin, such as misleading reporting or interpretation, omitting adverse events, suggesting animal study results apply to humans, or claiming causation in studies that only reported associations. The way we cover a study has impact — potentially both positive and negative — and that means we have a responsibility get it right.
• Tips for Understanding Animal and Lab Studies (HealthNewsReview)
• Tips for understanding studies
• Story Reviews - Systematic, Criteria-Driven
• Industry-Independent Experts Journalists Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer's list of more than 100 independent health care experts (meaning they do not have financial ties to drug or medical device manufacturers) to whom reporters can turn
• Covering Medical Research (by HealthNewsReview.org publisher Gary Schwitzer; published by the Association of Health Care Journalists)
• Links to other resources
• Health News Watchdog blog (publisher's perspective, opinion--different from the systematic story reviews
• What is real-world evidence, and why do we need it? (sponsored content on STAT). Social media is also emerging as a platform for patients to share information about their experiences with particular treatments. While there are concerns about using this information, given it is not being exchanged in a clinical setting, we can learn from these aggregated data about how patients are responding (or not), who may have been excluded from clinical trials, and who are currently on the treatment of interest. Advances in social media are helping us to capture more about the patient journey and more specifically what patients need or want when it comes to what a drug does for them.
• Priggish NEJM Editorial on Data-sharing Misses the Point It Almost Made (Vasudevan Mukunth, The Wire, 1-24-16).
Transparency and openness in reporting on science research
• The TOP Guidelines were created by journals, funders, and societies to align scientific ideals with practices. (Center for Open Science) TOP provides a suite of tools to guide implementation of better, more transparent research
• The Tuskegee Syphilis Study revelation’s legacy 50 years later (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 8-4-22) In the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” the U.S. Public Health Service enrolled 600 Black male sharecroppers from Tuskegee, Alabama, and intentionally withheld information and treatment from approximately 200 of the 399 Black men who had syphilis while researchers studied how the disease affected their life course. The researchers did not tell the men they had syphilis but told them they had “bad blood” — and did not collect informed consent from participants when the study began in 1932. See The Tuskegee Timeline (CDC). A black mark on medical science, and one reason black Americans came to mistrust the medical establishment.
• Revolution in academia: Copyright and open access In academia a wide-ranging discussion about open access is weakening academic journals' monopoly on profiting from publishing research findings. Links to many articles on the topic. See also New PLOS pricing test could signal end of scientists paying to publish free papers (Jeffrey Brainard, Science, 10-15-2020) "PLOS, the nonprofit publisher that in 2003 pioneered the open-access business model of charging authors to publish scientific articles so they are immediately free to all, this week rolled out an alternative model that could herald the end of the author-pays era. One of the new options shifts the cost of publishing open-access (OA) articles in its two most selective journals to institutions, charging them a fixed annual fee; any researcher at that institution could then publish in the PLOS journals at no additional charge."
• Journals’ instructions to authors: A cross-sectional study across scientific disciplines (Mario Malički, IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg,Lex Bouter, and Gerben ter Riet, PLoS One, 9-5-19) "In light of increasing calls for transparent reporting of research and prevention of detrimental research practices, we conducted a cross-sectional machine-assisted analysis of a representative sample of scientific journals’ instructions to authors (ItAs) across all disciplines. We investigated addressing of 19 topics related to transparency in reporting and research integrity." And address the topics: Conflicts of interest, COPE, data sharing, errata, ethics approval, ICMJE (their recommendations, such as trial registration), image manipulation, study limitations, null or negative results, Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), type of peer review, screening for plagiarism, preprints allowed, replication, reporting guidelines required or recommended, shared authorship, TOP Guidelines mentioned.
• Retraction Watch offers some transparency about transparency (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 1-8-16)
• Research integrity: Don't let transparency damage science (Stephan Lewandowsky & Dorothy Bishop, Nature, 1-25-16) How to distinguish scrutiny from harassment. "Many measures that can improve science — shared data, post-publication peer review and public engagement on social media — can be turned against scientists....Orchestrated and well-funded harassment campaigns against researchers working in climate change and tobacco control are well documented. Some hard-line opponents to other research, such as that on nuclear fallout, vaccination, chronic fatigue syndrome or genetically modified organisms, although less resourced, have employed identical strategies."
• Announcement: Transparency upgrade for Nature journals (Nature, 3-15-17) The Nature journals continue journey towards greater rigour. [Search for transparency and publication names to find more entries like this.]
Covering health reform
• 5 angles to consider when covering drug-price reform (Joseph Burns, Covering Health, AHCJ, 3-16-22) According to STAT’s Washington correspondent Nicholas Florko, lawmakers have had more than a dozen hearings on high drug prices and failed to make prescription drugs more affordable. Florko’s excellent reporting offers four important angles for journalists covering the drug-price-reform issue.
First, prices keep rising and Congress has done little.
Second, Americans have long paid far more for prescription drugs than those who live in other developed nations pay.
Third, drug company executives insisted that a crucial factor causing drug prices to rise was pressure on pharmaceutical manufacturers to pay higher rebates to middlemen in the U.S. drug supply chain. Drugmakers pay rebates to get their medications on the preferred lists of drugs, called formularies, that pharmacy benefit managers and insurers use.
Fourth, since 2017, state legislatures enacted some 150 laws affecting drug prices.
Fifth, follow the money. The pandemic fueled a frenzy of spending among lobbyists that totaled a record $3.7 billion.
• Lobbying broke all-time mark in 2021 amid flurry of government spending (Jonathan O'Connell and Anu Narayanswamy. WaPo, 3-12-22) Industry topped $3.7 billion for first time, as 3,700 new companies and organizations hired lobbyists since start of the pandemic.
• Covering Health Issues (6th edition, 2011 update, free PDF download). This 200-page book presents concise information on health policy issues, lists expert sources from across the political spectrum, and includes an extensive glossary, ideas and examples for TV and radio reporters, and links to polls on health issues. Chapter contents: Health reform, cost of health care, quality of care, employer-sponsored health coverage, children's health coverage, Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care, disparities, mental health and substance abuse, public health, polls on health care issues, covering health issues for TV and radio, acronyms and glossary).
---Julie Rovner demonstrates how to use it (YouTube video). Reporters may find pages of links to organizations and experts particularly helpful.
• Health care reform, medical error, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) , links to many helpful articles about Obamacare
• Journalists learn about intricacies of prescription drug pricing (Liz Seegert, Covering Health, Association of Health Care Journalists, 2-27-17) Why are drug costs so high in the United States? This and other questions were addressed at a meeting of the New York chapter of AHCJ. What can justify a "$50,000 cancer drug that extended life for an average of 17 days"? A helpful summary of what several experts explained about how we in the U.S. end up with exploitative prices on some drugs. Among points made (but do read the whole thing): (1) "It’s the doctor, not the patient, who decides what to prescribe. Our current system also rewards doctors for prescribing more expensive drugs. (2) Doctors are typically making those decisions with little information about cost . Now with more patients in high-deductible plans with a coinsurance model, there’s sticker shock and people are asking questions. (3) Nobody knows if we are spending the right amount on drugs, said Peter Bach, MD, director of the Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Health Policy and Outcome. Moreover, we do not know if we are spending it on the right drugs, either. See Drugs, Big Pharma, conflicts of interest, and why U.S. patients pay too much for medication .
• Following criticism, PLOS removes blog defending scrutiny of science (Retraction Watch, Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process) Community blog PLOS Biologue has pulled a post by journalists Charles Seife and Paul Thacker that argued in favor of public scrutiny of scientists’ behavior (including emails), following heavy criticism, including from a group and scientist mentioned in the post.
• For successful information requests, be familiar with guidelines for HHS public affairs staff (Irene M. Wielawski, Covering Health, AHCJ, 7-27-15)
• Patient Advocacy in Patient Safety: Have Things Changed? (Helen Haskell, Perspective, June 2014, AHRQ, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality). An important historical overview of patient safety efforts.
• Health Policy Reform: Beyond the 2008 Elections (The Commonwealth Fund), appeared originally in the Columbia Journalism Review
Covering Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP
• CMS Special Open Door Forums
• Find low-cost Medicare plans, by state (eHealth)
• Medicaid and State Children''s Health Insurance Program (CHIP, Kaiser's useful website)
• State Health Facts, in several categories, by state (Kaiser Family Foundation--including information about Medicaid and CHIP)
• Medicaid Fact Sheets (by state, American Academy of Pediatrics)
• How one reporting team used public records to find questionable Medicare Advantage spending (Fred Schulte, Association of Health Care Journalists, AHCJ, 7-21-14). There's "there’s a lot federal officials don’t want the public to see when it comes to Medicare Advantage, a type of Medicare plan administered by private insurance companies." Schulte lists sources used in learning the flaw in Medicare's system of paying more for high-risk patients than for low-risk patients: health plans overstate how sick patients are to collect more money. See also Cracking the Codes:How doctors and hospitals have collected billions in questionable Medicare fees (Schulte and David Donald, Center for Public Integrity 9-15-12) on "how some medical professionals have billed at sharply higher rates than their peers and collected billions of dollars of questionable fees as a result."
• Covering the Uninsured: Options for Reform (Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, 9-15-08)
• Health Policy essentials (essential information about Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance & the uninsured, CHIP, the Safety Net, pharmaceuticals, public health, aging & long-term care, and workforce issues, in a variety of formats, from the National Health Policy Forum)
LINKS TO INFORMATION FOR PATIENTS
(on sister site)
---Frequently asked questions about Medicare and Medicaid
---Medicare: What you need to know
---Part D: Medicare coverage of prescription drugs
---Medigap vs Medicare Advantage
---Medicare Compare etc. search pages
---Medicare issues and Medicare reform (and proposals)
---Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). ---Medicare and Medicaid: History and legislation ---Medicaid: What you need to know ---Medicaid issues and Medicaid reform
Covering the Affordable Care Act (ACA aka Obamacare)
• New Analysis of Health Insurance Premium Trends in the Individual Market Finds Average Yearly Increases of 10 Percent or More Prior to the Affordable Care Act (The Commonwealth Fund, June 5, 2014) New Data Set Standard for Comparing This Year's Premiums in State and Federal Health Insurance Marketplaces
• The Employer Mandate: Essential or Dispensable? (David Blumenthal, M.D. and David Squires, Commonwealth Fund blog, 6-4-14)
• Residents in the ACA's Nonparticipating States Still Benefiting (David Blumenthal, M.D. and David Squires, Commonwealth Fund blog, 5-28-14)
• Growth and Variability in Health Plan Premiums in the Individual Insurance Market Before the Affordable Care Act
• The Federal Medical Loss Ratio Rule: Implications for Consumers in Year 2 (Commonwealth Fund)
• Despite ‘essential’ designation, dental benefits lacking under ACA (Mary Otto, AHCJ, Covering Health, 4-30-14)
• What early numbers tell us about kids’ dental coverage under ACA (Mary Otto, AHCJ, Covering Health, 4-16-14)
• Don't run biomedical science as a business (Michele Pagano, Nature, 7-25-17) “When science becomes a business, what matters is not the quality of the product, but whether it sells.”
• A closer look: Did the ACA result in more canceled plans? (Joanne Kenen, AHCJ, Covering Health, 4-29-14)
• Questions remain despite latest ACA enrollment numbers, projections (Joanne Kenen, AHCJ, Covering Health, 2-20-14)
• Looking ahead to new ACA enrollment numbers (Joanne Kenen, AHCJ, Covering Health, 5-1-14)
• Texas poses challenges for insurance enrollment under ACA (Joanne Kenen, AHCJ, Covering Health, 7-26-13)
• Tips from Texas for covering Medicaid fraud, overtreatment (Mary Otto, AHCJ, Covering Health, 6-5-14) MORE ON HEALTH REFORM (on sister site) ---The politics and policy issues of health care insurance and health care reform ---Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance Scroll down for several sections on health reform and the Affordable Care Act.
Conflicts of interest in science and medical writing
• It’s not what to think. It’s what to think about. (Sarah Nightingale, ScienceWriters, National Association of Science Writers, Summer/Fall 2021, available to members only--which science writers should be. A nine-member working group set out in May 2018 to solicit and compile scenarios, many of which they’d experienced firsthand in their professional lives. By all means study NASW's new Conflicts of Interest: Guidance for Science Writers, which aims to inform science writers about behaviors or practices that may raise concerns and how to navigate them -- organized as 19 scenarios.
• Writers’ conflicts of interest get airing at ScienceWriters2019 (Alla Katsnelson, NASW, 11-16-19)
• On Science Journalism and Conflicts of Interest (Brooke Borel, Popular Science, 10-20-15) Borel advises: Ask where money offered to you is coming from, think how that might be perceived, consider whether taking the money would influence your objectivity, and "disclose, disclose, disclose."
• Biden administration tells federal agencies how to safeguard against political influence on science (Liz Stark, CNN, 1-11-22) See Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking (Presidential Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, 1-27-21) The report "found that instances of political influence are relatively infrequent in federal policymaking, but -- when they do occur -- they tend to do the most damage in eroding the public's trust in government. The task force used the report to point to examples of when scientific integrity policies were undermined during the Trump administration, including in the administration's response to the Hurricane Dorian map scandal and its push to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census."
• Where do science journalists draw the line? (Paul D. Thacker, CJR, 11-23-15) "While issues of journalistic ethics aren’t new, the debate has become contentious recently in the world of science journalism. One key reason is a push by industry to combat the labeling of foods made with genetically modified organisms (GMO). Advocates for labeling, who think coverage has been too favorable toward industry, have fought back by questioning the independence of journalists covering GMOs.: Thacker recounts what happened to Brooke Borel (see previous entry). Standards vary greatly across media, as Thacker illustrates.
• The Constitution of Knowledge (Jonathan Rauch, National Affairs, Fall 2018) “Unlike ordinary lies and propaganda, which try to make you believe something, disinformation tries to make you disbelieve everything.” Understandably disoriented, many people conclude they might as well believe what they prefer to believe....Although disinformation is old, it has recently cross-pollinated with the internet to produce something new: the decentralized, swarm-based version of disinformation that has come to be known as trolling....the clickbait economy created a business model. Disinformation went from vandalistic to profitable. Google Ads and Facebook (among others) monetized page views, thereby monetizing anything that generates clicks, regardless of truth value."
• Was a USDA scientist muzzled because of his bee research? (Steve Volk, Washington Post Magazine, 3-3-16)
• Side Effects | Money, Medicine, and Patients Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel's many investigations have revealed the troubling influence of drug companies on American medicine. The stories have looked at conflicts of interest, flawed science and shoddy oversight by federal regulators – from back surgery products to the use of opioids to treat long-term pain. Highlights of and links to a long series of articles.
• Full disclosure: It’s time for health care journalists to report their sources’ conflicts of interest (Jeanne Lenzer, HealthNewsReview, 4-18) "The March 26 New York Times article was written by Gina Kolata and headlined, “For many strokes, there’s an effective treatment. Why aren’t some doctors offering it?” The Times asserts that close to 700,000 stroke patients a year “could be helped” by the clot-busting drug tPA. There is no ambiguity in the language, even though ten of twelve clinical trials not only found no benefit for tPA, but did reveal significant increases in brain bleeds, a side effect of tPA....would readers have been so quick to embrace this story’s point of view–had they known that the experts expressing support for the drug have financial and professional conflicts of interest?"
• Uncovering new peer review problems – this time at The BMJ (Kevin Lomangino, HealthNewsReview, 4-18-18) 'Melissa S. Anderson said that even if these reviewers provided an accurate assessment of the science, the fact that they are close collaborators of the authors casts significant doubt on their conclusions. “If it looks bad, it’s a conflict of interest.”'
• Federal Agency Courted Alcohol Industry to Fund Study on Benefits of Moderate Drinking (Roni Caryn Rabin, NY Times, 3-17-18) Scientists and National Institute of Health officials waged a concerted campaign to obtain funding from the alcohol industry for research that may enshrine alcohol as a part of a healthy diet. The 10-year government trial is now underway, and Anheuser Busch InBev, Heineken and other alcohol companies are picking up most of the tab, through donations to a private foundation that raises money for the National Institutes of Health. The documents and interviews show that the institute waged a vigorous campaign to court the alcohol industry, paying for scientists to travel to meetings with executives, where they gave talks strongly suggesting that the study’s results would endorse moderate drinking as healthy. The fund-raising may have violated N.I.H. policy, which prohibits employees from soliciting or suggesting donations, funds or other resources intended to support activities. At the least, the campaign is bound to raise more questions about the independence of the investigators and the scientific integrity of the huge trial. See earlier story: A Massive Health Study on Booze, Brought to You by Big Alcohol (Miriam Schuchman, Wired, 10-26-17) "The Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health study, now in progress on four continents, is poised to be a breakthrough in public health: the first time that researchers have followed a group of people randomized to receive a daily drink or nothing at all....The study has its origin, strangely enough, in tea. Back in 2006, researchers thought tea drinkers might have fewer heart attacks....After six months, they ran the numbers: Tea had virtually no effect on a person’s cardiovascular risk."
• Big Booze helped plan $100 million NIH study on alcohol–here’s how they’ve also tried to influence journalists (Kevin Lomangino, HealthNewsReview.org, 3-19-18) News of federal researchers courting liquor company executives for funding leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many who care about the quality and independence of science at the National Institutes of Health. See earlier story, also: Alcohol industry isn’t just funding studies; it’s also funding journalism to sway public opinion (Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview, 7-6-17)
• Scientific journals squabble over conflict-of-interest policies (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 6-15-15) One of the most important aspects of reporting on medical studies is identifying and making sense of researchers’ potential financial conflicts of interest. "A lengthy three-part series at the New England Journal of Medicine, introduced by NEJM editor Jeffrey Drazen, M.D., asks whether those sorts of financial conflict-of-interest policies and regulations are wise. Part I concludes with rhetorical questions regarding “appearances” of a conflict of interest, suggesting that “reasoned approaches to managing financial conflicts are eclipsed by cries of corruption even when none exists.” Part II explores ways of understanding bias. Part III, “Beyond Moral Outrage – Weighing the Trade-Offs of COI Regulation,” ask readers to vote on what a journal editor should do in three case studies. (Go to AHCJ story for links.)
• Scientists Loved and Loathed by an Agrochemical Giant (Danny Hakim, Business Day, NY Times, 12-31-16) With corporate funding of research, "There's no scientist who comes out of this unscathed."
• Conflicts of Interest, Authorship, and Disclosures in Industry-Related Scientific Publications: The Tort Bar and Editorial Oversight of Medical Journal (Laurence J. Hirsch, MD, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Sep. 2009, as posted on PMC, Public Library of Medicine)
• Uncovering conflicts of interest in medicine, research (John Fauber, AHCJ, 3-18-10)
• Patient Advocacy Groups Take In Millions From Drugmakers. Is There A Payback? (Emily Kopp, Sydney Lupkin, and Elizabeth Lucas. KHN, 4-6-18) KHN launches “Pre$cription for Power,” a groundbreaking database to expose Big Pharma’s ties to patient groups. Unlike payments to doctors and lobbying expenses, companies do not have to report payments to the patient advocacy groups. Bristol-Myers Squibb provides a stark example of how patient groups are valued. In 2015, it spent more than $20.5 million on patient groups, compared with $2.9 million on federal lobbying and less than $1 million on major trade associations, according to public records and company disclosures....Recipients of donations from pharmaceutical firms include well-known disease groups, like the American Diabetes Association, with revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars; high-profile foundations like Susan G. Komen, a patient group focused on breast cancer; and smaller, lesser-known groups, like the Caring Ambassadors Program, which focuses on lung cancer and hepatitis C.
• Nonprofit Linked To PhRMA Rolls Out Campaign To Block Drug Imports (Emily Kopp and Rachel Bluth, KHN, 4-19-17) A nonprofit organization that has orchestrated a wide-reaching campaign against foreign drug imports has deep ties to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, the powerhouse lobbying group that includes Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Bayer.A PhRMA senior vice president, Scott LaGanga, for 10 years led the Partnership for Safe Medicines, a nonprofit that has recently emerged as a leading voice against Senate bills that would allow drug importation from Canada.
• When Conflict-of-Interest is a Factor in Scientific Misconduct (PDF, Sheldon Krimsky, MedLaw 2007) Includes section on Ghostwriting as Misconduct.
• Conflicts of interest in health care journalism. Who’s watching the watchdogs? We are. Part 1 of 3 (Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview, 6-12-17) WCSJ accepted $400,000 in support from drug company Johnson & Johnson and another $50,000 from drug company Bayer. Three news organizations (STAT, Vox, NPR) accepted PhRMA sponsorship--and though they might not have been influenced by such a conflict of interest, the perceived conflict pollutes the stream of health care journalism. "Instead of taking drug company money, have these organizations pursued other sponsors that have health-related product lines that they’d like to advertise? FitBit, Nike or any other sports shoe/sportswear manufacturer, LifeTimeFitness or any other fitness center chain?" Sponsors can influence medical news decision-making above your head.
• Part 2 of 3. Time for world's top health journalism organization to reconsider fundraising practices. "AHCJ states that its educational arm, the Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, won’t take money from pharmaceutical companies, device makers, insurers or even most advocacy groups such as the American Cancer Society. That strict standard distinguishes AHCJ from some other journalism training organizations, which have no qualms about accepting money from companies that journalists routinely report on. But the association routinely solicits significant funds from academic medical centers in order to support its annual conferences, and that poses a conflict of interest....The important thing is for AHCJ to separate fundraising from conference programming, similar to how news organizations separate advertising and editorial functions. If outside organizations work with AHCJ on programming, whether money changes hands or not, that should be disclosed as a collaboration."
• Part 3 of 3. Conflicts of interest in health care journalism: VIDEO with our publisher about “an unhealthy state of things” (Part 3 of 3) See The trail of tainted funding: Conflicts of interest in healthcare, academics, public relations and journalism (a roundup of HealthNewsReview.org links to stories about conflict of interest)
Covering the environment
• Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)
---SEJ tip sheets
---SEJ Watchdogs
• Environmental Health News and archives of original articles
• Journalist's Resource on the environment (Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy). Links to many solid articles and research reports.
• The Food & Environment Reporting Network (Facebook page)
• EnviroLink and EnviroLink Forum (community, ecology, connection)
• Food and Water Watch
• International Environmental Communication Association (IECA, One-Planet Talking)
• ProPublica articles and series on The Environment
• Covering the Environment Beat (Tina Casagrand, The Open Notebook, 6-3-14) Environmental reporters need to keep abreast of news in many different niches, including climate change, ecology, ecosystem management, public policy, international relations, business, health, transportation, public lands, water, and energy. How can an environmental journalist keep tabs on all these facets of science and still have time to file daily stories or work on features or months-long investigations? "There’s no substitute for meeting sources in person. When I have to rely on phone interviews, I use environmental groups as a starting point for local contacts. But I also look for other organizations like farmers’ unions and academic institutions for diverse viewpoints."
