Sun exclusive! Maryland chickens pass gas; SBDs 'kill' Chesapeake Bay, pose 'major health threat' to area
Tom Pelton wrote a revealing article today in the Baltimore Sun about pollution from chicken farms on the Eastern Shore (Wednesday, 2/2/05, p. 1).
Over the next week or two, I'm going to take a close look at the article -- headlines, text, pictures and captions -- and examine what the whole package says about the current state of environmental reporting.
My overall reaction to the article: it was biased and presented a distorted picture of the facts and issues. What struck me about the text was not so much the extent of the bias (it was often fairly subtle), but that the author managed to exhibit bias in so many different ways.
In contrast, the distortion in the headlines was blatant. Perhaps this was due to bias. Or perhaps it was due to carelessness. Probably a mix of the two.
Much more to come.
As Navy & Maryland maneuver over "flush fee", Sun editorial misses the boat
This Sun editorial ("Flush Tax Ahoy", Jan. 19, 2005) is notable for how little it says. The Sun editorial staff seems more interested in making snarky comments about the governor than shedding light on the legal and ethical merits of the Navy's claim.
Why shouldn't the Navy pay?
What environmentalists can learn from C.P. Scott & James Fallows
In his book* on journalism and the media, James Fallows quotes Charles Prestwich Scott, noted editor of the Manchester Guardian:
The function of a good newspaper and therefore of a good journalist is to see life steady and see it whole.
[Emphasis added.]
Fallows then suggests criteria for judging the quality of news stories. He thinks good reporting should give readers four key things:
1. Perspective (distinguish the urgent from the important)
2. Placement in time (provide historic context and connect events to trends)
3. Similarities & differences (point out patterns & connections -- or the lack of them), and
4. Usefulness ("give people the tools they need to feel in control of their circumstances rather than the reverse")
I suspect that these ideas -- in addition to being useful to environmental journalists -- are excellent guidelines for people who do environmental education and outreach