• ‘We’re Living in a Nightmare:’ Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town (Andrew R Chow/Granbury, Texas; TIME magazine, 7/16/24, a 22-minute read). Over several months, TIME spoke to more than 40 people in the Granbury area who reported a medical ailment that they believe is connected to the arrival of the Bitcoin mine: hypertension, heart palpitations, chest pain, vertigo, tinnitus, migraines, panic attacks. At least 10 people went to urgent care or the emergency room with these symptoms. The development of large-scale Bitcoin mines and data centers is quite new, and most of them are housed in extremely remote places. There have been no major medical studies on the impacts of living near one. But there is an increasing body of scientific studies linking prolonged exposure to noise pollution with cardiovascular damage. And one local doctor—ears, nose, and throat specialist Salim Bhaloo—says he sees patients with symptoms potentially stemming from the Bitcoin mine’s noise on an almost weekly basis."
"The number of commercial-scale Bitcoin mining operations in the U.S. has increased sharply over the last few years; there are now at least 137. Similar medical complaints have been registered near facilities in Arkansas and North Dakota. And the Bitcoin mining industry is urgently trying to push bills through state legislatures, including in Indiana and Missouri, which would exempt Bitcoin mines from local zoning or noise ordinances."
• Has the Amazon Reached Its ‘Tipping Point’? ( Alex Cuadros, NY Times, 1-4-23) Some Brazilian scientists fear that the Amazon may become a grassy savanna — with profound effects on the climate worldwide. The Amazon has been called “the lungs of the earth” because of the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs — according to most estimates, around half a billion tons per year. But deforestation has changed all that.
• As Colorado River Dries, the U.S. Teeters on the Brink of Larger Water Crisis (Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, 8-25-22) One piece in a series: Killing the Colorado: The Water Crisis in the West. The megadrought gripping the western states is only part of the problem. Alternative sources of water are also imperiled, and the nation’s food along with it. The Colorado River is dying — the victim of legally sanctioned overuse, the relentless forces of urban growth, willful ignorance among policymakers and a misplaced confidence in human ingenuity. ProPublica investigates the policies that are putting this precious resource in peril. To fight climate change, environmentalists may have to give up a core belief (Shannon Osaka, Washington Post, 9-2-22) To tackle climate, experts say, environmentalists have to embrace big energy projects. Fast.
• The EPA Has Done Nearly Everything It Can to Clean Up This Town. It Hasn’t Worked. (Lisa Song, ProPublica, 4-15-24) Despite years of air monitoring, inspections and millions in penalties for petrochemical plants, the air in Calvert City, Kentucky, remains polluted. The EPA’s inability to fix it is an indictment of the laws governing clean air, experts say.
---The Most Detailed Map of Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution in the U.S. (Al Shaw and Lylla Younes, ProPublica) Scroll down for an interactive map that you can explore to see all the pollution hot spots in the U.S.
• The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare (Nathaniel Rich, NY Times Magazine, 1-10-16) Rob Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years. Then he took on an environmental suit that would upend his entire career — and expose a brazen, decades-long history of chemical pollution. For more about DuPont's FPOA pollution, see ‘‘The Teflon Toxin’’ by Sharon Lerner (The Intercept, 8-17-15) and ‘‘Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia’’ by Mariah Blake: "Home to one of the most brazen, deadly corporate gambits in U.S. history"(The Huffington Post, 8-27-15)
• Shoptalk: Climate Journalism Is About Empowerment (Kamyar Razavi, Editor&Publisher, 12-23-19) Mitigating climate change is often seen in the context of making choices that can be undesirable: flying less, buying less, ditching the car. Instead, the choices people must make to fight climate change can be framed as enjoyable, desirable or even moral, instead of avoidable. In other words, things that people actually want to do. To make that shift, University of Michigan sustainability professor Andy Hoffman argues for a “consensus-based” approach to climate change. Such an approach treats climate change as a cultural issue instead of simply as a scientific and environmental problem. It “frames climate change mitigation as a gain rather than a loss to specific cultural groups,” Hoffman writes. Two models of such journalism: T’Sou-ke Nation becomes model for sustainable living (Video, Global News, Canada, 9-26-19) British Columbia is now home to Canada’s first solar-powered First Nations community, As Dawna Friesen explains, the T’Souke First Nation on Vancouver Island changed currents based on traditional values, and has gone beyond achieving net-zero emissions. And This Ontario town is trying to be Canada’s first carbon-neutral community (Alireza Naraghi, Maclean's, 7-23-19) The tiny village of Eden Mills is closing in on its goal, proving what collective action can achieve.
• ‘Every square inch is covered in life’: the ageing oil rigs that became marine oases (Katharine Gammon, The Guardian, 10-15-23) “The state wins by getting an endowment, the environment wins because the reefs get to stay, and the oil and gas companies also win by saving money.” But environmental groups don’t see a win. They cite the visual pollution of rigs on the ocean horizon and say that the plan lets fossil fuel companies escape paying for the end of life of their dirty products.
• Fatherland (Nadia Owuso, Orion Magazine) Crossing the close, yet tangled, landscape of our identity, stories, and climate grief.
• Environmentalists and Dam Operators, at War for Years, Start Making Peace (Brad Plumer, NY Times, 10-13-2020) Facing a climate crisis, environmental groups and industry agree to work together to get more clean energy from hydropower while reducing the environmental harm from dams, in a sign that the threat of climate change is spurring both sides to rethink their decades-long battle over a large but contentious source of renewable power.
• The Tragedy of North Birmingham (Max Blau, ProPublica, 9-1-22) Industrial plants in Birmingham, Alabama, have polluted the air and land in its historic Black communities for over a century. In an epicenter of environmental injustice, officials continue to fail to right the wrongs plaguing the city’s north side.
• NYU Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) (New York University, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute) Who We Are: Storytellers with a Passion for Science. What We Do: A Customized Curriculum, a Hands-On Approach. Where We Work: NYC, the World Capital of Science Journalism.
• Columbia Suspends Environmental Journalism Program (Curtis Brainard, CJR, 10-19-09). Falling employment, rising education costs to blame. "Although our graduates have done well in their careers, even those still employed are finding few opportunities to do the kind of substantive reporting for which the dual degree program has trained them, as they scramble to do their own work plus that of laid-off colleagues. "
• Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin. A gripping human drama rooted in a centuries-old scientific quest, Toms River is a tale of dumpers at midnight and deceptions in broad daylight, of corporate avarice and government neglect, and of a few brave individuals who refused to keep silent until the truth was exposed.
• The Biggest Potential Water Disaster in the United States (David Owen, New Yorker, 5-11-22) In California, millions of residents and thousands of farmers depend on the Bay-Delta for fresh water—but they can’t agree on how to protect it. The real problem in California and the rest of the West isn’t a shortage of water storage; it’s a shortage of water.
• Ensia Mentor Program Emerging journalists are paired with seasoned experts to produce a piece of content for Ensia, a nonprofit online magazine. The program offers scientists and aspiring environmental journalists an opportunity to build their communication skills and professional network by creating an article, video, image gallery, infographic or other work on a topic of their choice.
• If you want to save the world, veganism isn’t the answer (Isabella Tree, The Guardian, 8-25-18) "Rather than being seduced by exhortations to eat more products made from industrially grown soya, maize and grains, we should be encouraging sustainable forms of meat and dairy production based on traditional rotational systems, permanent pasture and conservation grazing. We should, at the very least, question the ethics of driving up demand for crops that require high inputs of fertiliser, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides, while demonising sustainable forms of livestock farming that can restore soils and biodiversity, and sequester carbon."
• Toxic waste sites and environmental justice: Research roundup (Chloe Reichel, Journalist's Resource)
• A storyteller dedicated to environmental justice (Hannah Meiseles, MIT News, 11-6-2020) Exploring her identity through writing has clarified senior Mimi Wahid’s desire to serve rural Southern communities like her hometown.
• Here's the Real Cause of Human-Made Earthquakes (YouTube video, 1.5 minutes US Geological Survey) Wastewater disposal from oil production, near a faultline (especially in Kansas and Oklahoma). When Oklahoma increased regulations the number of earthquakes declined significantly. See also Researchers map susceptibility to human-made earthquakes (Science Daily, 9-26-18) and Man-made earthquakes: Fact or fiction? (Reveal). The wastewater can add pressure to faults, causing them to slip, and Oklahoma is getting the worst of it.
• Government Studies Louisiana Oil Spill Nearly 15 Years After it Began (Weather.com) The government is studying the effects of an oil spill off Louisiana, but it took them nearly 15 years to do it. It's the longest continuous oil spill in U.S. history. NOAA found that more than 4,500 gallons of oil are flowing from the site every day. Now they're trying to determine how much the spill is damaging natural resources.
• 5(ish) Questions: Abbie Gascho Landis and the surprising climate book “Immersion” (Olga Kreimer, Nieman Storyboard, 9-14-17) The writer (and vet) talks about squeezing story from science, and how a book about mussels is also about our tender, tenacious humanity. “Obviously, a big part of writing about mussels is writing about pollution and climate change, these things that people don’t really like to or want to think about....Mussels are a hard sell in some way. They’re animals, but they kind of appear inanimate. They look like rocks. To most of us, they’re invisible, and who even heard of them? I felt that one of the most powerful ways to connect to mussels is to see how they’re connected to us and our stories.”
• We need a better way to measure monarch populations (Lucy Hicks, ScienceLine, 4-4-18) An iconic butterfly is in trouble – but how much trouble? No one disputes that the monarch is in trouble, but some scientists think the species may be in even worse shape than the winter counts suggest.
• Covering climate change
• Get an Inside Look at the Department of Defense’s Struggle to Fix Pollution at More Than 39,000 Sites (Abrahm Lustgarten, Bombs in Our Backyard, ProPublica, 5-7-18). Investigating one of America's greatest polluters. For the first time, the Pentagon’s internal database used to track its environmental problems is available to the public. A vast $70 billion environmental cleanup program run by the U.S. Department of Defense tracks tens of thousands of polluted sites across the United States. In some places, old missiles and munitions were left buried beneath school grounds. In others, former test sites for chemical weapons have been repurposed for day care centers and housing developments. The dataset includes details on more than 39,000 unique sites across more than 5,000 present and former military locations in every U.S. state and territory. The sites are literally in almost everyone’s backyard. See the series: Bombs in Your Backyard (Lena Groeger, Ryann Grochowski Jones & Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, 11-30-17)
• The Corruption of Sustainability into Eco-Business (Bill Sheehan, executive eirector of UPSTREAM, on Is Sustainability Still Possible? WorldWatch Institute)
• Killing Invasive Species Is Now a Competitive Sport (D. T. Max, New Yorker, 9-5-22) In the Panhandle, where swarms of lionfish gobble up native species, a tournament offers cash prizes to divers skilled at spearing one predator after another.
• How The New York Times and The Times-Picayune teamed up to cover coastal erosion (Kristen Hare, Poynter, 2-26-18) The local paper rebuilt its environmental team with grant funding to cover the coast. “Partnering with the Times allowed us to scale the project in a way that would have been impossible were we to go it alone,” editor Mark Lorando told Poynter.
• Communicating Environmental Risks: Local Newspaper Coverage of Shellfish Bacterial Contamination in Maine (Brianne Suldovsky, Eva Arbor, Victoria Skillin, Laura Lindenfeld, Frontiers in Communication, Portland State University, 3-29-18)
• The Future of Dams blog (New England Sustainability Consortium)
• Oceans Deeply. For example: How Microplastics Are Contaminating Seabirds in Remote Regions of Alaska (Yereth Rosen, Oceans Deeply, 2-12-18)
• How to keep the environment from getting snubbed: Q&A with writer Emma Marris (UCLA IoES, 2-12-18) Are eco-conscious audiences sick of the same old story?
• Environmental journalism (Wikipedia)
• Conservatives don't hate the environment, new research suggests (Adam Wernick, PRI, 6-5-16) “My hypothesis is that conservatives are not inherently anti-environmental so much as they are chronically rejecting the liberal tone of the prevailing environmental discourse around these issues.” Liberal and conservative disagreement on climate change and the environment reflects the hyper-partisan times we live in. But it doesn't have to be that way, new research suggests.
• Protecting Louisiana’s Coastline with Oyster Shells in “What Remains” (New Yorker documentary, 2-23-22) Paavo Hanninen’s documentary looks at a surprisingly simple intervention with the potential to slow runaway land loss along the state’s fragile coast.
• It came from the sewers of London: the utterly disgusting (yet fascinating) fatberg (Nieman Stsoryboard) In The New York Times Magazine's quirky "Letter of Recommendation" column, Nicola Twilley examines the charms of a monstrous subterranean clot formed by the detritus of a genteel city., described memorably by Twilley as a “monstrous subterranean clot the length of 22 double-decker buses with the weight of a blue whale,” born in the sewers of London in the fall of 2017 by an unholy alliance of cooking grease, wet wipes and the everyday detritus of a city.' Behind glass, the fatberg was sanitized and contained, neutralizing even its smell, “a cocktail of rotting meat mixed with dirty diapers, its rancid base notes all but drowned out by an ammoniac tang.”
• An Environmental Conservatism? (The Public Discourse, The Witherspoon Institutute, 1-18-13) Roger Scruton argues that conservatism is a better home for good environmental policy than liberalism.
• How the United States Looked Before the EPA (Kacy Burdette, Fortune, 2-28-17) Fabulous photos commissioned by the Nixon administration.
• Our most popular nature and environment stories (Mongabay, News & Inspiration from Nature's Frontline)
Blogs, news, essays, and shortform writing about medicine, health, and science
• ACES Too High News (ACES = Adverse Childhood Experiences)
• Advance Copy (backstories on books by members of the National Association of Science Writers, Lynne Lamberg's brainchild, and great material when you're writing your book proposal). See Archives and Submission guidelines.
• Aetiology (Sb, Scienceblogs) discussing causes, origins, evolution and implications of disease and other phenomenon)
• AGU blogs (American Geophysical Union's excellent community of earth and space science blogs)
• All About Health (Democrat & Chronicle)
• Alltop (health) (links to five most recent stories of health news sites and blogs)
• AMA Style Insider
• American Health Scare (How the healthcare industry's scare tactics have screwed up our economy — and our future)
• An Arm and a Leg (KFF Health News) A podcast about why health care is so freaking expensive — and what we can maybe do about it.
• Antidote: Investigating Untold Health Stories (William Heisel, investigative health reporting, one of several health beat blogs at USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism)
• Autism News Beat (an evidence-based resource for journalists)
• Bad Medicine (the dubious, bad and sometimes frankly lunatic developments in the medical world). Ben Goldacre's column from The Guardian, covering media misrepresentations of science, with a particular focus on medicine--with a forum. Listen to his TED talk, Battling Bad Science.
• Best 50 Medical Technology Blogs (Forensic Science)
• Best Science Shortform Writing roundups (curated quarterly, posted on Medium). See Help me find the “Best” Shortform Science Writing! (Diana Crow, SciShortform, Medium)
• Better Health
• Black Triangle , Posts for which are still there, but it has morphed to Anthony Cox (pharmacist academic)
• A Blog Around the Clock (Scientific American)
• Boston Health News (Tinker Ready)
• Celebrity Diagnosis
• Center for Health Journalism (USC Annenberg) Mission: Helping journalists investigate health challenges and solutions in their communities and serving as a catalyst for change. "We partner with reporters and their newsrooms to nurture ambitious journalism that impacts policy and spurs new community discussions. Our all-expenses-paid fellowships offer journalists a chance to step away from their newsrooms to hone health reporting skills."
• Charles Ornstein's Morning Health Reads (subscribe, Nuzzel).
• The Chart (Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN)
• Check Up (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Citizens for Patient Safety
• Covering Health (Association of Health Care Journalists, with excellent links to health beats in newspapers, blogs, etc.--including this Health News blogroll)
• CJR's The Observatory (a lens on the science press)
• Closer to Truth (TV series) Cosmos. Consciousness. Meaning. Scientists and philosophers debate the vital ideas of existence, the deepest questions. Closer to Truth discusses life's most essential topics and encourages the conversation to continue.
• CMS.gov: Special Open Door Forums to independently discuss new and important program topics
• The Conversation
• Correcting the AIDS Lies (AIDS dissent is largely based on misinformation and misunderstanding--collating all relevant facts so that no one need die of ignorance)
• Cracking Health Costs
• David Antrobus, whose tweet of a funny cartoon led me to this "FindaProofreader.com entry, which would certainly lead me to hire him)
• DC's Improbable Science (truth, falsehood and evidence: investigations of dubious and dishonest science)
• Denialism blog (Mark Hoofnagle, Science Blogs). Don't mistake denialism for debate.
• Diabetes Mine
• Disrupted Physician (The Physician Wellness Movement and Illegitimate Authority: The Need for Revolt and Reconstruction)
• The Doctor Blog (ZocDoc)
• Dr. Len's Cancer Blog
• DoubleXScience, bringing science to the woman in you, whoever she is, whatever she does. Sections: biology, book reviews, chemistry, health, mental illness, notable women, pregnancy, physics, pregnancy 101, science education, everything else. Sample: The Girls of Atomic City (book review by Chris Gunter) The story of young women during World War II who worked in a secret city dedicated to making fuel for the first atomic bomb—only they didn’t know that.
• Educate the Young And on occasion...regulate the old.
• Elaine Shattner, MD (Forbes blog, covers the culture and science of cancer and health)
• Embargo Watch (Ivan Oransky, MD, keeping an eye on how scientific information embargoes affect news coverage)
• Engaging the Patient
• Explanatory Journalism, Pulitzers for Read the articles of the Pulitzer winners.
• FDAWebView (Jim Dickinson's webview/review/update--this interactive website that watches the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with email bulletins and archive of old regulatory, legal, policy, and scientific news)
• Essential medical links for patients, families, caregivers, reporters
• First Aid Kit (Dan Weissmann, KHN) A newsletter about how to survive the health care system, financially--from the team behind An Arm and a Leg, a podcast about why health care is so freaking expensive — and what we can maybe do about it.
• First Opinion (STAT) Perspective and commentary from experts around the world
• Forensic Science Technician blog
• Freelance Medical Writing
• From the Lab Bench (Paige Brown Jarreau, blogging about all things science)
• Gastropod (looks at food through the lens of science and history)
• GatesNotes (Bill Gates)
• Good e-resources for patients and patient advocates
• Grand Rounds, a weekly summary of the best health blog posts on the Internet, available at Better Health and at Blogborygmi.com
• Health (The Atlantic blogs on body, family, food, mind, public, sex)
• Health Affairs
• Health (STAT) The latest developments affecting patients and practitioners
• Health & Wellness (Los Angeles Times)
• Health Beat(Maggie Mahar) Health articles, nutritional facts, and fitness tips
• Healthcare Savvy (WBUR)
• The Health Care Blog
• Health Care Renewal Addressing threats to health care's core values, especially those stemming from concentration and abuse of power. Advocating for accountability, integrity, transparency, honesty and ethics in leadership and governance of health care.
• Health Navigator (NY Times selective guide to health and medical sites on the Internet)
• Health News Blogs (Association of Health Care Journalists blogroll)
• HealthNewsReview: Your Health news watchdog (excellent health news watchdog blog, offering perspective and opinion, by Gary Schwitzer and others). See also HealthNewsReview.org's review criteria (journalists: study this!), and their Story Reviews (systematic, criteria-driven critiques of news stories and other media messages that may affect the public dialogue about health care).
• Hidden Brain(NPR) Podcast about the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, and the biases that shape our choices.
• Houston We Have a Podcast (Johnson Space Center)
• Impatient: Helping make the health care system work for you (KPCC, Southern California Public Radio--listen live)
• The Incidental Economist (Aaron E. Carroll's health services research blog)
• Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement
• Instagram. Why We Scientists Do Instagram (From the Lab Bench, 3-26-18)
• In the Lab (STAT) Putting the latest scientific research under the microscope
• In the Pipeline
• Invisibilia (NPR) Unseeable forces control human behavior and shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. Invisibilia fuses narrative storytelling with science that will make you see your own life differently.
• JAMA Forum news
**** Kaiser Health News (KHN, an editorially independent news organization dedicated to providing excellent, high-quality coverage of health care policy and politics)
• Karmanos Conquers Cancer
• KevinMD (physicians' voices)
• KFF An independent source for health policy research, polling, and news
• Living with Cancer (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• The Last Word On Nothing ("Science says the first word on everything, and the last word on nothing" - Victor Hugo)
• Liz Szabo's Twitter feed is great for following health and medical news and stories
• MD Whistleblower
• MedCityNews (business of innovation in healthcare)
• medGadget (emerging medical technologies)
• Medical Lessons
• Medical Watchdog ("we cover the latest news in defective medical devices and drugs and how people can fight for their rights when big drug companies fail to protect"
• A Medical Writer's Musings on Medicine, Health Care, and the Writing Life (Debra Gordon)
• Medical Writing Industry (blog for medical writers and editors in the pharmaceutical industry)
• Medical Writing, Editing and Grantsmanship
• Medical Matters (John Schumann, Public Radio Tulsa, old program about health care and the human condition)
• Medicine Matters (Vancouver Sun, BC)
• MedPageToday (geared to physicians; evaluates the evidence, discloses financial conflicts of interest the authors report)
• Medscape blogs
• MEDShadow (balancing drug risks & benefits)
• Med Student's t-Test (a medical/graduate student's musings on medicine and science, with occasional rants about quackery)
• Methods (Brooke borel's blog about how we know what we know--see A journalist’s new podcast explores the secrets behind fact-finding (Joshua Adams, Columbia Journalism Review, 8-24-17)
• Money (STAT) The business behind science, medicine, and the drug industry
• Mongobay (a nonprofit conservation news service, from nature's frontline). Listen, for example, to this podcast: The true story of how 96 critically endangered sea turtle hatchlings survived New York City (Mike Gaworecki, 12-11-18)
• Musings of a Distractible Mind (Dr. Rob Lambert)
• Narrative Matters (essays in Health Affairs)
• National Association of Science Writers (NASW)
• Nature.com blogs
• Neurologica your daily fix of neuroscience, skepticism, and analytical thinking)
• News@JAMA (the JAMA forum)
• New Scientist
• The New York Times Health News
• Notes from Dr. RW (hospital resources and more)
• Not Running a Hospital (former hospital CEO Paul Levy) Excellent blogroll in several categories.
• Off the Charts (American Journal of Nursing)
• On Being a Doctor (Annals of Internal Medicine) An ongoing series.
• Online-resources for patients/consumers/patient advocates/caregivers
• Only Human (Virginia Hughes, National Geographic)
• Open access, open science, and how to identify predatory OA publishers (elsewhere on this site). See for example this archived version of Beall's List of Predatory Journals and Publishers. Read Declan Butler's article in Nature: Investigating journals: The dark side of publishing (3-27-13) "The explosion in open-access publishing has fuelled the rise of questionable operators."
••••The Open Notebook (the story behind the best science stories). Great material. See for example behind-the-story interviews , elements of craft, pitch database, essential guide to science blogging, A day in the life, natural habitat (where science writers share their working spaces -- offices, spare bedrooms, coffee shops, hammocks -- and the accoutrements that help them do their work),and other resources.
• PainScience Evidence-based guides to common painful problems & reviews of treatment options
• Patient POV (Laura Newman)
• Patient Safety Action Network Community (on Facebook)
• Patients sharing info about health care
• Pharmalot (STAT blog) Ed Silverman, Taking stock of the drug industry, from the lab to the medicine chest
• Pharmed Out (Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman), an independent, publicly funded project that empowers physicians to identify and counter inappropriate pharmaceutical promotion practices.
• Phenomena (a science salon hosted by National Geographic)
• A Piece of My Mind (JAMA Network series devoted to telling stories about the joys, challenges, and hidden truths of practicing medicine in the modern era)
• PLoS blogs (Public Library of Science)
• Politics (STAT) Tracking how politics and policy intersect with science and health care
• Prepared Patient (Center for Advancing Health) designed to help people find good care and make the most of it, based on experts' findings, recent scientific findings, and patients' experiences. (No advertising or corporate sponsorship.)
• The ProPublica Nerd Blog, a place to talk about what programmer-journalists at ProPublica are working on, announce newly-launched news applications, and to hear from technically-minded readers, as well as our fellow nerdy journalists. A sample project: Treatment Tracker: The Doctors and Services in Medicare Part B
• Pulse (voices from the heart of medicine -- personal accounts of illness and healing)
• The Quackometer (debunking quack medicine)
• The reluctant geoengineer (Matt Watson, who came to my attention through NPR story Turning to Scientists to Engineer a Cooler Climate (All Things Considered 10-20-13)
• Remaking Health Care (Center for Health Journalism)
• Respectful Insolence (a.k.a. "Orac knows, ScienceBlogs). Against quackery etc.
• Reporting on Health blogs (California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships, about blogging, health journalism, and storytelling)
---William Heisel's Antidote: Investigating Untold Health Stories
---The Reporting on Health Daily Briefing
---Doc Gurley's Urban Health Beat (practicing medicine on the margins of society, and what we can learn from it)
• Research Blogging (reports on peer-reviewed research)
• Retraction Watch Tracking retractions of scientific papers as a window into the scientific process (to alert the public to research fraud, made-up data, and erroneous or false research). Founded and run by Ivan Oransky, executive editor at Reuters Health, and Adam Marcus, managing editor of Anesthesiology News.
• Robert Wood Johnson blogs
• Rubor, Dolor, Calor, Tumor (Mark Crislip practices in infectious diseases)
• Science (an excellent Forbes section)
• Science Alert
• Science-Based Medicine (SBM) (New England Skeptical Society) Exploring issues and controversies in the relationship between science and medicine, including dubious medical, nutritional, and related approaches to medical diagnosis, treatment, etc.)
• Science-based pharmacy (turning an eye on the profession, separating fact from fiction on both sides of the counter)
• Science Blogs (The Guardian)
• Science Blogs (Science 2.0)
• Science blogs (Wired)
• Science Friday (SciFri) Ira Flatow, host of this long-running show, is consistently knowledgable about whatever he’s interviewing researchers about, asks great questions, and gives the researchers airtime enough to really answer the questions.
• Scientific American blogs
• Science careers blog (Science, various contributors)
• Science Daily Good source for the latest research news
• Science explainers. Writing Science Explainers for Local Audiences (Roxanne Scott, The Open Notebook, 2-13-24) "Explainers have long been used in science reporting to help audiences make sense of their world. They may be concise articles, in which a reporter poses and answers common questions their audience may have about a topic, but they can also take the form of TikTok videos, sidebars, social media threads, data graphics, or narrative features. National news outlets such as Vox, The Upshot from The New York Times, and Bloomberg’s QuickTake publish explainers as a regular part of their coverage. Explainers are also a powerful tool in the hands of local reporters, especially when they need to tackle a tricky science topic or interpret data in a digestible manner."
• Science Online (Conversation, Community, & Connections at the Intersection of Science & the Web)
• Science Reporting Quick Tips (The Open Notebook) Finding expert scientific sources; finding and including diverse sources; making sense of scientific studies; stats terms for covering science, etc.
• Science Roll (Dr Bertalan Meskó's journey in Genetics PHD and medicine through Web 2.0--medical education, medical technology, e-learning and virtual medicine)
• Science Seeker (science news from science newsmakers)
• Science Vs takes on fads, trends, and the opinionated mob to find out what’s fact, what’s not, and what’s somewhere in between.
• Science Writing News Roundup
• Scientific American blogs (by latest blog posts) and Scientific American blog network (with links to blogs in categories: MIND blogs, From Our Network. For example: Anthropology in Practice, The Artful Amoeba , History of Geology, and The Primate Diaries
• The Scientific Paper Is Obsolete (James Somers, The Atlantic, 4-5-18) Scientific papers haven't changed much since they their origins in the 1600s. Now they are long, full of jargon and symbols, dependent on "chains of computer programs that generate data, and clean up data, and plot data, and run statistical models on data. These programs tend to be both so sloppily written and so central to the results that it’s contributed to a replication crisis, or put another way, a failure of the paper to perform its most basic task: to report what you’ve actually discovered, clearly enough that someone else can discover it for themselves." What comes next?
• SciLine Your story involves science. You need an expert, and you need that expert now. Scientific expertise and context on deadline. (AAAS) See SciLine provides journalists with scientific expertise (Cybrarian, NASW, 3-22-18). Expert matching, media briefings, experts on camera, and storeis like this media briefing: Cannabis: Health Effects and Regulatory Issues (video and transcript, 4-16-21)
• SciShortform aka Science Shortform (Best Shortform Science Writing, at Medium.com) The Best Shortform Science Writing project highlights standout science writing. Curated quarterly. To nominate pieces tag them #scicomm #scistory #sciencemedia
• Secrets of Good Science Writing (excellent Guardian blog, in honor of the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize, sponsored by the Guardian and the Observer)
• Shots (health news from NPR)
• Shrink Rap (for psychiatrists by psychiatrists) and now a book: Shrink Rap: Three Psychiatrists Explain Their Work by Dinah Miller, Annette Hanson, and Steven Roy Daviss. Listen to them interviewed on Talk of the Nation (NPR)
• Shrink Talk
• Singularity Hub
• Skeptical Scalpel
• Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe (promoting critical thinking and science literacy)
• Speaking of Medicine (PLOS Medical Journals' community blog)
• StarTalk. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, with various comic and celebrity co-hosts, hosts popular podcast on space, science, and popular culture.
• STAT Reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine. For $25/mo. you can subscribe to STAT Plus (giving you "access to exclusive, in-depth pharma, biotech, business, and policy coverage, keeping you on top of what’s happening in the industry — as it happens."
• Statista (portal for statistics)
• SWINY's YouTube station carries video of a lot of interesting talks of ScienceWritersNYC.
• Taking Measure (NIST) Official blog of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
• TED Blog
• TedMed and TEDMED Talks (video)
• Terra Sigillata (about medicinal agents, not all of which are drugs)
• This May Hurt a Bit (Shara Yurkiewicz, Scientific American, The intuitions, insights, and growing pains of a medical student)
• This Scientific Life (Cooper Square Review of Science, Medicine, and Technology) Good essays and book reviews by young scientists.
• Toolkit for journalists and consumers (HealthNewsReview.org) See also Just for journalists: Tips and case studies for writing about health care
• tl;dr: this AI sums up research papers in a sentence (Jeffrey M. Perkel & Richard Van Noorden, Nature, 11-23-2020) TLDRs (the common Internet acronym for ‘Too long, didn’t read’) activated for search results at Semantic Scholar, a search engine created by the non-profit Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) in Seattle, Washington. The search engine’s tool for summarizing studies offers easier skim-reading.
• Top 50 Public Health Blogs (The Science of Health blog, 1-13-10)
• Top 25 Forensic Science Blogs of 2012 (editors, Top Criminal Justice Degrees blog, 1-31-13)
• Tracker (or Tracker 2.0, a Knight Science Journalism Program), turning "a discerning eye on science journalism — the good, the bad, and the occasionally mystifying — with the hope that our analyses will help to keep science writing vibrant, alive, and free from temptation."
• UnBreak Your Health (Alan E. Smith, "the complete reference guide to complementary and alternative health therapies"). "Did you catch the news last week that life expectancy in America actually declined last year?...Did you know we rank BELOW Cypress, New Zealand and Costa Rica? I won't even mention the European countries." (12-10-16)
• Undark. Truth. Beauty. Science. MIT's Knight Science Journalism''s online magazine, called Undark "as a signal to readers that our magazine will explore science not just as a 'gee-whiz' phenomenon, but as a frequently wondrous, sometimes contentious, and occasionally troubling byproduct of human culture."
• The Upshot (data-driven blog on politics, policy and economic analysis, NY Times)
• The Vaccine Times
• Vital Signs (Salon.com blog in defense of science-based health care)
• The Watchdogs (Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky, STAT: Keeping an eye on misconduct, fraud, and scientific integrity)
• Well (NY Times blog)
• White Coat Underground (doctoring in real life)
• Women and Science Blogging (Daniel Lende, Neuranthropology, PLoS blog, 1-27-11) Which refers us to Even when we want something, we need to hide it (Kate Clancy, Context and Variation) and I’ve never been very good at hiding (Christie Wilcox, Observations of a Nerd).
• Working Life (Science blog, AAAS)
• Writing & Publishing a Scientific Paper (YouTube, Jennifer Cullen, ScienceDocs consultant, 8-6-18)
Evidence-based medicine
• What We Mean When We Say Evidence-Based Medicine (Aaron E. Carroll, NY Times, 12-27-17) People understand different things by this term, and the arguments don’t divide along predictable partisan lines, either.
• Bad Science (Ben Goldacre on how to spot good and bad science) Goldacre also provides a do-it-yourself way to learn about randomization and randomized trials at Randomise Me.
• Bring On the Transparency Index ( Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky, The Scientist, 8-1-12). Grading journals on how well they share information with readers will help deliver accountability to an industry that often lacks it. See follow-up and comments here: The Retraction Watch Transparency Index.
• States with the Highest Cancer Rates (Betsy Ladyzhets, Stacker, 5-28-19) This slideshow format can break complicated scientific topics down into distinct, compelling segments.
• The Campbell Collaboration
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Centre for Evidence-Based medicine, provides education and training, and through its blog, articles and opinions for the public. See for example The Double-Edged Sword of the Evidence-Based Medicine Renaissance
• The Cochran Collaboration (evidence-based healthcare databases). See The Cochrane Collaboration might be “Medicine’s Best Kept Secret” (but it shouldn’t be for journalists) (HealthNewsReview). There is no better “context” for health care evidence than the body of 5,000 reviews in the Cochrane Library. The abstracts and plain language summaries of all Cochrane reviews are on their website. The in-depth reviews are made available free to journalists who belong to the Association of Healthcare Journalists and are also available at most university libraries.
• Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
• Cochran Summaries (information to help you make choices about health care)
• Core Topic: Medical Studies (Association of Health Care Journalists) Guides for journalists on reporting, interpreting graphs, the peer review process, understanding bias and statistics, and media coverage.
• Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (NCBI)
• Epidemiology 101, Julie Buring's talk, video, in three parts, from Day 1 of Knight Science Journalism's popular Medical Evidence Boot Camp.
• Evidence-based health care and systematic reviews (The Cochrane Collaboration). "Trusted evidence. Informed decisions. Better health."
• The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) (University of London)
• Flossing and the Art of Scientific Investigation (Jamie Holmes, Gray Matter, NY Times, 11-25-16) It’s considered unethical to run randomized controlled trials without genuine uncertainty among experts regarding what works. And dentists know from a range of evidence, including clinical experience, that interdental cleaning is critical to oral health and that flossing, properly done, works. Yet the notion has taken hold that such expertise is fatally subjective and that only randomized controlled trials provide real knowledge. Many psychologists believe that dismissing a century of clinical observation and knowledge as anecdotal, as research-driven schools like cognitive behavioral therapy have sometimes done, has weakened the bonds between clinical discovery and scholarly evaluation. See also (Jeff Donn, AP, 8-2-16)
• Glossary of common terms (NIH)
• HealthNewsReview (grades health stories for quality of reporting and accuracy)
• Making Evidence Matter (EvidenceNetwork.Ca) Creates original media content on public policy topics for publication in the mainstream media and links journalists with policy experts to provide access to non-partisan, evidence-based information.
• Medicaid Evidence Based Decisions Project (MED) (a self governing collaboration of state Medicaid agencies and their partners--its mission: to provide policymakers with the tools and resources they need to make evidence-based decisions. (Includes links to reports.)
• MedLinePlus (trusted health information, U.S. National Library of Medicine)
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, UK) Browse by conditions and diseases, health protection, population groups, etc.
• NIH Clinical Research Trials and You (National Institutes of Health, aka NIH) Improving health and social care through evidence-based guidance
• The NNT A group of doctors is collecting "number needed to treat" statistics on a searchable website. NNT stands for "the number of patients a doctor needs to treat to help just one person" (AHCJ).
• NREPP (SAMHSA'S national registry of evidence-based programs and practices)
• Numbers and statistics glossary (Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice)
• PubMedCentral (the legacy version) and PubMed (with a new interface), with 26 million citations for biomedical literature from MedLine, life science journals, online books. But see:
• Something’s Rotten in Bethesda — The Troubling Tale of PubMed Central, PubMed, and eLife (Kent Anderson, Scholarly Kitchen, 10-22-12) and A Confusion of Journals: What Is PubMed Now? (Kent Anderson, The Scholarly Kitchen, 9-7-17) PubMed may be consciously or unwittingly acting as a facilitator of predatory or unscrupulous publishing. PubMed's brand has long been muddled in ways that pass lower-quality works through the system under cover of prestige. This has real consequences...."the port of MEDLINE to PubMed was a smart move, and some interface changes have been commendable. At other times, these adaptations have revealed a clear lack of purpose and mission, such as the controversial involvement with eLife, the competition with publisher brands and traffic, and now the loose standards that have allowed unscrupulous publishers to enter PubMed via PMC."
• PubPeer (the online journal club). A website that allows users to discuss and review scientific research after publication. Discussions have highlighted shortcomings in several high-profile papers, in some cases leading to retractions and to accusations of scientific fraud. Comments must use only facts that can be verified. See PubPeer’s secret is out: Founder of controversial website reveals himself (Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, Science, 8-31-15)
• Fake Journal Club: Teaching Critical Reading ("Gwern", 4-23-22) Discussion of how to teach active reading and questioning of scientific research. Partially fake research papers may teach a critical attitude. Various ideas for games reviewed.
• ResearchImpact (turning research into action -- good research summaries on many topics)
• Retraction Watch (The Center for Scientific Integrity) Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process--reports on clinical studies retracted for plagiarism, fraud, and other reasons. See Retraction Watch FAQ, including comments policy.
• Sense About Science (charitable trust in UK, promoting good science and evidence for the public, partly by responding to misrepresentations about science)
• STAT (reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine)
• STAT Plus. Premium STAT subscription, $299 a year, or $29 a month, a " premium subscription that provides you with access to exclusive, in-depth pharma, biotech, business, and policy coverage, keeping you on top of what’s happening in the industry — as it happens." First month free.
• Webliography of resources for evidence-based health care (Cochran Collaboration links to books, articles, and online resources (sorted by specialty); databases offering online access to medical evidence; journals (etc.); medical news reviews (assessing the accuracy and quality of news reporting); patient resources; tutorials and tools; and social media resources.
• What Constitutes Peer Review of Data? A Survey of Peer Review Guidelines (Todd A Carpenter, The Scholarly Kitchen, 4-11-17)
• What is good evidence (Centre for Evidence Based Intervention (CEBI), includes links to "High-quality systematic and other research reviews" and answers questions: What is good evidence? How to use evidence, links to good evidence, links to tools for understanding evidence, research designs, and glossary.
"Statistics are like swimwear -- what they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital." ~-Ashish Mahajan, Lancet 2007
• Writing & Publishing a Scientific Paper (YouTube, Jennifer Cullen, ScienceDocs consultant, 8-6-18)
• The Scientific Paper Is Obsolete (James Somers, The Atlantic, 4-5-18) Scientific papers haven't changed much since they their origins in the 1600s. Now they are long, full of jargon and symbols, dependent on "chains of computer programs that generate data, and clean up data, and plot data, and run statistical models on data. These programs tend to be both so sloppily written and so central to the results that it’s contributed to a replication crisis, or put another way, a failure of the paper to perform its most basic task: to report what you’ve actually discovered, clearly enough that someone else can discover it for themselves." What comes next?
Medical ghostwriting and collaboration
Medical writers who collaborate with scientists are viewed as ghostwriters, if their role is not disclosed publicly, as it should be. Discussions of the ethics and practical realities of professional writers and medical writing include the following:
• The Haunting of Medical Journals: How Ghostwriting Sold “HRT” (Adriane J. Fugh-Berman, PLoS Med 7(9): e1000335, 9-7-10). Read the response by Adam Jacobs of the European Medical Writers Association.
• Frequently Asked Questions about Medical Ghostwriting (Project on Government Oversight, POGO, 8-10-11)
• Ethical Editing – Ghostwriting is an unhealthy practice (Ernesto Spinak, SciELO in Perspective, 1-16-14) The term Ghostwriter is defined as a professional writer who is employed to write works for which he will receive no official credit but will instead remain anonymous. He deplores "paper-writing factories" that crank out essays for students; ghostwriting of doctoral theses; and ghostwriting of biomedical research papers. "It can happen that a group of researchers may contract a professional writer to edit a document based on original research data, but it is the researchers who continue to maintain control of the written work by blocking marketing messages that are favorable to companies or products." Ethical problems arise, as when "pharmaceutical companies and the industries which produce medical technology may frequently distort the results produced by clinical trials. They may also not be impartial. These articles prepared by medical writers hired by the industries are then given to certain ;invited authors' who put their name to them in return for payment." ("Close to 50% of the publications on drugs used in psychiatry that are still under patent were written by ghostwriters.")
• Can Ghostwriting Be Considered Plagiarism? (David Rothschild, iThenticate, 8-17-11)
• What Should Be Done To Tackle Ghostwriting in the Medical Literature? (Peter C Gøtzsche, Jerome P Kassirer, Karen L Woolley, Elizabeth Wager, Adam Jacobs, Art Gertel, Cindy Hamilton, in PLoS, 2-3-09
• Ghost Management: How Much of the Medical Literature Is Shaped Behind the Scenes by the Pharmaceutical Industry? (Sergio Sismondo, PLoS Med 4(9): e286, 9-25-07)
• Revealed: how drug firms 'hoodwink' medical journals (Antony Barnett, The Observer, 12-7-03). Pharmaceutical giants hire ghostwriters to produce articles, then put doctors' names on them
• Evidence in Vioxx Suits Shows Intervention by Merck Officials (Alex Berenson, NY Times, 4-24-05)
• Good Publication Practice for Pharmaceutical Companies Guidelines (Envision Pharma, 2006)
See much fuller set of links to articles on medical ghostwriting, in a section on Collaboration and ghostwriting
See also, under Ethics: Medical ghostwriting and ethical issues in medical publishing (another full set of links--clearly a rich subject) .
Narrative structure in science and medical writing
• Journalists as Characters: Using First-Person Narration to Drive Stories (Knvul Sheikh, The Open Notebook, 4-30-19) Science journalists usually frame stories around their sources. But as Knvul Sheikh writes, first-person anecdotes allow journalists to connect with readers by lending authority and emotional authenticity to stories, building up narrative tension, or lightening the tone of a piece. First-person can also be used to check personal biases and reveal conflicts of interest, avoid awkward phrasing, or breathe life into arcane concepts.
• Houston, We Have a Narrative: Why Science Needs Story by Randy Olson. His “And, But, Therefore” template will help you bring the clarification of story to science pieces. Read this story from Inside Higher Ed, which explains how the "and, and, and" approach of Al Gore's movie on climate change made it less effective. 'In 2011 Comedy Central aired a documentary about the making of South Park in which Trey Parker, one of the co-creators, told about his extremely simple rule of editing that improves narrative structure. He calls it his Rule of Replacing. He said once he gets a first draft of the script, he goes back into the text and tries to replace the word "and" with either "but" or "therefore." Every time he can do this, the storytelling gets better.'
See also Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style.
• Using Narrative to Tell Science Stories (The Open Notebook) A few dozen stories that focus on using narrative to tell science stories. From finding ideas to writing killer ledes to interviewing for narrative—and more. The things that make narrative stories fun to read can also be the hardest to craft.
• Story Time (Rose Jacobs, Chronicle of Higher Education blog, 6-6-14). The traditional "nut graf" structure didn't help her engineering student write coherently, so 'I’ve been doing with my student what I did with those journalists: Demanding a narrative structure—stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end; stories with five Shakespearean acts; stories whose main points are made two-thirds of the way through—not in the first three paragraphs. Stories, in other words, with a structure we learn in childhood and that remains familiar throughout our lives....Research papers tell great stories—movements from what we used to know to what we know now and, in the middle, how we learned it. They’re plays in three acts where the subject is discovery."
• Storygram: Charles Piller’s “Failure to Report” (Roxanne Khamsi, The Open Notebook, 3-21-17) The paradox of Charles Piller’s remarkable STAT investigation “Law Ignored, Patients at Risk: Failure to Report” is that in order to reveal large swathes of missing data, he had to spend several months crunching enormous datasets to understand what was absent. Before Piller could even sit down to write the sentences of his article, his STAT colleague Natalia Bronshtein had to first write the code to download and analyze the raw information, which she did using the computer programming language Python. Ultimately, though, the payoff of this work was huge: People had known for years that many researchers and their institutions had often neglected to deposit study results into the public database ClinicalTrials.gov as required by law, but this investigation finally named the worst offenders and offered shocking details about the true scope of the problem.
• The world’s top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors (Heather Long, WaPo, 10-19-19) English majors are down 25.5 percent since the Great Recession, just as world’s top economists say we need more ‘storytellers.' 'Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller’s new book “Narrative Economics” opens with him reminiscing about an enlightening history class he took as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. He wrote that what he learned about the Great Depression was far more useful in understanding the period of economic and financial turmoil than anything he learned in his economic courses....The whole premise of Shiller’s book is that stories matter. What people tell each other can have profound implications on markets — and the overall economy.
Examples include the “get rich quick” stories about bitcoin or the “anyone can be a homeowner” stories that helped drive the housing bubble. “Traditional economic approaches fail to examine the role of public beliefs in major economic events — that is, narrative,' Shiller wrote. “Economists can best advance their science by developing and incorporating into it the art of narrative economics.” And "Contrary to popular belief, English majors ages 25 to 29 had a lower unemployment rate in 2017 than math and computer science majors." '
• The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, connects the entertainment industry with experts in science, technology, and medicine in order to enhance the portrayal of science and scientists in film, television, and new media, and to make science more accessible and inspiring for all audiences. By connecting industry professionals with scientists and engineers, The Exchange can help bring the reality of engaging science to the creative arts. Get involved.
• Storygrams from The Open Notebook TON's story diagrams—or Storygrams—annotate stories to shed light on what makes some of the best science writing so outstanding. The Storygram series is a joint project of The Open Notebook and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. It is supported in part by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This Storygram is co-published at the CASW Showcase. This link takes you to several Storygrams.
---Storygram: Nicola Twilley’s “The Billion-Year Wave” (Rebecca Boyle, Storygrams, The Open Notebook, NASW, 9-11-18) Boyle annotates an award-winning story to shed light on what makes some of the best science writing so outstanding. The story: The Billion-Year Wave (Nicola Twilley, The New Yorker, 2-11-16, reprinted with permission) 'Boyle provides insight into how Twilley brought out the human drama in the story while also revealing interesting details about the science itself. She also interviews Twilley about the story behind the story, asking about her thoughts on the piece and exploring particular scenes that made Boyle wonder: How many questions must she have needed to ask to get to these incredible gems? The Storygram series is a joint project of The Open Notebook and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. A few examples:
---Ed Yong’s “North Atlantic Right Whales Are Dying in Horrific Ways”
---Two Media Outlets Cover the “CRISPR Babies” News
---Marilynn Marchione’s “Chinese Researcher Claims First Gene-Edited Babies”
---Annie Waldman’s “How Hospitals Are Failing Black Mothers”
---Joshua Sokol’s “Life After Mercury Poisoning”
---Anna Maria Barry-Jester’s “Surviving Suicide in Wyoming”
---Eric Boodman’s “Accidental Therapists”
• Crisis or self-correction: Rethinking media narratives about the well-being of science (Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 3-12-18). Jamieson discusses the implications of three alternative news narratives about science and its challenges, outlining ways in which those who communicate science can more accurately convey its investigatory process, self-correcting norms, and remedial actions, without in the process legitimizing an unwarranted “science is broken/in crisis” narrative. The three storylines are: (i) quest discovery, which features scientists producing knowledge through an honorable journey; (ii) counterfeit quest discovery, which centers on an individual or group of scientists producing a spurious finding through a dishonorable one; and (iii) a systemic problem structure, which suggests that some of the practices that protect science are broken, or worse, that science is no longer self-correcting or in crisis. Covering Health provides a version more helpful to science writers, perhaps: Nuance can help keep science ‘crises’ in context (Tara Haelle, AHCJ, 6-6-18)
• Telling science stories…wait, what’s a “story”? (Bora Zivkovic, A Blog Around the Clock, 7-13-11). " In the Inverted Pyramid approach to journalism, the first couple of sentences (the “lede”) provide the next most important information, and so on, with the least important stuff at the end. In many ways, it is the opposite of a narrative – the punch-line goes first, the build-up after. The beauty of the Inverted Pyramid for the writers and editors is that any article can be chopped up and made shorter....You can’t do that with a narrative, where clues can be hidden all along the way, and the grand solution comes close to the end."
• All about Stories: How to Tell Them, How They're Changing, and What They Have to Do with Science (Lena Groeger and Perrin Ireland, Scientific American, 6-6-11) Report on what a panel of science journalists said about how the Web is shaping and changing how stories are told. Carl Zimmer, Andy Revkin, Bora Zivkovic, Seth Mnookin, and Emily Bell talk about "everything from journalistic innovation to dealing with science (and anti-science) controversies, the role of science blogging to problems with peer-reviewed literature and pay walls, the changing nature of news consumption to the meaning of 'story.'"
For example: "Don't just think of [blogging] as an outflow mechanism, this is a tool which will allow you to find collaborators, allow you to shape ideas and disseminate them as well." -Andy Revkin.
"It might be harder to get jobs, but it's the most extraordinary time to be doing this." - Emily Bell.
"Another arena that's shifting in the same way as print journalism is peer reviewed literature." - Carl Zimmer.
"There have been a slew of recent examples of high profile papers that initially got a lot of traction in the mainstream media, but were eventually exposed to be full of errors. While the blogosphere can quickly act as a corrective, traditional science journals are still 'ossified in their response,' said Zimmer."
• Explaining Science (Gerard Piel, reported by Norman Bauman on his website -- December 2001.) Do a search and find this piece way down on the web page. "The narrative is the way to do exposition," said Piel. "That's the most painless way to explain." And Scientific American, of which he was the retired publisher, was "in the business of understanding, not information."
• Natural Narratives by Michael Pollan (Nieman Storyboard 2-16-07: Seven principles for writing about nature and science in ways that depart from the usual)
• Narrative Matters: The Power of the Personal Essay in Health Policy ed. by Fitzhugh Mullan, Ellen Ficken, and Kyna Rubin (a collection of personal stories of patients, physicians, policy makers, and others whose writings humanize health policy issues, drawn from the popular "Narrative Matters" column in the journal Health Affairs.
• Using narratives and storytelling to communicate science with nonexpert audiences (Michael F. Dahlstrom, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS, 9-16-14)
• Science & Story: The Art of Communicating Science Across All Media . at the World Science Festival in New York City, there was an entire day devoted to science story-telling, Presented in collaboration with the Paley Center for Media. Much material here and on the World Science Festival blog . See also some webcasts.
• Penny Bailey on science writing: 'You need to know how to tell a good story'
• The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains (Leo Widrich, Lifehacker, 12-5-12)
Narrative Medicine. Narrative Medicine workshops provide narrative training with stories of illness to enable "practitioners to comprehend patients’ experiences and to understand what they themselves undergo as clinicians." Here is a pageful of links to podcasts of Narrative Medicine Rounds, lectures or readings presented by scholars, clinicians, or writers engaged in work at the interface between narrative and health care. Rounds are held on the first Wednesday of each month from 5 to 6:30 pm in the Columbia University Medical Center Faculty Club, followed by a reception. Rounds are free and open to the public. Elisabeth Pozzi-Thanner of Oral History Productions took and recommends an excellent intensive four-day workshop on Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. And here are some books on the subject:
Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness by Rita Charon;
Narrative Medicine: The Use of History and Story in the Healing Process by Lewis Mehl-Medrona, author of Coyote Wisdom: Healing Power in Native American Stories
Psychoanalysis and Narrative Medicine, ed. Peter L. Rudnytsky and Rita Charon.
• Narrative medicine and medical narrative (blogs, books, and other wonderful material on the subject--Pat McNees's links)
Miscellaneous resources
for science and medical writers
Everything that didn't fit into specific categories above.
• Advance Copy Backstories on books by members of the National Association of Science Writers. For this column, NASW book editor Lynne Lamberg asks NASW authors to tell how they came up with the idea for their book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. She also asks what they wish they had known before they began working on their book, what they might do differently the next time, and what tips they can offer aspiring authors. See Archives and Submission guidelines. Entries provide many different insights into the process of getting a book published.
• On the Origin of Science Writers (The Open Notebook) How do people get started in science writing? TON offers dozens of those answers from some of the best in the business, each of whom also offers one pithy nugget of advice for newcomers.
•Advice for Grad Students(Greg Mankiw, 5-24-06)
• Science Sandbox Our mission is to unlock scientific thinking by engaging everyone with the process of science. We support projects that bring scientific concepts — and scientists — to the general public. Often, these projects allow participants to see scientific concepts in everyday life. Whether it means literally putting a research-grade lab on wheels and delivering it to schoolchildren or bringing high-quality science interactions to large mainstream events, we engage those who don’t think of themselves as scientific thinkers — and in situations where they least expect it. We give them the experience of being scientists themselves."
• Novelist Cormac McCarthy’s tips on how to write a great science paper (As told to Van Savage and Pamela Yeh, Nature, 9-26-19). "McCarthy’s most important tip is to keep it simple while telling a coherent, compelling story....Decide on your paper’s theme and two or three points you want every reader to remember. This theme and these points form the single thread that runs through your piece." McCarthy novels include The Road, No Country for Old Men, and Blood Meridian.
• Introducing the Diverse Voices Series (The Open Notebook, NASW, 10-9-18) In collaboration with NASW's Diversity Committee, and with funding from Science Sandbox (an initiative of the Simons Foundation), the series will feature voices, perspectives, and experiences of science journalists who are from communities or groups that are underrepresented in science journalism.
• The Science Byline Counting Project: Where Are the Women—and Where Are They Not? (Cynthia Graber and Katharine Gammon, The Open Notebook, 2-10-16) "Of the 1,723 articles included in our analysis, female writers wrote 855 articles, and male writers wrote 867....For short articles, women’s bylines typically equaled and in some cases outnumbered men’s. But for longer front-of-book or back-of-book pieces, where writers have an opportunity to showcase their writing style and establish credentials that could lead to opportunities to write the more prestigious feature articles, men outnumbered women, in some cases by a factor of two or three to one." But read the article, as it's not a simple count.
• Is There a Gender Bias in Science Writing Awards? (Shannon Hal, CASW Showcase, 4-3-19) It's a close call.
• Recent science writing awards given by scholarly and professional organizations (CASW Showcase, 2019)
• Award-winning series can help you better understand medical studies (Gara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 12-6-16) Winners of the 2016 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards included science journalist Christie Aschwanden of FiveThirtyEight, who received the Silver Award in the online category for a three-part series that every health journalist would do well to read, reread and bookmark.
---Science Isn't Broken (It’s just a hell of a lot harder than we give it credit for), in which she described p-hacking, study biases and other important concepts in understanding research
---You Can’t Trust What You Read About Nutrition, which "used the absurdity of a link found in one study between eating cabbage and having an innie belly button to illustrate potential problems in observational studies about nutrition." "She similarly describes the difficulty in prospective studies of tracking food, the challenge of too many variables and other limitations of nutrition studies, including the fact that “We expect far too much from them,” Aschwanden writes. “We want to answer questions like, what’s healthier, butter or margarine? Can eating blueberries keep my mind sharp? Will bacon give me colon cancer? But observational studies using memory-based measures of dietary intake are tools too crude to provide answers with this level of granularity.”
---Failure Is Moving Science Forward in which she 'explored the “reproducibility crisis” in science and why some real effects may not appear in studies that attempt to reproduce them. For health journalists in particular, this story is perhaps the most important of the three. Understanding replication and reproducibility are essential to providing context in stories about the latest study. In fact, her subsection “When studies conflict, which is right?” will be helpful to journalists frustrated with covering issues where the study findings seem to flip back and forth with each successive study.' “The thing to keep in mind is that no single study provides definitive evidence,” she wrote.
• How are drugs named and who names them? (GoodRx)
Getting the numbers right
(and easier to understand)
(and understanding statistics, standard deviation, margin of error, uncertainty, risk, unknowns, polling methods, and data visualization)
"People don't have a strong intuitive sense of how much bigger 1 billion is than 1 million. 1 million seconds is about 11 days. 1 billion seconds is about 315 years."~meme on social media
See also
Data journalism
How not to misread or misreport research reports
Data visualization and storytelling using graphics
• Your guide to math in journalism (PBS NewsHour and Knology, Reporting with Numbers) Numbers don't always help your audience. Explore these "do's" and "don'ts" to make sure your reporting hits home. In sections on Polling (methods, uncertainty and other limitations, clear comparisons, etc.) Health & Medicine (reporting on medical research. medical interventions, and risk, and guidelines on using graphs and other forms of data visualization); Climate (constructing headlines and stories, and forms of data visualization, and guidelines on using graphs and other forms of data visualization); and Economics (constructing headlines, using numbers and statistics in reporting), with resources for each subject area.
• Ask Dr. Math (The Math Forum, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics). A question-and-answer service aimed at math students but others can use it to ask questions specifically about math and math problems.
• Mathematics Reporting: An Uncrowded Niche for Writers (Erica Klarreich on The Open Notebok, 4-11-23) Science editors are eager to cover more math bit not many journalists cover the field.
• Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics Read free online. (Steven Woloshin, Lisa M. Schwartz, and H. Gilbert Welch, University of California Press, 2008) See Tribute to Lisa Schwartz (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 12-3-18)
• Stanford Medical Statistics Certificate You can earn the Stanford Medical Statistics Certificate of Achievement by successfully completing the three required courses in a remote statistics program. You can enroll in courses individually or complete them through the All-Access Plan. See additional online courses at Lifelong Learning: links to an incredible array of opportunities to learn online, some free, some paid.
• 5 things journalists need to know about statistical significance (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 6-23-22) Statistical significance is a highly technical, nuanced mathematical concept. Journalists who cover academic research should have a basic understanding of what it represents and the controversy surrounding it.
• What’s standard deviation? 4 things journalists covering research need to know (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 8-11-22) She explains:
1. The standard deviation of a dataset is a number that indicates how much variation there is within the data.
2. Scientists can use standard deviation to make predictions, investigate trends and answer other key research questions.
3. In some studies, scientists report their findings in terms of standard deviations instead of a unit of measurement such as inches or pounds.
4. Scientists can use standard deviation to help them confirm whether a data point they consider an outlier actually is an outlier.
• Statistics in Sports Science (YouTube video of Kristin Sainani's 'nuts and bolts' lecture, explaining fundamental concepts in statistics. This includes standard error, confidence intervals, p-values, hypothesis testing, and minimal effects testing.)
• Principles of effective statistics (YouTube video, Kristin Sainani, Stanford University summer series, 5-27-2020, 1 hour)
• Mortality rates: the nuts and bolts (6-minute YouTube video from Epidemiology Essentials course.) Mortality rates are used to express the risk of dying of a certain disease.
• Effective data visualization in the era of COVID-19 (free Stanford webinar)
• What Are the Odds? Reporting on Risk (Jane C. Hu, The Open Notebook, 11-1-16) Not all expressions of risk are equally easy to understand, and two equally accurate descriptions of a given risk can have very different psychological effects on readers. In reporting on risk it's important to:
--- Describe risk in the most meaningful way,
--- Dispel misconceptions,
--- Turn on your bullshit detector,
--- Talk to independent experts,
--- Be clear about the unknowns.
• Dollars for Docs ( Mike Tigas, Ryann Grochowski Jones, Charles Ornstein, and Lena Groeger, ProPublica, updated 6-28-18) Has your doctor received drug or device company money? Pharmaceutical and medical device companies are required by law to release details of their payments to a variety of doctors and U.S. teaching hospitals for promotional talks, research and consulting, among other categories. Use this tool to search for general payments (excluding research and ownership interests) made from August 2013 to December 2016. Search for payments made by 17 drug companies between 2009 and 2013.
• Bars and Pies Make Better Desserts Than Figures (Thomas M. Annesley, Clinical Chemistry, Aug 2010) Pharmaceutical and medical device companies are required by law to release details of their payments to a variety of doctors and U.S. teaching hospitals for promotional talks, research and consulting, among other categories. Use this tool to search for general payments (excluding research and ownership interests) made from August 2013 to December 2016.
• Because patient advocacy groups aren’t always what they seem: A quick guide to nonprofit sleuthing (Mary Chris Jaklevic, HealthNewsReview, 10-12-17)" Journalists shouldn’t take organizations they report on at face value. Rather, they should ask who calls the shots and who provides the funding. And they should report findings that call into question a group’s credibility." A helpful guide for deep reporting on nonprofits. Where to find the documents that will give you the numbers.
---5 basic things journalists need to know about polls and surveys (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 10-9-24) The benefits and pitfalls of poll and survey research, with insights from a political scientist, a social psychologist, a statistician, and an investigative journalist.
• Why journalists should look at question order when covering survey and poll results (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 9-18-24) She explains how question order bias can affect how people answer questions and offers five tips to help journalists spot the problem.
• Acquiescence Bias (in Computer Science, Science Direct) Certain question formats are more prone to bring out: asking respondents if or how much they agree with a statement, any binary question (e.g., true/false, yes/no), and, of course, leading questions (e.g., “How annoyed are you with online advertising?”). How to avoid them.
• Transparency Initiative Disclosure Elements (American Association for Public Opinion Research,11-22), such as who sponsored the research, who conducted it, how the sample was created, how data were weighted, and what procedures were used to ensure data quality.
• 11 questions journalists should ask about public opinion polls (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 6-4-18) Among them: Who paid for it? What's the margin of error? Were participants compensated? Also provides links to more tips on polling.
• Polling fundamentals and concepts: An overview for journalists (Leighton Walter Kille, Journalist's Resource, 11-10-16)
• Many journalists fail to question new Cancer Society colorectal cancer screening guidelines (Kevin Lomangino, HealthNewsReview, 5-31-18) The American Cancer Society (ACS) has updated its colorectal cancer screening guidelines, lowering the recommended age to start screening from 50 to 45. Missing from most stories about the rising rate among young men is any quantification of the actual rate of colon cancer in these groups, and few outlets challenged the narrative that more lives would be saved with an earlier start to screening and that the benefits would outweigh potential harms, which include bowel perforation and complications from anesthesia.
• How an arcane, new accounting standard is helping reporters follow the money (Mya Frazier, CJR, 5-29-18)
• Calculators and converters (online, for $$ and otherwise)
• Calendars, perpetual calendars, calendar converters, and time converters
• Health Spending Explorer (Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker)
• Majority, Plurality, and History (Andy Hollandbeck, Copyediting, 11-9-16) Majority vs. Plurality: The magic number of electoral votes a presidential candidate must win to achieve a majority — that is, 50 percent or more — is 270. But how they get those electoral votes from states doesn’t necessarily involve majorities.
• Math and statistics resources (Writers and Editors section on search engines)
• Math for Journalists: Help with Numbers (Poynter's News University). Free self-directed three-hour online course, which covers everything from reducing fractions and other math essentials to topics specifically for journalists, such as calculating cost of living and estimating crowd sizes. The goal: to make routine math routine.
• Metric prefixes (Wikipedia) What do exa-, peta-, tera-, mega-, kilo-, milli-, micro-, etc. mean?
• NewsNumbers.Info ( a reporter's guide to using numbers for better reporting and editing--for example, calculating property taxes, interpreting workforce numbers, using U.S. Census data correctly, and reporting on the cost of college sports (site created by Rich Exner, a data analysis editor at Cleveland.com)
• Newsroom Math Crib Sheet (Steve Doig, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University)
• Numbers and statistics glossary (PDF, Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice) Brings clarity to differences between absolute risk, absolute risk reduction, number needed to treat (NNT), relative risk, relative risk reduction (numbers) and (statistics) p value, confidence interval, survival, and mortality.
• The Quartz guide to bad data (Quartz-GitHub) An exhaustive reference to problems seen in real-world data along with suggestions on how to resolve them.
• Number Watch (monitoring and correcting misleading scary numbers)
• Percentages in Text (Mark Allen, Copyediting, 11-8-16)
• STATS (a collaboration between Sense About Science USA and the American Statistical Association) Aims to improve statistical literacy among journalists, academic journal editors, and researchers; examines how numbers are distorted and statistics are misunderstood in the media and in society.
• Q&As about numbers (Chicago Manual of Style, online)
• Statistics Every Writer Should Know (RobertNiles.com, basic)
• STAT Politics Tracking how politics and policy intersect with science and health care
• Two Decimal Places in a Percentage Raises a Flag (Copyediting, 9-29-13) We don’t have all the information, so it could be right; but it’s probably wrong.
• Finding Stories in Financial Filing Footnotes (Erik Sherman, Business Journalism, 1-23-18)
• Vaccine Data: Do the Math (Gretchen LaSalle MD, 9-9-19)
• Using numbers to explain vaccine benefits (Bara Vaida, Covering Health, AHCJ, 1-27-2020)
• Why Teaching Data Journalism Is a Challenge at Most Universities (Kayt Davies, MediaShift, 2-5-18) "Data journalism is all-at-once the coolest, hardest and fastest changing kind of journalism there is, and that’s a hard thing to suddenly become competent enough in to stand up and teach." Our "exploration of the intricacies of cutting-edge data journalism is minimal for now. Yet, we are laying the groundwork, and by tackling the fears, we are setting people up for lifetimes of learning.... Other helpful advice that emerged from the study was to be bold about blended learning. One of my respondents said she required students to complete Lynda.com’s Excel Five-Day Challenge before starting her course, and another said she encouraged students to use Lynda.com when they were stuck."
• Well Sourced: IRS files help you X-ray health care finances (William Heisel, Center for Health Journalism, 3-13-15)
• Veteran journalist: Be skeptical of nonprofits’ claims, finances Ryan White, Center for Health Journalism, 2-28-13)
• When ‘fact-checked’ health news doesn’t tell the whole story (Joy Victory, HealthNewsReview, 3-28-18 ) On the surface, this headline from Healthline.com looks like a good thing: "New Drug Shows Promise in Treating Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis." HealthLine labeled the story fact-checked; Victory points out the flaws in the story (and the fact-checking).
• Why that corner health clinic might be flush with ill-gotten gains (Heilel, 7-23-10, Part 1 of a series). Part 2: Health scammers are hiding in plain sight (Heisel, 7-26-10) Fraud Fishing, Part 3: Following the Health Fraud Paper Trail (William Heisel, Center for Health Journalism, 7-30-10).
• Reporting on Hospital Charity Care: Crunching the Numbers (Sandy Kleffman, Center for Health Journaism, 11-9-11)
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• Understanding and Interpreting Polls (Poynter's News University) Free self-directed, three-hour course which teaches journalists how to analyze survey data and determine the legitimacy of a poll.
• Understanding Uncertainty, Animations, etc. Animations explaining risk, survival, etc.)
• Numbers Glossary (The Dartmouth Institute) Absolute risk, relative risk, p value, confidence interval, etc.
• The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics by Tim Harford
• A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) by Barbara Oakley
• News and Numbers: A Writer's Guide to Statistics by Victor Cohn and Lewis Cope with Deborah Cohn Runkle
• Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics by Steven Woloshin, Lisa M. Schwartz, and H. Gilbert Welch. See Truth in Numbers (Cathy Shufro, Dartmouth Medicine) "Schwartz and Woloshin tested the effectiveness of drug facts boxes in two randomized trials. In one trial, they used two heartburn drugs, giving each participant a print ad for both Amcid and Maxtor. Half of the participants were also given the brief summary written by the maker of the drug. The other half received drug facts boxes instead of the brief summary. The drug facts boxes led to a better understanding of the effectiveness of each drug....If you can do that for a product like Cocoa Krispies, why can't you do that for a product like Lunesta or Lipitor, where the stakes are so high?...We want doctors, the public, and policymakers to know what they can and cannot get from various medications, treatments, and interventions."
• Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You by Randall Bolten
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• Behind the numbers: getting statistics right for men with prostate cancer (Amy Dyer, Prostate Cancer UK, 9-16-14)
• Are we ready to move beyond the p-value? Nicole Lazar, former editor of The American Statistician, guides ScienceWriters2019 attendees through the (alleged) “end of statistical significance.”
• $2.6 Billion to Develop a Drug? New Estimate Makes Questionable Assumptions (Aaron E. Carroll, The Upshot, NY Times, 11-18-14) Tufts says $2.6 billion, Public Citizen (Ralph Nader's advocacy group says $150 million. Carroll explains why they came to different numbers. Note: The Tufts Center is funded, to a large extent, by the pharmaceutical industry.) See also Drugs, Big Pharma, conflicts of interest, and why U.S. patients pay too much for medication
• Scientists Are About to Officially Change What a Kilogram Is (Mike McRae, Science Alert, 7-1-17)
• Advice for Science Writers from Science Writers, Maryn McKenna's column about (and highlights from) a long blog Ed Yong opened up to the science-writing community: On the Origin of Science Writers. On Yong's blog you can read 146 personal accounts of how people got into science writing, with advice to those just starting in the field. Also on Yong's Discover blog Not Exactly Rocket Science, check out his amusing analysis of the science writing process.
• AHCJ links to resources for health care journalists (Association of Health Care Journalists)
• A.J. Hostetler on Mentoring Interns and Writing for Tony Fauci’s Aunt (Siri Carpenter, The Open Notebook, 6-17-2020) The year: 1998. The setting: The newsroom of the *Richmond Times-Dispatch. A young Siri Carpenter, a bright-eyed graduate student trying her hands at journalism as a AAAS Mass Media Fellow, gets paired with editor A.J.Hostetler. A.J.'s most memorable piece of advice? "Tell stories like you're writing for Tony Fauci's aunt" (this anecdote alone illustrates the principle). Write simply. Learn to cultivate sources. Learn to be edited. Learn what makes a good quote and how to elicit it.
• Alternative Income Sources for Writers, Norman Bauman's summary of an ASJA meeting on the subject in 2002, may be helpful, and be sure to see the material he added to his website: Catherine E. Oliver's on what's required for technical writing. Norman's other reports include How to find and price medical writing jobs (1999). For more such summaries, including an interesting piece on text retrieval and search engines, go to Bauman's website, Medical Writing in New York. See, for example, this thoughtful long piece on redesigning science magazines.
• American Council on Science and Health (ACSH)
• Bad Science (Ben Goldacre, The Guardian) "Pulling bad science apart is the best teaching gimmick I know for explaining how good science works."
• Best Shortform Science Writing (Medium's regular "highly subjective round-up of standout science news")
• Beyond Text: Adding images, sound, story, humor, animation
• Health (NBC News) Interesting bits, like "New ultrasound treatment stops essential tremors" with tag line 'Burning a hole in the brain' can fix it. (Which is why this section used to be called 'The Body Odd' and described as 'podcast of weird medical questions')
• Bill Nye Saves the World (Netflix) Emmy-winning host Bill Nye brings experts and famous guests to his lab for a talk show exploring scientific issues that touch our lives. Review: How Bill Nye Saves the World Takes the Intimidation Factor Out of Science (Amy Glynn, Paste, 5-11-18) "Bill Nye is a very efficient conveyor of information laypeople probably really want, even if they weren’t aware of wanting it."
• Boning up on unfamiliar research areas can pay off with specialized knowledge, more assignments (Tara Haelle, Covering Health, AHCJ, 5-16-19)
• Books discussed on 'Science Friday' book club
• Books for Science and Medical Writers
• Calculators and conversion tools
• Calendars, world clocks, perpetual calendars, calendar converters, and time converters
• Calendars, scientific. Scientific events calendars from around the world (Of schemes and memes blog, Nature, 10-18-11)
• CBO materials on healthcare and economics (Congressional Budget Office)
• CDC National Center for Health Statistics
• Are you an editor or a writer? How do you know? What are the crucial differences between the two specializations? The question arose when Slate science editor Laura Helmuth was visiting a class that Ann Finkbeiner teaches at the graduate program in science writing at Johns Hopkins University. Ann, hoping to help her students figure out whether they were natively editors or natively writers, asked Laura about the difference between writers and editors. Together they asked several science writers. editors, and writer-editors to describe the differences.
---Are you an editor or a writer? Part I: The writers. (posted by Christie Aschwanden, The Open Notebook, 1-16-13).
---Are you an editor or a writer? Part II: The editors. (posted by Christie Aschwanden, The Open Notebook, 1-16-13).
• CDC Learning Network helps you locate learning products and resources from across the public health community.
• Center for Public Engagement with Science & Technology. Providing scientists and scientific institutions with the resources they need to have meaningful conversations with the public.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• China’s problem with fake research papers (Frank Ching, Globe and Mail, 8-11-17)
• Citation-boosting episode leads to editors’ resignations, university investigation (Retraction Watch, 3-3-17) Series of items about "citation cartel" and an editor violating ethical guideline: “any manipulation of citations (e.g. including citations not contributing to a manuscript’s scientific content, citations solely aiming at increasing an author’s or a journal’s citations) is regarded as scientific malpractice.”
• Clinical trials
---Trial and Error (Naomi Elster, Variables/Essays and Opinions, Undark, 4-25-16). Should clinical trials be better regulated? Definitely. Should they be regulated out of existence? Definitely not.
---Checking out clinical trials (Coping with Cancer, comfortdying.com)
• The Cochrane Collaboration , an international organization that helps people make well-informed decisions about healthcare and health policy by preparing and maintaining high quality systematic reviews
• Coming to terms with six years in science: obsession, isolation, and moments of wonder (Justin Chen, STAT, 10-14-18) A reality check for those about to become graduate students in science.
• The Consolidation-Disruption Index Is Alarming (Derek Thompson, Progress/a series about big problems and big solutions, 1-11-23) "If I publish a paradigm-shifting study and future scientists exclusively cite my work over the research I rendered irrelevant, my CD Index will be very high. If I write a crummy literature review and no scientist ever mentions my work because it’s so basic, my CD Index will be extremely low. This year, a new study titled “Papers and Patents Are Becoming Less Disruptive Over Time” inches us closer to an explanation for why the pace of knowledge has declined. One possibility is that disruptive science is becoming less productive as each field becomes more advanced and the amount of knowledge new scientists have to acquire increases. This is sometimes called the “burden of knowledge” theory.
• CONSORT statement. Guidelines in the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement are used worldwide to improve the transparent reporting of randomized, controlled trials.
• Conventional Forensic Theory on Order of Bugs That Feast on Corpses Upended (Alaina G. Levine, Scientific American, 9-13-12) Student entomologist Amanda Fujikawa's research in the Nebraska Sandhills shows that long-held beliefs in forensic entomology may need revision. Beetles might precede blowflies (not vice versa, as forensic entomology has long suggested), a finding that could change time of death and other calculations made by crime-scene investigators. Levine got that science story by keeping up with the local business news beat.
• Convert Me (and various other online conversion charts)
• Cool/nifty versus funny-smelling/fishy stories: Why we need both kinds (David Dobbs, Neuron Culture, Wired, 3-16-10)
• Cool science sites for kids:
---Cool science sites for young people
---Science Storytellers (a public engagement program that gives kids the chance to interview scientists, just like professional journalists do—and then to share their science stories)
---Why Janie can't engineer: Raising girls to succeed (Pat McNees, Washington Post)
---YouTube learning channels for kids to subscribe to
• Coping with cancer and critical illness
• Coping with chronic, rare, and invisible diseases, disorders, and disabilities
• Core Topics in Health Journalism (Association of Health Care Journalists, AHCJ). Invaluable sections for journalists writing about medicine and health care
---Health Reform
---Aging
---Oral Health
---Medical Studies
---Infectious Diseases
---Insurance
---Social Determinants and Disparities
---Health information technology
• Dance your PhD (contest sponsored by AAAS and Science, challenging scientists to explain their research without PowerPoint slides or jargon—in fact with no talking at all. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting your Ph.D. or you completed it decades ago. All science should be explained with dance. Winner gets a cash prize ($1000 as of March 2019). See Dance Your PhD Contests (YouTube videos of annual winners
• Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in an Age of Machines by Steve Talbott, as reviewed by Richard Mateosian for IEEE Micro, Thinking About Technology. Are we giving up too much of our humanity to technology?
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Directory of thousands of open access, peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly journals (which do not charge readers or their institutions for access), with link to journals' websites.
• Documentaries.
---Wildlife and Science Filmmaking (Untamed Science) How to Film-making.
--- Doing Science & Making Documentary Film (video, MIT OpenCourseWare, 1 hr, 45 min., Documenting Science Through Video and New Media, Spring 2011) Instructor: Chris Boebel, Christine Walley. View the entire course/series: Lecture and Lasb Videos
---The 21 best science documentaries you should watch right now (New Scientist,2021)
---Science and Nature Docs (Netflix)
---Five Documentary Films That Make Science Shine (Purple Romero, The Open Notebook, 6-13-23) Documentary filmmaking offers a powerful alternative to print or audio for storytelling but might go overlooked by science journalists. By activating the senses, bringing the audience face-to-face with living, breathing characters, and artfully blending visual imagery with sound, this medium can be especially engaging at a visceral level. Links to the doc's and commentary about them.
• Does it pay to know your Myers-Briggs type? (Washington Post graphic on the various Myers-Briggs types). Corporate America, the government and universities think so. They spend millions of dollars each year giving workers and students the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (based on Carl Jung’s work in psychological typology) to steer training programs and career goals. This graphic shows the 16 types and explains them in context of the Myers-Briggs philosophy. Here's the interesting companion article by Lillian Cunningham (Washington Post, 12-14-12)
• Dog Shows Are Like Too Much of Today’s Journalism (Jack Limpert, 2-14-18) Osborn “Oz” Elliott said that he "was seeing a shift in journalism away from a passion for good reporting to stories that had lots of attitude. Elliott said more journalists saw opinion and attitude as an easy way to get attention—and a bigger paycheck. He died 10 years ago, just as the Internet was further showing that there often is more money in cleverness and Twitter followers than in good reporting....Bet on good journalism—the kind done by the New York Times and Washington Post—to be the key to who survives in the digital age. And hope that someday a Lab or Golden Retriever will win the big dog show."
• Do You Need a Science Degree to Be a Science Reporter? (Aneri Pattani, The Open Notebook, NASW, 8-21-18) How a science degree may work in your favor, and some drawbacks: an excellent, practical discussion.
Economics for dummies: "The price of butter depends on the number of old maids in the area, because old maids keep cats, cats eat mice, mice eradicate bees, bees pollinate clover, cows eat clover, the more clover there is, the less it costs the farmer to produce milk, butter is made from milk, therefore..."
~ adapted from Charles Darwin The Origin of Species
• The End of Science Writing by Jon Franklin (Alfred and Julia Hill Lecture, 1997)
• Environmental Health News and archives.
• Are Eponyms Your Achilles Heel? (Stacy L Christiansen, Science Editor, CSE, 7-7-20) "The possessive form for eponyms (Parkinson’s disease, as opposed to Parkinson disease) is somewhat of a continuing debate. In the AMA Manual of Style there is no waffling—the possessive is dropped. This policy was primarily spurred by the National Down Syndrome Society advocating the use of Down syndrome, rather than Down’s syndrome, explaining that the syndrome does not actually belong to anyone....There are important exceptions, however: It’s one thing to say “the patient lived with Parkinson’s” and another thing entirely to say “the patient lived with Parkinson.”
• Equipment and Software for Medical Writers (PDF, a compilation of collective wisdom from subscribers to The Hittlist). Emma Hitt teaches a six-week course in medical writing.
• EurekAlert. Science news that's just a click away. Portals for the public, reporters, and embargoes news; a resource for reporters,a tool for public information officers (PIOs). A public service project of the nonprofit American Association for the Advancement of Science. EurekAlert Links & Resources
• European Guide to Science Journalism Training (2010)
• Evaluating an Assertion (Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth, CECS)
• The Fallacy Files (analysis of various logical fallacies)
• FAQ for new and aspiring science writers (National Association of Science Writers)
• FDA Approved Prescription Drug Information (big database of information on prescription drugs)
• **A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers, edited by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig. For an interesting interview on becoming a science writer, listen to Robin Marantz Henig (Longform podcast episode 193, interviewed by Evan Ratliff, May 2016)
• The Final, Terrible Voyage of the Nautilus (May Jeong, Wired, 2-15-18) Kim Wall went for a ride on a private submarine, hoping to write a story about a maker of "extreme machines." She never did. Her friend May Jeong investigated her death.
• Finding the Science in Any Story ( Kate Morgan, The Open Notebook, National Association of Science Writers, 11-27-18) For a freelancer, finding a scientific angle on a trending news topic can make a pitch pleasantly unexpected, and more likely to pique an editor’s interest. Cari Romm Nazeer, a former editor at The Cut who now heads up Medium’s service and advice section, says “When you take a story and try to extract science from it, it can sometimes make that thing a little more relatable, and it can be a fresher way of getting into a story that readers aren’t used to.”
• ‘The Finkbeiner Test’ (Curtis Brainard, CJR, 3-22-13) Seven rules to avoid gratuitous gender profiles of female scientists.
• 500 Women Scientists
• 5 Tips for Journalists Covering Mental and Behavioral Health (Katia Savchuk, NiemanStoryboard, 1-18-18) Reporters too often fall back on dated stereotypes, distort the nature of illnesses and recovery and rely on shaky sources, speakers at workshop say
• ‘Forbidden Stories’ aims to keep the investigations of threatened journalists alive (Simone Flueckiger, WAN-IFRA blog, 4-6-18) Amid the growing threat to journalists’ safety in many parts of the world, a collaborative project called Forbidden Stories is working towards combating this unsettling trend by pursuing the stories of journalists who can no longer continue their work because they have been threatened, imprisoned or killed.
• For National Geographic, an Exploration of Race (and Commercial Opportunity) (Michael Schulson, UnDark, 4-9-18) That the magazine’s mea culpa on race comes coupled with the peddling of its branded genetic testing kits seems odd — and maybe even downright cynical.
• FrameWorks Institute Changing the conversation on social issues. Mapping the gaps on elder abuse. Framing immigration reform. How to frame informal STEM learning for maximum effect. Building new narrative on human services. Communicating the complex. Gender and justice. Etc.
• A Framework for Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health (download PDF version for free). National Academies Press. Scroll down to see more such titles, all of which sell for fairly high prices but at least most of which can be downloaded free in PDF versions.
•The Future of Science Journalism, audio-recorded talks from a Knight-sponsored two-day symposium in Cambridge on where the field is heading.
•Geology. Rebecca Boyle Excavates Earth’s Earliest History (interviewed by Julia Rosen, The Open Notebook, 4-3-18) “I like geology [because] it makes you realize how fleeting our experience is here. It helps me feel less anxiety maybe about my own life, because Earth has been here a really long time....The more I cover geophysics and planetary science and physics, the more I find that we are all trying to understand what the hell is going on here. Why are we here? How did we get here? … I like writing about geology because you can kind of go back through time to try to answer that question.”
• Getting Started in Science Journalism (The Open Notebook: The story behind the best science stories) A TON series (of which the following are only a few examples):
---Do You Need a Science Degree to Be a Science Reporter? (Aneri Pattani, TON, 8-21-18)
---Finding and Landing the Right Internship in Science Writing (Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, TON, 5-23-17)
---Ask TON: Breaking Into Science Writing (TON Editors, 7-30-13)
---How to Use Reporting Skills from Any Beat for Science Journalism (Aneri Pattani, TON, 4-24-18)
---Ask TON: What Does a Science Writing Master’s Program Get You? ( TON Editors, 12-3-12)
---The Intern's Survival Guide ( Rachael Lallensack, TON, 8-28-18)
---Trading the Pipette for the Pen: Transitioning from Science to Science Writing (Julia Rosen, TON, 6-16-15)
---Finding the Science in Any Story (Kate Morgan, TON, 11-27-18)
---Why Is It So Hard for Foreign Journalists to Break into U.S. and European Outlets? (Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, TON, 8-29-17)
•Going Digital: Inside New Science Journalism Outlets (Rachel Zamzow, The Open Notebook, 1-16-18) A discussion between Deborah Blum, publisher of Undark; Gideon Gil, managing editor at STAT; Virginia Hughes, science editor at BuzzFeed News; Jude Isabella, editor-in-chief at Hakai Magazine; Alison Snyder, science editor at Axios.
• Gravity. When Gravity Sucked, According to the Plutocrats (Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 11-3-23) 'After Einstein’s general theory of relativity was proven during a 1919 solar eclipse, quantum and nuclear physics pushed it aside to hog the limelight....In the late 1940s, there wasn’t a physics department in the US that required their graduate students to study gravitation/relativity. Yet starting in the mid 1960s, there was what has been called a “renaissance in relativity,” culminating in the work of Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose on black holes.'
• A Guide to Translating Science to Audio (Aneri Pattani, The Open Notebook, 6-26-18) "Science Friday’s Key to Live Science Radio: Find Guests Who Bring Research to Life." How it's done on Science Friday ("Find guests who bring research to life"), Science Vs ("Make interviews fun and irreverent"), and Radiolab ("Keeping things conversational"-- putting listeners "inside the experience of the characters"). Listen to Science Friday (Ira Flatow's wonderful show on NPR); Science VS (Gimlet), and RadioLab (WNYC Studios, New York Public Radio).
Healthcare Hashtag Project . A free open platform that connects patient advocates, caregivers, doctors and other providers to relevant conversations and communities. Discover where the healthcare conversations on Twitter are taking place, discover who to follow within your specialty or disease or on a specific topic, and find the best from conferences or moderated chats in real time or in archives (for example, there are lively discussions at #eldercarechat and there is a whole page on breast cancer hashtags). See hashtags by bodily system, by TweetChat, by disease, etc.
• Hashtags by disease
• Hashtags by conference
• HIPAA: How the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 affects historical research). See HIPAA: How HIPAA Affects Research Efforts (Juliann Schaeffer, For the Record, July 2017). See also Influence of the HIPAA Privacy Rule on Health Research (Roberta B. Ness, JAMA, 11-14-07), Access anxiety: HIPAA and historical research. (SC Lawrence, J Hist Med Allied Sci., via PubMed, 10-2007), among several articles on the subject.
• How to Conduct Difficult Interviews (Mallory Pickett, The Open Notebook, NASW, 12-11-18) It's okay to be nervous, but it's essential to be prepared. See A Cheat Sheet for Difficult Interviews
• How many interviews? (Jeanne Erdmann, Ask TON, TheOPENNotebook, 7-16-13)
• How health statistics can mislead (Andrew Van Dam, Covering Health, AHCJ, 12-9-09)
• How Much Should I Charge? (Writers and Editors)
• How to access paywalled scientific journal articles (Open access and open science--scroll down for this section). See also Unpaywall finds free versions of paywalled papers (Dalmeet Singh Chawla, Nature, 4-4-17) New tool joins a growing collection of software for accessing fee-for-view scientific literature. “Trust but verify.”
• How to break into science writing using your blog and social media (Bora Zivkovic, The SA Incubator, The next generation of science writers and journalists.Scientific American, 4-2-13). Excellent advice for aspiring science writers.
• How to get your start in science writing, Ed Yong gathered responses to that question from 145 science writers; they were published in Discover Magazine as On the Origin of Science Writers
• How to Research the Medical Literature About Cancer (how to use databases and online resources); How to access Medline and other medical databases,, and How to get basic information about your cancer online
• How to Stand Out in the Noisy Freelance Space (Jennifer Gregg, Write & Prosper) After a client praised her work, she said she didn't know why her work stood out. "That’s when my client said something that really surprised me. “I’ll tell you what you’re doing. You use topic sentences at the beginning of paragraphs. You create logic and flow between ideas. You make it easy for someone to understand the narrative of the story…” She didn't write in academese.
• How to tell good research from bad: 13 questions journalists should ask (Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, 3-21-17)
• How to Use Reporting Skills from Any Beat for Science Journalism (Aneri Pattani, TheOpenNotebook, 8-24-18) For years, Alaina Levine wrote about business and public relations, food and nightlife. Writing about business taught her how to break through the army of public relations specialists surrounding prominent executives" to get "access for in-depth profiles—a skill she now uses in covering technology." And writing advice columns in a brief space helped her focus on "key takeaways—a skill she now puts to use distilling complex research or the most significant impacts of a new scientific discovery." Similarly, covering student loans, personal finance, and small business helped Christina Couch "develop a healthy level of skepticism," which helps her understand the "very concrete reasons" much-hyped technologies often don't pan out. And life as a foreign correspondent taught Donald G. McNeil Jr. that not everyone processes things the way Americans do, so the first question he asks as a global health reporter is 'What do you think made you sick?'
• How to write consistently boring scientific literature (PDF, Kaj Sand-Jensen, Boring Writing, 1-25-07)
• H2ODotCon (water related pseudoscience fantasy and quackery, sorting legitimate claims about water from claims that various kinds of water reverse aging, prevent cancer, etc.
• Hospice care and palliative care
Human Body Maps (HealthLine interactive online tool)
The Humdrum Events of Modern Medicine's Underbelly: A Guided Tour (Abigail Zuger, MD, in NY Times, reviews White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine by Carl Elliott (the pharmaceutical industry, of course).
Humor among peer reviewers. César Sánchez, in his blog Twisted Bacteria, quotes from the annual December issue of Environmental Microbiology, which features humorous quotes peer reviewers made while assessing manuscripts submitted to the journal.
ICJME Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors). See also ICJME's Guiding Principles for the Development of Policies on Sharing Clinical Trials Data (January 2014)
• In memory of Vera Rubin, the woman the Nobel Prize forgot (Rachel Feltman, Popular Science, 12-27-16) Vera Rubin, who essentially created a new field of astronomy by discovering dark matter, was a favorite to win the Nobel Prize in physics for years. But she never received her early-morning call from Stockholm. On Sunday, she died at the age of 88.... An argument frequently heard against Rubin's Nobel-worthiness is that dark matter is still technically theoretical. Some scientists are still working to come up with alternate theories to explain the behavior of the Universe....This would be a great argument, if not for the fact that the men who discovered dark energy—no less important than dark matter, but no less "theoretical" either—were honored with the prize in 2011. And their observations took place a good 20 years after Rubin did her work."
• The Index of Banned Words (The Continually Updated Edition) (Carl Zimmer, The Loom, Discover, 11-30-09) An outgroup of a list of words he banned from his science writing class at Shoals Marine Lab. Starts with: Access (verb), And/or (Logic gates do not belong in prose), Anthropogenic, Breakthrough (unless you are covering Principia Mathematica), and so on.
• In lofty quest to map human memories, a scientist journeys deep into the mind of a worm (Justin Chen, STAT, 8-13-18) “With science,” Lee said, “you might not know exactly where the research will take you, but you trust that when you arrive all the effort will have been worth it.”
• The Inside Story Of How An Ivy League Food Scientist Turned Shoddy Data Into Viral Studies (Stephanie M. Lee, Buzzfeed, 2-25-18) Brian Wansink won fame, funding, and influence for his science-backed advice on healthy eating. Now, emails show how the Cornell professor and his colleagues have hacked and massaged low-quality data into headline-friendly studies to “go virally big time.”
• Instructions to Authors in the Health Sciences (Mulford Health Science Library, University of Toledo) links to websites that provide instructions to authors for over 6,000 journals in the health and life sciences.
• ****Interviews with science writers (wonderful series on THE OPEN NOTEBOOK: The story behind the best science stories).
• Interviewing for Career-Spanning Scientist Profiles ( Alla Katsnelson, TheOPENNotebook, 3-27-18) When done well, “legacy” profiles reveal something that’s usually hidden: how the swirl of a person’s inner world connects with the accomplishments they make in their outer world. For every answer you get, ask five more questions, says Banaszynski. “The first answer will probably be very general. Stay in the moment and peel it back.” Ask about Turning Points, Failures, and Oddball Details. Download A Crowd-Sourced Cheat-Sheet for Career-Spanning Profile Interviews.
• Investigating Science: All Hands on Deck (Liza Gross, 7-3-18) A plea to save HealthNewsReview.org, with its valuable peer reviews of health research.
• Journal Authors: Intellectual property landlords--or migrant workers? (Dan Carlinsky for ASJA). This article appears to be no longer online, but the title is so good I am keeping it here, as a place marker and a warning to journals that it could come back.
• Journalists aren't quoting women in science articles. Diverse Sources is changing that. (Gabriel Greschler, Student Press Law Center, 3-19-18) The website/database is a tool for journalists to contact underrepresented scientists for interviews.
• John Cochran's Writing Tips for Ph.D. Students (PDF, John Cochran, University of Chicago, 6-8-05)
• John Rennie’s tips for effective science communication Scroll down for these four tips, in the article 'Award-winning science writer offers advice on how to “share the wonder” of science' (McMaster University Daily News, 3-15-18)
• Junk Food Science. Critical examinations of studies and news on food, weight, health and healthcare, and our world -- information mainstream media misses. Debunks popular myths, explains science, and exposes fraud that affects your health. Plus some fun food for thought. For readers not afraid to question and think critically to get to the truth.
• Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues. Invaluable.
• Kaiser Health News (KHN) (Must reading for keeping up with health care and medical news) Subscribe, health care journalists and writers!
• The Knight Science Journalism Tracker & Robin Williams (Tabitha M. Powledge, On Science blogs, 8-15-14) RIP Knight Science Journalism Tracker, sort of...
Mental health and substance abuse services
• Mental health services locator, by state (SAMHSA, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration)
• Resources for covering insurance and its role in addiction treatment (Joseph Burns, Covering Health, AHCJ, 1-27-17) Members of the Association of Health Care Journalists can access a tip sheet on the topic.
• National Addiction Rehab Locator
• Find Support & Programs (NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness)
• Coping with chronic, rare, and invisible diseases and disorders (Dying, Surviving, and Aging with Grace--not in that order)
• Knight Science Journalism 9-month fellowships, and FAQs about the fellowships
• The Laryngospasms, a group of certified registered nurse anesthetists, create and perform medical parodies (check the videos, including "Waking Up Is Hard to Do")
• The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher by Lewis Thomas. This provocative book explores in personal, poetic essays to topics such as computers, germs, language, music, death, insects, and medicine. Lewis Thomas writes, "Once you have become permanently startled, as I am, by the realization that we are a social species, you tend to keep an eye out for the pieces of evidence that this is, by and large, good for us."
"Lying is done with words and also with silence." --Adrienne Rich
• Mad cows, Oprah Winfrey and communicating the science in a high-profile court case (Larry Lemmons and Asheley R. Landrum, The Conversation, 2-23-18) In this case, the jury determined the media’s First Amendment protections outweighed the defamation concerns presented by the plaintiffs. Ironically, because of the media focus on the trial, the perspectives of the cattle industry were also highlighted. The public got the message that there was little evidence that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) threatened American livestock in a substantial way. Media professionals still struggle with knowing how to best explain and condense complex science and public health issues in ways that won’t inappropriately trigger defensiveness, denial or fear.
• Making the leap from news to books: Critical questions (The Open Notebook--The story behind the best science stories). The questions that go into books might be different from those that drive newspaper and magazine journalism. With that in mind, Charles Quoi asked six successful science authors (Deborah Blum, David Dobbs, Matthew Hutson, Maggie Koerth-Baker, Maryn McKenna, and Carl Zimmer) what questions they have found themselves asking — of themselves or of their sources — when writing books. Are there essential questions that journalists might not ask but which book authors should? Interesting responses. And David Dobbs took the opportunity to write a piece for Wired: “How Full of Sh*t Are They?” and Other Questions Writers Ask (June 2012)
Medical News Today (highlights of recent medical news)
• Mis)understanding Science: The Problem with Scientific Breakthroughs (James P. Evans, Hastings Center Report, 9-21-16) Breakthroughs like Watson and Crick's into the mysteries of how genetic info is transmitted happen once or twice a century. "The story is just so good and so irresistible that it has misled generations of scientists about what to expect regarding a life in science. And more damaging, the resulting breakthrough mentality misleads the public, the media, and society's decision-makers about how science really works, all to the detriment of scientific progress and our society's well-being....Science is a sputtering course, filled with dead-ends, U-turns, and blind leads; it's not a smooth, relentless trajectory."
• Money talks: when the borders between adverts and editorial content merge (Katherine Staines, Association of British Science Writers, 5-31-11)
• Mosaic Magazine (an archive of articles published by the National Science Foundation's flagship magazine, 1970-92) and Like a Phoenix (Earle Holland's "On Research" blog about that period of rich science writing)
• NASA crashes spacecraft into asteroid, passing planetary defense test (Joel Achenbach, Washingto Post, 9-26-22) This was just a test, NASA’s first demonstration of a potential planetary defense technique, called a kinetic impactor. The idea is to give a hypothetically dangerous asteroid just enough of a blow to alter its orbital trajectory. On the NASA feed, the agency’s administrator, Bill Nelson, declared that the mission had demonstrated technology “to save our planet.”
• National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS, promoting critical thinking and scientific understand). See its links to useful organizations, resources.
• National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF)
• National Health Policy Forum (NHPF) at George Washington University
• National Library of Medicine (excellent links to health and medical information and databases), National Institutes of Health
• Nature podcasts. Each week Nature publishes a free audio show. Listen online to the archived podcasts
• Nature vs. Science (Tales from the Road PhD Comic on the rivalry between the two magazines, part 2) and Part 1,, by Jorge Cham
• Next generation of science media: Where's the money? (Andy Extance reports on an interesting meeting of the Association of British Science Writers, 5-22-11)
• ***News and Numbers: A Guide to Reporting Statistical Claims and Controversies in Health and Other Fields by Victor Cohn and Lewis Cope
• Newswise Theme Wires Calendar. Professional journalists can sign up to receive Newswise news alerts, access to embargoed news, and contact info for expert sources. There is a Daily Wire, a Science Wire, a Medical Wire, a Life Wire, and a Business Wire.
NIH Research. CRISP replaced by NIH RePORTer (NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting), a searchable database on federally funded biomedical research projects and programs. News updates here.
• Michelle Nijhuis’s Brief Guide to Writing Reported Essays (Michelle Nijhuis, The Open Notebook, 2-23-16)
• On the Fine (and Difficult) Art of Science Writing: When Even Science Isn't An Exact Science (Randi Hutter Epstein, Lit Hub, 7-17-19) Epstein (the author of Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler,” said Einstein. Epstein explores how uncertain a science medical science is, which makes writing about hormones tricky.
• Online resources for science writers (National Association of Science Writers). This led me, for example, to Use Search Operators To Find Stories, Sources and Documents Online (Meranda Watling, 10,000 Words, Media Bistro 4-19-11)
Open access journals
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Directory of thousands of open access, peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly journals (which do not charge readers or their institutions for access), with link to journals' websites.
PLoS--Public Library of Science (open access documents)
• Open Journal Systems (Public Knowledge Project, a multi-university initiative developing (free) open source software and conducting research to improve the quality and reach of scholarly publishing)
• Open journals that piggyback on arXiv gather momentum (Elizabeth Gibney, Nature, 1-4-16) Peer-review platforms built around online pre-print repositories spread to astrophysics.
****The Open Notebook (the stories behind the best science stories). Great material for science writers. See, for example, behind-the-story interviews , elements of craft, natural habitat (where science writers share their working spaces -- offices, spare bedrooms, coffee shops, hammocks -- and the accoutrements that help them do their work), and other resources. I particularly liked Robin Marantz Henig's account of writing about anxiety for the New York Times Magazine, one of many interesting Open Notebook interviews about the writing process , the stories behind the stories.
ORCID (Wikipedia) Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a nonproprietary alphanumeric code to uniquely identify authors and contributors of scholarly communication as well as ORCID's website and services to look up authors and their bibliographic output (and other user-supplied pieces of information).
This addresses the problem that a particular author's contributions to the scientific literature or publications can be hard to recognize as most personal names are not unique, they can change (such as with marriage), have cultural differences in name order, contain inconsistent use of first-name abbreviations and employ different writing systems. It provides a persistent identity for humans, similar to tax ID numbers, that are created for content-related entities on digital networks by digital object identifiers (DOIs).
Our Cluttered Mind, Jonah Lehrer's review (NYTimes 5-27-10) of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, who wrote Is Google Making Us Stupid? for The Atlantic (July/August 2008).
Parasite Conservation. "The Scientists Fighting for Parasite Conservation" by Rachel Nuwer (Scientific American, 5-1-22) Parasites play an outsize role in balancing ecosystems, and some species may be in danger
PDQ - National Cancer Institute's Comprehensive Database
PepsiGate linkfest (Bora Zivkovic, on A Blog Around the Clock, posts links to all key posts about the event). David Disalvo writes about it in PepsiGate’ Rocks the Science Blogging World (TrueSlant 7-8-10). Roughly: SEED magazine, owner of the well-regarded ScienceBlogs network, "decided to allow Pepsi to have its own blog on the network, called 'Food Frontiers'–which, of course, they would pay for, not unlike a block of continuous advertising space. Many bloggers at ScienceBlogs are not happy about this. The standard for any credible science journalism network is that writers earn their space on merit, not because they have products to pitch."
PHIL (Public Health Image Library), an organized, universal electronic gateway to CDC's images "organized into hierarchical categories of people, places, and science" and "presented as single images, image sets, and multimedia files" for use by "public health professionals, the media, laboratory scientists, educators, students, and the worldwide public to use this material for reference, teaching, presentation, and public health messages."
Pigasus Award, annual tongue-in-cheek awards (dubious awards for dubious claims)presented as 5 Worst Promoters of Nonsense by noted skeptic James Randi to expose parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds
****Pitch Database (TheOPENNotebook)
PLoS--Public Library of Science (open access documents)
Practical Tips on Writing a Book from 23 Brilliant Authors (Steve Silberman, PLoS blog, 6-2-11) With wonderfuil tips from Carl Zimmer, David Shenk, Cory Doctorow, Bill Wasik, Geoff Manaugh, Mark Frauenfelder, Deborah Blum, August Kleinzahler, Ben Casnocha, Barry Boyce, Peter Conners, David Crosby, Paula Span, Rudy Simone, John Schwartz, Sylvia Boorstein, David Gans, Josh Shenk, John Tarrant, Jonah Lehrer, Seth Mnookin, Maryn McKenna, Anonymous, and 255 responses
ProMED (email warnings of infectious diseases)
Pro Publica Data. Much to be found here: Workers’ Comp Benefits: How Much is a Limb Worth?, Workers’ Compensation Reforms by State, Employers Complain of Rising Premiums, But Workers’ Comp Is at 25-Year Low, Nonprofit Explorer (Search IRS 990 filings), How Dark Money Flows Through the Koch Network, ER Wait Watcher, How Well Did FEMA’s Maps Predict Sandy’s Flooding?, China’s Memory Hole: The Images Erased From Sina Weibo, After the Flood: New Maps and a New Plan for New York, How Much Acetaminophen Are You Taking?, Nursing Home Inspect, Updated Dollars for Docs. Invaluable for journalists and the public.
PepsiGate linkfest (Bora Zivkovic, on A Blog Around the Clock, posts links to all key posts about the event). David Disalvo writes about it in PepsiGate’ Rocks the Science Blogging World (TrueSlant 7-8-10). Roughly: SEED magazine, owner of the well-regarded ScienceBlogs network, "decided to allow Pepsi to have its own blog on the network, called 'Food Frontiers'–which, of course, they would pay for, not unlike a block of continuous advertising space. Many bloggers at ScienceBlogs are not happy about this. The standard for any credible science journalism network is that writers earn their space on merit, not because they have products to pitch."
Pigasus Award, annual tongue-in-cheek awards (dubious awards for dubious claims)presented as 5 Worst Promoters of Nonsense by noted skeptic James Randi to expose parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds
• ResearchGate.net Connect with your scientific community, share your research, collaborate with your peers, access over 135 million publication pages.
• The role of music in Einstein’s thinking (Liam Viney, The Conversation, 2-14-16) "It’s little known that Einstein was an accomplished violinist, and even less known that had he not pursued science, he said he would have been a musician: 'I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.'"
• Scholars Talk Writing An excellent series at the Chronicle of Higher Education. See, for example: How a Literary Agent Views Academic Books (Rachel Toor interviews Susan Rabiner, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7-14-19) Valuable Q&A about writing a serious nonfiction book. If "you don’t understand the need to make an argument in scholarly writing, you don’t understand scholarship. That’s what my many years as a university-press editor taught me. Young scholars have difficulty getting a precise handle on exactly what argument entails because it refers both to how you move through facts to reach a conclusion and to the conclusion you reach — as in, 'What argument does the book make?'...argument is also what allows even the most densely intellectual material to be successfully shaped and structured into a narrative — which is another way of saying it provides the connective thread that takes the readers from facts to resolution in a way that holds their attention, indeed keeps them wanting more."
• Science Alert. Click on envelope icon to get Science Alerts daily by email.
• Science as Falsification (Sir Karl R. Popper, excerpt from Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge--something on the philosophy of science that my godson recommends. You can listen to Popper explaining the same thing on YouTube. And here's Wikipedia's summary of Popper's claim to solve the philosophical problem of induction.
• Science as a journalism ghetto: Conversation with Dan Vergano: the Science Ghetto with Ann Finkbeiner. Do check out the comments. An important and interesting conversation about why science doesn't have a higher seat at the journalism table.
• The Science Byline Counting Project: Where Are the Women—and Where Are They Not? (Cynthia Graber and Katharine Gammon, Open Notebook, 2-10-16) "For short articles, women’s bylines typically equaled and in some cases outnumbered men’s. But for longer front-of-book or back-of-book pieces, where writers have an opportunity to showcase their writing style and establish credentials that could lead to opportunities to write the more prestigious feature articles, men outnumbered women, in some cases by a factor of two or three to one....At nearly all publications we examined, men published more in-depth feature stories than women did." And so on.
• Science careers blog (Science, various contributors)
• Science Daily (news digests on a range of topics)
• Science Friday (Ira Flatow's fascinating radio show--"making science radioactive"TM -- listen live (Fridays 2 to 4 EDT) or to archived shows)
• Science in Society Journalism Awards
• Scienceline (a a student-run online magazine published by NYU's science, health, and environmental reporting program, SHERP).
• Science Journalism Master Classes (The Open Notebook) are a series of short, online courses delivered by email. Funded by the Kavli Foundation, these hands-on courses are free. They are designed to help science writers wherever they are in their careers. They will help you sharpen your ability to find and vet story ideas, craft effective pitches, report and write impactful stories, spot scientific hype, collaborate with editors, and more. Classes are free, thanks to a generous grant from The Kavli Foundation. Each course drills into one skill or habit, presented in a series of five to eight lessons, delivered by email. You can sign up for our courses at any time and get started immediately—there’s no set start date. Each lesson includes a (brief) self-directed homework assignment. Most assignments should take less than an hour to complete. Each day during this six-day course, subscribers will get an email from Emily Laber-Warren, who heads the Health & Science Reporting program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Session topics include
How to Find an Angle for Any Science Story
How to Pitch Stories that Sell
How to Spot Scientific Hype and Misinformation
How to Ace the Study Story
How to Center People in Science Stories
• Science Literacy Foundation Early programs and projects.
• Science media outlets to pitch Robin Lloyd's invaluable list of media outlets that publish science stories (including some health, climate, nature, tech as well)
•Science Podcasts (Science Magazine, with archives from 2005 on) See separate section below of links to articles about writing about science for children.
• Science Shortform or SciShortform (Best Shortform Science Writing, at Medium.com) The Best Shortform Science Writing project highlights standout science writing. Curated quarterly. Stay up-to-date with their latest announcements and calls for nominations by following them at @SciShortform on Twitter!To nominate pieces tag them @SciShortform on Twitter with a link to the piece. Or tag them #scicomm #scistory #sciencemedia. See also SciShortform Q&As (interviews with authors). Check out rubric here. Which of these categories does it your piece best fit:
--Short Short (600 words & under)
--News & Trends (601 to 1200 words, should be topical, cover a trend, or multiple studies)
--Single-study Deep Dive (601 to1200 words but should focus on a 1 lab, profile 1 scientist, or cover 1 study)
--Investigative or Data Quick-Hits (under 1400 words)
--Column, Op/Ed, or Blog Post (under 1200 words)
--Essays & Literary Science Writing (under 1400 words)
--Institutional (under 1200 words, includes writing from university mags & press offices)
--Not sure.
• Science Writing News Roundup (Marianna Limas's Substack newsletter)
• The Scientific Paper Is Obsolete (James Somers, The Atlantic, 4-5-18) Scientific papers haven't changed much since they their origins in the 1600s. Now they are long, full of jargon and symbols, dependent on "chains of computer programs that generate data, and clean up data, and plot data, and run statistical models on data. These programs tend to be both so sloppily written and so central to the results that it’s contributed to a replication crisis, or put another way, a failure of the paper to perform its most basic task: to report what you’ve actually discovered, clearly enough that someone else can discover it for themselves." What comes next?
• Sciseek (once a science search engine and directory, now "we do science content curation, providing relevant and compelling science content")<
• Science writer is quite the specimen himself: He's 94 (Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times, 2-21-13). The San Francisco Chronicle's David Perlman churned out 111 stories last year and is still going strong. Not bad for someone born before the discovery of penicillin and Pluto.
• Sci-Hub v. greedy American publishers like Elsevier
• Researcher illegally shares millions of science papers free online to spread knowledge (Fiona MacDonald, Science Alert, 2-12-16).
• Elsevier v Sci-Hub and Alexandra Elbakyan. Welcome to Sci-Hub, the Pirate Bay of science. "A researcher in Russia [Alexandra Elbakyan] has made more than 48 million journal articles - almost every single peer-reviewed paper every published - freely available online. And she's now refusing to shut the site down, despite a court injunction and a lawsuit from Elsevier, one of the world's biggest publishers." Interesting dilemma and discussion.
---Global publishing giant [Elsevier] wins $15 million damages against researcher for sharing publicly-funded knowledge(Glyn Moody, Privacy News Online, 6-29-17) As a copyright person posted on a copyright listserv, here "copyright is being used as a big stick rather than an enabler." As the article states, "most of the work writing, checking and editing a paper is carried out completely for free. The only costs that academic publishers incur are typically for production, which are limited if publication is purely digital, as is increasingly the case. Given the extremely efficient nature of the academic publishing system, it will come as no surprise to learn that leading companies in the sector – including Elsevier – have consistently achieved profit margins between 30% and 40%, levels almost unheard of in other industries. Such elevated profit margins have come as the prices paid by academic libraries to subscribe to titles have increased rapidly. While the cost of living increased by 73% between 1986 and 2004, the expenditure by research libraries on subscriptions to academic journals went up by 273% in the same period." Which type of piracy is the more egregious?
---See also this very important piece in the Times: Should All Research Papers Be Free? (Kate Murphy, SundayReview, NY Times, 3-12-16), follow-up analysis to the suit against Alexandra Elbakyan but also about the scholarly journals' paywalls she denounced, in which the "largest companies, like Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Springer and Wiley, typically have profit margins of over 30 percent, which they say is justified because they are curators of research, selecting only the most worthy papers for publication. Moreover, they orchestrate the vetting, editing and archiving of articles."
"In response to the suit filed against her, Ms. Elbakyan wrote a letter to the judge pointing out that Elsevier, like other journal publishers, pays nothing to acquire researchers’ studies. Moreover, publishers don’t pay for the volunteer peer reviewers or editors. But they charge those same researchers, reviewers and editors, not to mention the public, whose tax dollars most likely funded the study in the first place, to read the resulting articles."
“That is very different from the music or movie industry, where creators receive money from each copy sold,” Ms. Elbakyan wrote. “I would like to also mention that we never received any complaints from authors or researchers.”
Scott Kelly’s medical monitoring has spawned some horrific press coverage (John Timmer, Ars Technica, 3-15-18) Analysis: Don't believe the headlines. And in many cases, the articles below them. First he explains a few points, then he points to publications that got the science wrong. Two lessons for newsrooms: It's a bad idea to rush to hit stories just because you see coverage of them elsewhere—especially in cases where the story is more than a year old. And you probably shouldn't be covering stories if you don't have anyone on staff who specializes in that subject area.
• Secrets of Good Science Writing (excellent Guardian blog, in honor of the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize , sponsored by the Guardian and the Observer). A mere selection, from more than 50 blog entries:
---David Dobbs on science writing: 'hunt down jargon and kill it' (David Dobbs, The Guardian, 4-19-13)
---Mo Costandi on science blogging ('You've nothing to lose')
---Mo Costandi on science writing: a good story conveys wonderment (4-22-13)
---Jacob Aron on science writing: 'Analogies are like forklift trucks'
---Michael Hanlon on science writing: 'You need a bullshit detector'
---Linda Geddes on science writing: 'There is always another side to the story'
---Geoff Brumfiel on science writing: 'Search out the voices you disagree with'
---Helen Pearson on science writing: 'Surprise me!'
---Penny Bailey on science writing: 'You need to know how to tell a good story'
---Roger Highfield on science writing: 'Grab them with your first sentence'
---Louisa Young: 'You can't go mucking about with science' (video)
---Jo Marchant on science writing: 'You need a burning curiosity'
---Tim Radford on science writing: 'Don't be afraid to ask simple questions'
---A voyage of discovery: how the best science writers keep you enthralled (Ed Yong) Rather than being laden from the outset with jargon, good writing will draw readers in and reward them for their attention.
• Sciline. Connecting reporters with experts, Sciline wants to improve the quality of today’s science reporting (Ricardo Bilton, Nieman Lab, 2-14-18) Sciline, a new nonprofit that’s trying to improve the quality of science reporting by making it easier for reporters to connect with experts who can help guide them through stories about science, health, and the environment. Sciline director Rick Weiss, a veteran science reporter, says that the project comes at a vital time for both the production and distribution of science reporting. “We have a situation right now where there are fewer reporters who know the science deeply, and there are more opportunities for them to get taken off track or fooled into believing and writing stories that are wrong,” says Weiss.
• Seven Days of Heroin.
---Notable Narrative: The Cincinnati Enquirer’s stunning “Seven Days of Heroin” (Katia Savchuk, Nieman Storyboard, 9-25-17) As far as Terry DeMio knows, she’s the only journalist in the country with the title “heroin reporter.” She’s been covering the opioid epidemic for The Cincinnati Enquirer for five years, including two on the beat full time. Over one week in July, the paper sent out more than 60 reporters, photographers and videographers to document the impact of heroin in Greater Cincinnati. “We just wanted to show people: This is what a heroin epidemic looks like.” Listen: SEVEN DAYS OF HEROIN: 911 calls for overdoses at a library and at a park (Video, Cincinnati.com, 9-8-17) 911 calls for overdoses Monday, July 10 at the Covedale Library and Rapid Run Park in Cincinnati.
• 7 Words (and more) You Shouldn’t Use in Medical News (HealthNewsReview)
• Show Me the Money: The Economics of Freelance Science Journalism ( Rose Eveleth and Rachel Nuwer, TheOPENNotebook--"The story behind the best science stories"--11-5-13) Good information and good tips.
• Six Tips for Aspiring Science Writers (Aaram A. Kumar, Science Center, 2-20-17) #1: Know your audience. "The language you use to describe the mechanism of action of a new anticancer drug to a physician would be different from what you use to explain how it works to your grandma..."
• Society for Scholarly Publishing. See its list of sustaining and supporting organizational members and its excellent blog, The Scholarly Kitchen "What's hot and cooking in scholarly publishing"
• Solutions Journalism for Science Reporters (Rachel Crowell, The Open Notebook, 9-17-19) Drawing from the people behind the Solutions Journalism Network, Ensia and elsewhere--and from a number of solutions journalism stories--Crowell shares tips for science journalists interested in tackling the "doom and gloom" in unique, solutions-oriented ways. Proponents say solutions stories receive more page views and that audiences linger longer because they are hungry to learn about efforts to remedy problems and improve their communities.
• So you want to be a science writer (PDF file, Association of British Science Writers)
• Starting a Career in Science Writing (Andrew Fazekas, Jim Austin, Science, 5-20-05, replete with links to similarly useful articles)
• STATS (examining how numbers are distorted and statistics are misunderstood in the media and in society)
•Survival Secrets for Freelance Science Writers (Andrew Fazekas, Science, 5-20-05)
• Spellex (test your medical spelling aptitude)
• Spurious Correlations (for when you want a good and amusing example)
• Take the Strange and Make it Familiar: Advice on Science Writing (Muhammad Hamza Waseem and Iqra Naveed, Student Blog, PLOS ECR Community, 1-23-18) (ECR=early career research) Interview with astronomy author Marcia Bartusiak: "The goal in science writing is not to teach science but to take away the fear factor. You want people to realize “Oh my gosh! I can understand quantum chromodynamics,” because you have written it in such an engaging way!" "Bartusiak was of the opinion that the two hardest things for her science writing students at MIT is finding the right story and conveying it in an engaging manner for the public. For ECRs, the hardest part is perhaps the latter one, i.e., effective science storytelling for bigger lay audiences. As science journalism gains more acceptance in the scientific community, it becomes more important than ever for ECRs to engage with the general audience through popular writing."
• Technical writers, which skill sets are important for (Writing Assistance, Inc.). See also
• How technical writers add value to your team
• Technical writers as subject matter experts
• Technical writers are communicators
• 10 Questions To Distinguish Real From Fake Science (Emily Willingham, who writes about the science they're selling you, for Forbes, 11-8-12 -- read the comments, too). Originally published on Double X Science
•3 lessons from around the world on what makes science communication work (The Conversation)
• Tips for Aggrieved Science Writers (Michael Schulson, Undark: Truth, Beauty, Science, 7-7-17) When freelance science journalists don’t get paid, or face other obstacles with publishers, there are resources that can help. There should be more.
• Tip sheets for health care journalists and experts (available only to members of the Association of Health Care Journalists). Tip sheet topics include Statistical errors even you can find, What you need to know about risks, rates and ratios, Medicine 101: Words, numbers and journals, Resources for covering mental health and the military, Sources and resources for journalists covering aging, Digging into hospital finances, Domestic violence, budgets and the economy, Problems faced by ethnic minorities, Investigating health care fraud, How well does your state oversee nurses, many more -- great resources!
•Tipsheet: For Reporting on Drugs, Devices and Medical Technologies (The Commonwealth Fund)
• Tips for Understanding Studies (HealthNewsReview.org).
Tip sheets on covering medical issues
---Covering Medical Research: A Guide for Reporting on Studies by Gary Schwitzer, one of several Slim Guides published by the Association of Health Care Journalists, with the Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. Other slim guides available free, online:
---Covering the Health of Local Nursing Homes
---Navigating the CDC: A Journalist's Guide to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web Site
---Covering Obesity: A Guide for Reporters
---Covering Hospitals: Using Tools on the Web.
And more.
• Tips on scientific writing from European Science Editors, on Sharmanedit, drawn from EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles to be Published in English (PDF, June 2011)
• Writing Young: Crafting Science Stories for Kids (Elizabeth Preston, The Open Notebook, 9-29-15) Writing for kids is not easier than writing for an adult audience, says Janet Raloff, editor of Science News for Students, "It’s just different.” Listen also to Writing for Young Audiences with Elizabeth Preston (Video of presentation at AAAS conference) Preston, the 2017 Gold Award winner in Children’s Science News, discusses her winning story on a blind 13-year-old boy using echolocation and her experience writing for young audiences. She's the former editor of the MUSE magazine for kids ages 9 to 14.
How to become a science writer
How to become a better science writer
and how to improve journalists' science knowledge and understanding
• How to Get Started in Freelance Science Writing (Sheeva Azma, Advance Copy, National Association of Science Writers)
• Using the Ladder of Abstraction to Elevate Science Stories (Jyoti Madhusoodanan, Open Notebook, 5-30-23) The key in making abstract ideas accessible, says cognitive neuroscientist Apoorva Bhandari, “is to make things imageable.”
• Sharing Is Caring: How to Co-byline a Story (Giuliana Viglione, Open Notebook, 5-23-23) Three types of stories lend themselves to multiple bylines: Big news breaks; investigations where you “have to be chasing two or three different lines of inquiry”; and stories in which looping in other reporters can provide access to far-off places and bring in country-specific expertise and lived experience to help build local connections.
• Covering Substance Use and Addiction Responsibly (Rachel Crowell, Open Notebook 5-16-23)
1. Use precise, humanizing language.
2. Include sources who use substances.
3. Use trauma-informed reporting skills.
4. Consider offering anonymity.
5. Select images carefully.
---See also Changing The Narrative A network of reporters, researchers, academics, and advocates concerned about the way media represents drug use and addiction. Our mission is to help journalists and opinion leaders provide accurate, humane, and scientifically-grounded information in this contested terrain.
• 5 Tips for Scientists Who Want to Become Science Writers (Tim Requarth, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia, 4-12-17) An excellent overview, with many helpful links.
• Roundtable: A Writer’s Guide to Being Edited (Humberto Basilio, The Open Notebook, 10-17-23) How writers can approach the editing process to make it run as smoothly as possible—while keeping their writerly voice and self-confidence intact. A frank discussion of dos and don’ts that was conducted via a shared Google document.
• Subscribe to the Science Writing News Roundup #4. That's the paid version; here's the free one (I think I have this right): Science Writing News Roundups The latest news, opportunities, resources, videos, and events related to science writing and science journalism.
• How do people get started in science writing (The Origin of Science Writers, The Open Notebook) Lots of origin stories. Click on each photo and read the answer to this question How did you get your start writing about science? From one: "Practice makes perfect. Know your audience, select a segment, build your own channel or page, start writing, and follow the comments. The best time to start doing that is NOW." From another: "READ for inspiration and analyze to learn the craft. WRITE as much as possible and publish anywhere you can. NETWORK everywhere possible."
• The Open Notebook provides wonderful resources:
---Reported Features Articles about craft.
---Interviews
---Storygrams (annotations of notable stories)
---Ask TON (an advice column)
• How do people get started in science writing? (On the origin of science writers) (Open Notebook) This is one of the most common questions that science writers get asked. Here are dozens of answers from some of the best in the business, each with one pithy nugget of advice for newcomers.
• Ten simple rules for scientists engaging in science communication (Brittney G. Borowiec, PLOS Computational Biology, 7-20-23)
• Tip Sheet for Newcomers to Science Writing (Shira Feder, Open Notebook, 4-13-21)
• Know Your Research (Journalist's Resource) Tip sheets and explainers to help journalists understand academic research methods, find and recognize high-quality research, and avoid missteps when reporting on new studies and public opinion polls
• How to Cultivate Narrative in Stories of All Lengths (Marion Renault, The Open Notebook, 11-22-22) Determine the why of a science story by asking sources to recount the natural chronology of their curiosity, the stakes of their findings, or particular moments of hope, frustration, or discovery. Character, plot, and dialogue—at any scale—can encourage readers to appreciate a story’s reality.
• Crash Course: Science essentials for local reporters SciLine’s one-hour Crash Course is free and open to journalists working at local print, radio, and TV news outlets.
• How to Interview Scientists and Researchers for Science Stories (Hannah Bradfield, Journo Resources, UK, 4-13-23
• Jamie Lauren Keiles Follows the Surgical and Philosophical Journey of Phalloplasty (Celia Ford, Open Notebook, 7-26-22)
• Reporting on Scientific Controversy (Pedro Márquez-Zacarías, Open Notebook, 2-22-22) "When you manage to land an interview with a controversial source, you should try to understand what motivates them to take one or another position... Even the most elusive sources might leave crumbs over the internet that can be essential for a story...Another strategy for finding outside sources is to look harder past the loudest voices...In any scientific debate, the answers to core questions can remain frustratingly inconclusive long after the reporter’s deadline has passed."
• ‘Prize Light Over Heat’ and Other Essential Advice for Science Writers (Gavin Lamb, Medium, 10-28-2020) 4 Tips From Ed Yong on the Craft of Science Writing and Communication. "#2 Prize thoughtfulness over salaciousness, depth over volume, light over heat.”
• The Science of Science Communication (Jeff Pea & Dr. Marina Joubert, 5-11-21) 45 flash cards with once-over lightly practical advice (such as "Rely on evidence rather than gut instinct"), plus links to resources more in depth, such as The sciences of science communication (Baruch Fischhoff, PNAS, 8-20-13).
• Science writing seminars. workshops, and internships (Writers and Editors)
• Treasure Hunt: How to Find and Vet Journal Articles (Jane C. Hu The Open Notebook. 3-13-21) "Not all academic journals are created equal... Once you’re reasonably sure the journal isn’t predatory, you might be interested in its relative quality: Is it well-regarded in the scientific community, or an obscure title? ...After vetting a journal, accessing papers, and reaching a study’s authors, the meatiest work of a journalist begins: digging into researchers’ findings and conclusions."
• Science media outlets to pitch (Robin Lloyd's great database)
• How to Use Reporting Skills from Any Beat for Science Journalism (Aneri Pattani, The Open Notebook, 4-24-18)
• What Even Counts as Science Writing Anymore? (Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 10-2-21) The pandemic made it clear that science touches everything, and everything touches science. Also in Spanish.
• A Guide for Aspiring Freelance Science Journalists (in Southeast Asia) (Yao-Hua Law, Brave Writer/Medium, 1-23-2021) Whom to write for, how to pitch, where to find stories, and opportunities to grab. Useful for US writers, too.
• Why Is It So Hard for Foreign Journalists to Break into U.S. and European Outlets? (Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, Open Notebook, 8-29-17) A group discussion, rich in practical observations.
• A Note to Beginning Science Writers (Carl Zimmer, National Geographic, 6-24-2013) How he did, with good advice.
• How do I engage through writing? (Imperial College, London) An excellent guide to help you consider what to write about (what has news value) and how to adapt your writing to suit the different purposes of information or entertainment.
• Science Journalism Master Classes (The Open Notebook). Sign up for How to Find an Angle for Any Science Story, How to Pitch Stories that Sell, How to Spot Scientific Hype and Misinformation.
• Q&A with Heather Buschman about how to be a science writer (Nicole Mlynaryk, STEM Job Talk, 10-6-2020) See more profiles here.
• How to become a science writer (audio and transcript, Nancy Campbell on Marion Roach Smith’s podcast,QWERTY, Ep. 34, 7-2020) OD: Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose--the history of an unnatural disaster―drug overdose―and the emergence of naloxone as a social and technological solution--is the latest book by Campbell, a historian of science, technology, and medicine.
• How I broke into science writing (Tien Nguyen, Must Love Science, 7-28-2020)
• Secrets of Good Science Writing (The Guardian). A series on the topic.
• So you want to be a science writer (Anna Groves Funk, 8-1-2020)
• How I shifted from synthetic biology to journalism and learned from a river along the way. (Niko McCarty, Author Spotlight, Medium, 8-12-2020)
• Where to get science news (Writers and Editors)
• The Open Notebook (TON) The story behind the best science stories. See also TON's Pitch Database and What Does a Science Writing Master’s Program Get You? (TON, 12-3-12)
• How to Turn an Interesting Idea into a Story Worth Writing (Anna Funk on “Why should anyone read about this topic?” and “Why now?”) Find the news hook, the narrative, the main characters. See also The (Important) Difference Between SciComm and Science Journalism (between scientists who talk about their work and journalists who write about science and scientists), How Science Gets Press Coverage (A Note for Scientists), and other stories on Dr. Funk's blog.
• The Observatory (Columbia Journalism Review's many articles critiquing the press coverage of science and the environment)
• How to Research and Write Skillfully on Something You Know Nothing About (Kelly Tabbutt, Fancy Comma, 7-4-2020)
• A Guide to Careers in Science Writing (Council for the Advancement of Science Writing). See also CASW's excellent links to resources.
• Resources for Science Writers Interested in Applying Poetry to Their Own Writing (Bradley Allf, The Open Notebook, 5-3-22) Making your science writing sing: Craft lessons from poetry.
The Open Notebook's Day in the Life series
In 2010, Siri Carpenter and Jeanne Erdman launched The Open Notebook (TON) to explore ways to improve the craft of science journalism. Twelve-plus years later you can find there more than 500 articles (dozens of them in Spanish), an early-career fellows program, a book, pitch database, workshops, free courses—and a community of supporters and readers. See in particular the Day in the Life series, for which some links follow:
• A Day in the Life of Betsy Ladyzhets (TON, 2-27-24) Co-editor of The Sick Times, part-time for Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, freelancer for Science News, The Atlantic, and STAT News.
• A Day in the Life of Arielle Duhaime-Ross (TON, 11-10-2020) This podcast host and TV correspondent at VICE News hosts the investigative news podcast VICE News Reports, and reports on science, health, technology, and climate change for VICE.
• A Day in the Life of Aneri Pattani, senior correspondent at KFF Health News (TON, 10-10-23)
• A Day in the Life of Maya Wei-Haas, science writer for National Geographic (The Open Notebook, 10-20-2020)
• A Day in the Life of Jo Marchant (TON Editors, 10-8-13) A freelance science journalist who writes on everything from the future of medicine to underwater archaeology.
• A Day in the Life of Anahad O’Connor (TON, 2-6-18) A bestselling author and staff reporter for The New York Times, especially writing about the intersection of food and health.
• A Day in the Life of Kat McGowan (TON, 9-18-18) A journalist and editor focused on medicine and science.
• A Day in the Life of Rhitu Chatterjee (TON, 9-5-17) An editor with NPR’s The Salt blog, which covers a range of food related topics
• A Day in the Life of Kate Travis (TON, 8-4-15) While serving as the deputy managing editor for digital at Science News.
• A Day in the Life of Max Ufberg (TON, 3-6-18) As the digital director of Pacific Standard, where he oversees the magazine’s online editorial operations.
• A Day in the Life of Lizzie Wade (TON, 7-25-17) A freelance science journalist and a contributing correspondent for Science, where she covers archaeology, anthropology, and all things Latin America.
At the bottom of any of these TON profiles you'll see links to even more such profiles.
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• PubMed Single Citation Matcher. PubMed (database of 21 million citations for medical research from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Here is a PubMed Tutorial (on how to narrow your search etc.). And here is a story about a problem NLM needs to address: Something’s Rotten in Bethesda — The Troubling Tale of PubMed Central, PubMed, and eLife (Kent Anderson, The Scholarly Kitchen, 10-22-12). The National Library of Medicine should manage NCBI and PMC more conscientiously, and make them stop competing with publishers and technology companies.
Pulse: voices from the heart of medicine (personal accounts of illness and healing, fostering the humanistic practice of medicine, encouraging health care advocacy). See Pulse's archive of poems and stories.
Quackwatch (about, and against, complementary and alternative medicine)
Questions for ‘Keeping TV science honest’ (ScienceNews for Students, 9-8-16)
Reporting on Health (articles and fellowships from California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships)
Reporting on Suicide website. Download PDF of Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide (PDF, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)
• Researching Fraudulent Organizations in Health Care (Yael Grauer, National Center for Business Journalism, 5-17-18). See also
---Dollars for Docs database (ProPublica)
---Effect of Financial Relationships on the Behaviors of Health Care Professionals: A Review of the Evidence (Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics)
---Proove Biosciences, which sold dubious DNA tests to predict addiction risk, sells off assets as CEO departs amid criminal probe (Charles Piller, STAT, 8-31-17)
RADIO. A Guide to Translating Science to Audio (Aneri Pattani, The Open Notebook, 6-26-18) "Science Friday’s Key to Live Science Radio: Find Guests Who Bring Research to Life." Listen to Science Friday (Ira Flatow's wonderful show on NPR)
Resources for health care journalists (links to general and specialized sites, for the Association of Health Care Journalists)
Resources for covering swine flu, pandemics and preparedness (one of several AHCJ tip sheets for journalists)
Resources for science communication (a roundup list compiled on Twitter by Justine Dees, posted on LinkedIn)
Retraction Watch (Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky track retractions as a window into the scientific process)
Richard Feynman explains the scientific method in 1964 lecture (video of this delightful scientist's explanation of what makes something scientific)
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (excellent data and human resources on health policy and public health)
Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop
Scholarly Work, Without All the Footnotes (Arthur S. Brisbane, The Public Editor, NY Times, 10-2-10), on how a dispute about a Times Magazine article, Does Your Language Shape How You Think? by linguist Guy Deutscher, illustrates the differences between academic publishing and the popular press. Mainly: less credit to sources--and why not post those online?
Twitter lists for medical/science editors (KOK Edit). Save time and sign up to follow the tweeters on Katharine O'Moore-Klopf's lists of good Twitter feeds. By category: Health and medicine, news media, science resources, scientists, freelancing resources, and edit-Long-Islanders.
Undark. An editorially independent, foundation-supported digital publication of MIT's Knight Science Journalism Program. For example: The Death of a Study (Charles Schmidt, Case Study, Undark, 5-25-16) A long-term study of childhood disease burned through $1.3 billion in taxpayer funds, only to be mothballed before it ever got off the ground. Why?
The Use of Superlatives in Cancer Research (Matthew V. Abola and Vinay Prasad, JAMA Oncology, Jan. 2016) "Whereas most new cancer drugs afford modest benefits,2 approved drugs or those in development may be heralded as “game changers” or “breakthroughs” in the lay press. These news articles may be important sources of information to patients, the public, and investors—with a broader reach than medical journal articles. However, omission of medical context or use of inflated descriptors may lead to misunderstandings among readers."
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Books for science, health, and medical writers and editors
Download the Universe (founded by Carl Zimmer, this new science e-book review site will lead you to what's hot in the science e-book universe, as reviewed by good science writers). Meanwhile, here are a few titles that may belong on your bookshelf or wish list.
• Aines, Roger D. and Amy L. Championing Science: Communicating Your Ideas to Decision Makers
• Alda, Alan. If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating. "“[Alda] was frustrated that men and women of science were not able to get their points across—to the public, the media, the government. Turned out they had never been trained to do so. So Alda set out to do something about it . . . Aided by his warm, conversational style, Alda’s message shows that the lessons also apply to the rest of us—and at a time when we could really use it.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• Alley, Michael. The Craft of Scientific Writing. “Being precise doesn’t mean compiling details; it means selecting details.”
• Alliance for Health Reform, Covering Health Issues (download free online)
• Archer, David and Stefan Rahmstorf . The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change
• Avorn, Jerry. Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks and Costs of Prescription Drugs
• Baron, Nancy. Escape from the Ivory Tower: A Guide to Making Your Science Matter
• The Best American Science Writing (annual).
• Benson, Philippa J. and Susan C. Silver What Editors Want: An Author's Guide to Scientific Journal Publishing (University of Chicago Press)
• The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016. Buy the old years too. The best way to learn is to read models of good writing.
• **Blum, Deborah; Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig. A Field Guide for Science Writers, 2nd edition (2005)
• Bolten, Randall Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You
• NEW Carpenter, Siri. The Craft of Science Writing: Selections from The Open Notebook Who is a science journalist and how do you become one? What makes a science story and how do you find one? How do you report and how do you tell a science story? How do you build expertise in science writing? 30+ articles address these concerns, many by members of NASW. Contributors include Christie Aschwanden, Jeanne Erdmann, Kendall Powell, Siri Carpenter, Washington Post health editor Laura Helmuth, New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer, and many more. Carpenter is a co-founder of The Open Notebook.
• Cheng, Donghong, Michel Claessens, and others, eds. Communicating Science in Social Contexts: New models, new practices
• **Cohn, Victor and Lewis Cope. News & Numbers: A Guide to Reporting Statistical Claims and Controversies in Health and Other Fields, 2nd edition. This is an area science writers are most likely to screw up in.
• Council of Science Editors. The CSE Manual: Scientific Style and Format for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (9th Edition) Comprehensive and authoritative scientific style and format rules from the leading professional association in science publishing.
• Day, Robert, and Barbara Gastel. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper
• Dean, Cornelia. Am I Making Myself Clear? A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public
• Deyo, Richard and Donald Patrick. Hope or Hype. This overview of medicine emphasizes how as a culture we promote new (especially high-tech) measures that are often less effective and more costly than old standards
• Doumont, Jean-LucTrees, Maps, and Theorems: Effective Communication for Rational Minds
• Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
• Friedman, Sharon M., Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol Rogers, eds. Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science
• Gastel, Barbara. Health Writer's Handbook
• Gawande, Atul. Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science
• Gawande, Atul. Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
• Gopnik, Adam. The Cartoon Guide to Statistics. See also The Cartoon Guide to Physics, The Cartoon Guide to Genetics, The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry, plus guides to algebra and calculus.
• Greenberg, Daniel S. Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion
• Greene, Anne E. Writing Science in Plain English (University of Chicago) See review in Science Editor.
• Groopman, Jerome. How Doctors Think
• Groopman, Jerome. Second Opinions: Stories of Intuition and Choice in the Changing World of Medicine
• Gross, Liza. The Science Writers' Investigative Reporting Handbook: A Beginner's Guide to Investigations (Watchdog Press, 2018)
• Hall, George M. How to Write a Paper. Clear instructions on getting published in a biomedical journal.
• Hamming, Richard W. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn. What spurs on and inspires a great idea? Can we train ourselves to think in a way that will enable world-changing understandings and insights to emerge?
• Hancock, Elise. Ideas into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing
• Hart, Geoffrey. Writing for Science Journals: Tips, Tricks, and a Learning plan . See table of contents and a sample chapter, or buy eBook here.
• Hayden, Thomas and Michelle Nijhuis. The Science Writers' Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age
• Hoggan, James. I'm Right and You're an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean it Up The importance of reframing our arguments about topics like climate change with empathy and values to create compelling narratives and spur action.
• Hull, David. Science as a Process. "A history of the rise of cladistics seen as a very human enterprise as well as an important intellectual enterprise."~ David Quammen
• Iles, Robert I. Guidebook to Better Medical Writing
• Institute of Medicine. To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Read free online.
• JAMA and the Archives Journals. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors.Latest editions expands electronic guidelines.
• Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, Dan Kahan & Dietram A. Scheufele, editors. The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication Chapter 17, A Tale of Two Vaccines--and Their Science Communication Environments, examines the difference in the U.S. public's reactions to proposals for universal administration of two adolescent immunizations: the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which provoked a firestorm of political controversy, and the Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine, which aroused no such opposition. Other topics (for example) include Science as "Broken" Versus Science as "Self-Correcting": How Retractions and Peer-Review Problems Are Exploited to Attack Science; Overcoming Confirmation and Blind Spot Bias When Communicating Science; and Understanding and Overcoming Fear of the Unnatural in Discussion of GMOs.
• Kassirer, Jerome P. On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health
• ****Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT. The KSJ Science Editing Handbook (PDF, free download) An extremely useful handbook that you can download or read online free. A gift to science journalists, editors, and readers.
• Kryder, Cynthia L. and Brian G. Bass. The Accidental Medical Writer: How We Became Successful Freelance Medical Writers. How You Can, Too.
• Lang, Thomas A. and Michelle Secic. How to Report Statistics in Medicine: Annotated Guidelines for Authors, Editors, and Reviewers (American College of Physicians)
• Lang, Thomas A. How to Write, Publish, and Present in the Health Sciences: A Guide for Physicians and Laboratory Researchers
• Levi, Ragnar. Medical Journalism: Exposing Fact, Fiction, Fraud
• Manning, Phillip. Science Books (science books news and reviews)
• Meredith, Dennis. Explaining Research: How to Reach Key Audiences to Advance Your Work.
• MindSet. MindSet Media Guide: Reporting on Mental Health (PDF, free download, in French or English)
• Monson, Nancy and Linda Peckel. Just What the Doctor Ordered: An Insider's Guide to Medical Writing
• Moynihan, Ray and Alan Cassels. Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All into Patients
• Mullan, Fitzhugh, Ellen Ficken, and Kyna Rubin, eds. Narrative Matters: The Power of the Personal Essay in Health Policy (collection of personal stories of patients, physicians, policy makers, and others whose writings humanize health policy issues, drawn from the popular "Narrative Matters" column in the journal Health Affairs.
• Nijhuis, Michelle. The Science Writers' Essay Handbook: How to Craft Compelling True Stories in Any Medium. Compact and readable..
• Nuland, Sherwin. How We Die and How We Live
• Olson, Randy. Houston, We Have a Narrative: Why Science Needs Story. His “And, But, Therefore” template will help you bring the clarification of story to science pieces. Read this story from Inside Higher Ed, which explains how the "and, and, and" approach of Al Gore's movie on climate change made it less effective. See also Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style
• Park, Robert L. Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud
• Science Friday. Science books discussed on Science Friday
• The Scientist (the periodical).
• Schimel, Joshua. Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded . A favorite for scientific writing courses.
• Shipman, W. Matthew. Handbook for Science Public Information Officers (Univ. of Chicago)
• Southwell, Brian G., Emily A. Thorson, and Laura Sheble, eds. Misinformation and Mass Audiences
• Stewart, James. Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away with Murder
• Veatch, Robert M. The Basics of Bioethics, 2nd ed.
• Wilkinson, Clare and Emma Weitkamp. Creative research communication: Theory and practice
• Wilcox, Christie, Bethany Brookshire and Jason Goldman. Science Blogging: The Essential Guide. See review in Science Editor.
• Woodford, F. Peter. How to Teach Scientific Communication (Council of Biology Editors, 1999). Helpful for teaching clinicians.
• Writers of SciLance. Thomas Hayden and Michelle Nijhuis, eds. The Science Writers' Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age
• Zeiger, Mimi. Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers (available as Kindle or in print).
• Zilberberg, Marya D. Between the Lines: Finding the Truth in Medical Literature "A thoughtful, clear, conversational guide to the intricacies of medical science, studies and statistics."~ Maryn McKenna. "A readable manifesto about real-world evidence-based medicine."~Paul D. Simmons
Taking Good Notes: Tricks and Tools (The Open Notebook). Speedwriting, PearNote, Livescribe, alternative handwriting systems, and more.
Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire (Andrew Robinson Nature, 4-4-18) His biggest hit, That Was The Year That Was (his 1965 album), gathered together songs Lehrer had written for That Was The Week That Was, the US satirical television show spawned by the BBC original. ‘Who’s Next?’ exposes the dangers of nuclear proliferation. ‘Pollution’ highlights environmental crises building at the time, such as undrinkable water and unbreathable air.
Toolkit for New Medical Writers (free and online resources and guidance, for both scientific medical writing and medical marketing writing), Delaware Valley chapter, American Medical Writers Association
Toolkit for journalists and consumers (HealthNewsReview.org) See also Just for journalists: Tips and case studies for writing about health care
Top Science Writers Lists
By no means perfect as lists, these will at least lead you to some good reading
• Twenty-First Century Science Writers (The Top Tens)
• Ten or More Twenty-First Century Science Communicators of Various Forms Who Are Really Good, All of Whom Happen to be Women (Sean Carroll)
• The 50 best science writers of all time(OnlineCollege.org)
• Best American Science Writers (Joel Achenbach, Achenblog, Washington Post, 4-4-12)
• 100 All-Time Greatest Popular Science Books (and 17 More) (Open Education Database)
• Tracker (or Tracker 2.0, as a subdivision of UnDark). The MIT Knight Science Journalism Program’s Tracker Blog, now a regular column, turning "a discerning eye on science journalism — the good, the bad, and the occasionally mystifying — with the hope that our analyses will help to keep science writing vibrant, alive, and free from temptation."
Training peer reviewers (David A. Mackey, NatureJobs.com)
The Truth Wears Off (Jonah Lehrer, Annals of Science, New Yorker, 12-13-10). Is there something wrong with the scientific method? The "decline effect": The decline of significance in positive results from clinical trials -- results that are rigorously proved and accepted -- start shrinking in later studies. This can be explained by selective reporting, regression to the mean, and positive publication bias. "Our beliefs are a form of blindness," writes Lehrer (e.g., results from trials on acupuncture are more positive in Asia than in the West). Early termination of trials that show a positive result could also enshrine a statistical fluke, adds one reader.
Visuals for Science Writing
--- Use of a VISUAL ABSTRACT to Disseminate Scientific Research (PDF, Andrew M. Ibrahim, version 4, Jan. 2018)
---As scientists take to Twitter, study shows power of 'visual abstract' graphics (Phys.Org, 5-1-17)
---Tip Sheet: Designing Science Graphics (Jen Christiansen, The Open Notebook, 2-7-23) As you scroll through text, what has the power to make you stop? Chances are, it’s an image. Color, form, and composition can trigger a reaction from the viewer without significant conscious effort. Science graphics as visual aids have the power to both beckon folks in and provide very specific information. At its best, engagement is followed by learning, which leads to continued engagement.
---What Are Feynman Diagrams? (YouTube video explanation) The brilliant physicist Richard Feynman devised a system of line drawings that simplified calculations of particle interactions and helped rescue the field of quantum electrodynamics
---Visuals for science writers (Karl Leif Bates for National Association of Science Writers)
Was a USDA scientist muzzled because of his bee research? (Steve Volk, Washington Post Magazine, 3-3-16)
What Is Science Journalism Worth? Part I (Kendall Powell, The Open Notebook, 1-20-15) "The money in this job sucks." Excellent discussion of where magazines and reporters/writers/editors find themselves today. A couple of quotes:
• Apoorva Mandavilli, editor-in-chief of SFARI.org, a foundation-backed journalism website that reports on autism research, says the gig economy poses an additional problem for her. "The current economic atmosphere, she says, creates a tension for writers who feel that career success depends on publishing shorter pieces at the online versions of marquee publications, which usually pay less than their print counterparts....This tension keeps all of us, myself included, beholden to unbelievably low rates when we want a flashy byline. And it allows those publications’ low offerings to suppress rates across the entire field."
• Emma Marris: "Some of our books really change people’s opinions and touch people’s lives. And yet, [writing books] can only be done by those who are either spousally subsidized, bad at math, or just very stubborn.” What Is Science Journalism Worth, Part II explores what freelance science writers can do to fight their way back toward that ideal. "Most experienced freelancers aim for a rock-bottom rate of $1.00 per word for magazine work and $0.50 per word for online or newspaper copy..,,re-negotiate for more compensation when asked to do a rush job or whenever an assignment requires more labor than the original agreement." Demand a reasonable kill fee for if the article is not accepted. Rosie Mestel, chief magazine editor at Nature, advises freelancers "to write more short, newsy pieces and fewer labor-of-love, longer pieces. 'It makes me sad to say that. I don’t think it would be that satisfying, nor would it serve the public as well.' " Apoorva Mandavilli, editor-in-chief at SFARI.org, says more writers should "look more closely at niche publications—often backed by foundations, scientific societies, or patient-advocacy groups that remain hands-off editorially—because they can afford to pay better rates."
What is a technical writer? How do I become a technical communicator? How do I get into this field without any experience? What are some good reference books? How much are technical communicators paid? How can I find a job in technical communication? I have a degree in English—what can I do with it? Q&As from the DC-Baltimore chapter of the Society for Technical Communication
What is the difference between a certificate and certification? (Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society--scroll down for explanation)
What leads to bias in the scientific literature? New study tries to answer (Alison McCook, Retraction Watch, 3-20-17)
Where journalists get their medical news and information (blog post, Writers and Editors, 3-3-17, plus updates)
Why Can't Female Reporters Stay in the Picture?(Danielle Tcholakian, Longreads, ) A movie in the works about the last year of Rob Ford’s mayoral term has a lead character who is a reporter trying to expose a scandal about him. The story is based on the dogged work of Toronto Star reporter Robyn Doolittle, who discovered a video of Ford smoking crack that eventually imploded the politician’s career. But her role is being played by a guy. What's up with that?
The Why Files (the science behind the news)
Without Fear or Favor, But Maybe an Industry Partner (Paul Raeburn, Undark, 4-22-16) Can journalistic organizations court industry partnerships without undermining their reputations? Should respected journalists lend their names and reputations to co-sponsored conferences by participating on the panels? Nobody seems to be waiting to find out.
Working as a Medical Writer (Sarah A. Webb, Science, 6-22-07)
Writing and illustrating science books for children.
The truth about health care reform and health care policy
• Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science by David H. Freedman (The Atlantic, Nov. 2010). "Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong. So why are doctors--to a striking extent--still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice? Dr. John Ioannidis has spent his career challenging his peers by exposing their bad science." On PLoS Medicine you can read Ioannidis's article, Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.
• Whitehouse.gov (This was under Obama.) The eight basic consumer protections the White House wants health care reform to cover: (1) No discrimination for pre-existing conditions, (2) No exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles or co-pays, (3) No cost-sharing for preventive care, (4) No dropping of coverage if you become seriously ill, (5) No gender discrimination, (6) No annual or lifetime caps on coverage, (7) Extended coverage for young adults, (8) Guaranteed insurance renewal so long as premiums are paid. Learn more about these consumer protections at http://www.whitehouse.gov/
• Excluded Voices. Trudy Lieberman's penetrating series of interviews on health care reform, in Columbia Journalism Review. Start with her interview with Wendell Potter, who "didn’t want to be part of another health insurance industry effort to shape reform that would benefit the industry at the expense of the public." You can also listen to Bill Moyers interview Potter or read the transcript and Potter's testimony before Congress.
• Alliance for Health Care Reform (this nonpartisan organization has excellent resource guides for reporters).
• Choosing to not have health insurance (J. Duncan Moore Jr., L.A.Times,9-21-09), though he may not have intended it, this is an argument for reform
• Mental health: why journalists don’t get help in the workplace (Megan Jones, Ryerson Review of Journalism Spring 2014). "Reporters are finally telling empathetic stories about depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses, but newsroom culture keeps journalists’ own struggles in the dark." Find links to good articles about Suicide, suicide prevention, and suicide reporting here.
• C-Span's Health Care Hub is a good place to find various town hall discussions, hearings, wonderful links. C-Span, you're wonderful!
• The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care (Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, 6-1-09)
• A consumer guide to handling disputes with your employer or private health plan, 2005 update, Kaiser Family Foundation
• C-Span's Health Care Hub is a good place to find various town hall discussions, hearings, wonderful links. C-Span, you're wonderful!
• DrSteveB's blogroll (helpful Daily Kos blogger--and check his blogroll for other resources)
• Find Help (HRSA links to free and inexpensive care)
• 5 Myths About Health Care Around the World by T.R. Reid (Washington Post, 8-23-09).
• Guaranteed Health Care (National Nurses Organizing Committee, California Nurses Association)
• The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care by T.R. Reid
• Health Affairs (the policy journal of the health sphere)
• HELP Is on the Way (Paul Krugman on why universal health coverage is affordable)
• Health Insurance Consumer Information (news you can use), with blogs that follow the health care debate and discuss news of health insurance coverage around the country, and a Consumer Guide for Getting and Keeping Health Insurance for each state and the District of Columbia. The American Cancer Society and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other organizations provide support for this research by The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. Worth checking out.
• Health Insurance Woes: My $22,000 Bill for Having a Baby (And I had coverage for maternity care! Sarah Wildman, DoubleX, 8-3-09). "Our insurer, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, sold us exactly the type of flawed policy—riddled with holes and exceptions—that the health care reform bills in Congress should try to do away with. The “maternity” coverage we purchased didn’t cover my labor, delivery, or hospital stay. It was a sham."..."The individual insurance market is like that old joke about the food being terrible and the portions too small; it’s expensive, shoddy, and deeply unsatisfying. Those of us who buy into it are not protected by the federal and state laws that govern employer-based health care. In fact, there’s no one looking out for us at all."
• Insurers explore savings in overseas care: Major health firms offer doctor networks at lower rates in foreign countries. AP/MSNBC story. ("more insurers are offering networks of surgeons and dentists in places like India and Costa Rica." "The four largest commercial U.S. health insurers — with enrollments totaling nearly 100 million people — have either launched pilot programs offering overseas travel or explored it....Growth has been slow in part because some patients and employers have concerns about care quality and legal responsibility if something goes wrong. Plus, patients who have traditional plans with low deductibles may have little incentive to take a trip.") This is the health insurance industry's approach to health care reform?
• Journalists, Left Out of The Debate: Few Americans Seem to Hear Health Care Facts. "For once, mainstream journalists did not retreat to the studied neutrality of quoting dueling antagonists," writes Howard Kurtz (Washington Post 8-24-09). "They tried to perform last rites on the ludicrous claim about President Obama's death panels, telling Sarah Palin, in effect, you've got to quit making things up. But it didn't matter. The story refused to die." As always, Kurtz provides an intelligent analysis of the situation, stating that "the healthy dose of coverage has largely failed to dispel many of the half-truths and exaggerations surrounding the debate. Even so, news organizations were slow to diagnose the depth of public unease about the unwieldy legislation. For the moment, the story, like the process itself, remains a muddle."
• Medical Science and Practice in Conflict (Kevin Sack, NYTimes, 11-20-09, on how the consumer public may see evidence-based medicine as a step toward rationing)
• Myths and Falsehoods on budget reconciliation (Media Matters, fighting conservative misinformation)
• The Pharmaceutical Industry: Angels or Demons? (Policy and Medicine reports a plea for less demonizing of the pharmaceutical industry)
• Physicians for a National Health Program (supports single-payer national health insurance)
• President's Question Time (Obama, Republicans spar in Q&A (Video of debate 1-29-10, plus Andrew Sullivan's commentary, Daily Dish)
• The Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 22% of Claims (National Nurses Movement on Daily Kos, 9-3-09)
• Reach of Subsidies Is Critical Issue for Health Plan (Robert Pear, NY Times, 7-26-09—on another important issue: where the money comes from to cover the costs of the formerly uninsured)
• Science Blogs (Health)
• SurveyUSA News Poll on Health Care Data (showing public opinion on various aspects of the health care debate, by gender, race, party affiliation, ideology, level of college education, income,region, and age)
•• Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200 (FactCheck.Org, 8-28-09). A notorious analysis of the House health care bill contains 48 claims. Twenty-six of them are false and the rest mostly misleading. Only four are true.
• Why markets can’t cure healthcare by Paul Krugman (The Conscience of a Liberal, NY Times, 7-25-09).
You can watch Michael Moore's documentary, Sicko online. You can hear on Bill Moyers' interview with Wendell Potter how the insurance industry planned to defuse reactions to Moore's documentary. As Potter states: "The industry has always tried to make Americans think that government-run systems are the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, that if you even consider that, you're heading down on the slippery slope towards socialism. So they have used scare tactics for years and years and years, to keep that from happening. If there were a broader program like our Medicare program, it could potentially reduce the profits of these big companies. So that is their biggest concern." Potter himself says of the documentary, "I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie. But the industry, from the moment that the industry learned that Michael Moore was taking on the health care industry, it was really concerned."
T.R. Reid's conclusion in 5 Myths About Health Care Around the World:
"In many ways, foreign health-care models are not really 'foreign' to America, because our crazy-quilt health-care system uses elements of all of them. For Native Americans or veterans, we're Britain: The government provides health care, funding it through general taxes, and patients get no bills. For people who get insurance through their jobs, we're Germany: Premiums are split between workers and employers, and private insurance plans pay private doctors and hospitals. For people over 65, we're Canada: Everyone pays premiums for an insurance plan run by the government, and the public plan pays private doctors and hospitals according to a set fee schedule. And for the tens of millions without insurance coverage, we're Burundi or Burma: In the world's poor nations, sick people pay out of pocket for medical care; those who can't pay stay sick or die."
Godwin's Law: ""As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches"
~ Mike Godwin, creator of Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies, fearing glib use of the term will dilute the meaning of "Never Again"
Medical and scientific images and illustrations (a partial list of sources)
How to
• How animations can help scientists test a hypothesis (Janet Iwasa, TED2014) Video and transcript (31 languages!)
• Tip Sheet: Designing Science Graphics (Jen Christiansen, The Open Notebook, 2-7-23)
• Anatquest (visually compelling ways to bring anatomic images,including 3D renderings and labeled views, from the Visible Human dataset to the general public (with no-cost license agreement).
• Botanical Drawing in Color: A Basic Guide to Mastering Realistic Form and Naturalistic Color by Wendy Hollender
• Image Challenge (New England Journal of Medicine) The popular online NEJM Image Challenge App randomly selects from over 400 challenging clinical photos published weekly in the NEJM. Readers have a chance to guess what the image illustrates.
• Visual Thinking for Design by Colin Ware
• Dana-Farber retractions: meet the blogger who spotted problems in dozens of cancer papers (Max Kozlov, Nature,1-24-24) Nature talks to Sholto David about his process for flagging image manipulation and his tips for scientists under scrutiny.
Sources
• AnatLine, National Library of Medicine's database of anatomical images, with online browser
• Doctor Stock (rights-managed medical and healthcare images)
• DPDx Parasite Image Library
• The Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration ed. Elaine R.S. Hodges.Sponsored by the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and written by top illustrators, scientists, and industry experts,
• Hardin MD Medical Image Picture Gallery (University of Iowa). See Index to Hardin MD gallery
• Images from the History of Medicine (IHM) , National Library of Medicine
• Interview with a Scientist: Janet Iwasa, Molecular Animator (NIH) Janet Iwasa discusses the process of creating detailed animations that convey the latest thinking of how biological molecules interact.
• Library of Congress Prints & Photographs
• Medical Illustration Source Book (The Association of Medical Illustrators, with online portfolios)
• NASA Multimedia Video Gallery
• National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery
• Netter Images (medical illustrations)
• NIH Photo Galleries
• NOAA's Photo Library
• PHIL (CDC's Public Health Image Library)
• Scientific Illustration: A Guide to Biological, Zoological, and Medical Rendering Techniques, Design, Printing, and Display by Phyllis Wood
• U.S. Department of Agriculture Image Gallery (Agricultural Research Service)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library
• U.S. Geological Survey Multimedia Gallery
• The Visible Human Project (NLM)
See also
• Visualizing Data (science infographics, the difference between visualization and infographics, time lapse visualization,
• Charts, one way of visualizing data
• Medical and scientific illustrations and illustrators
• Multimedia explanations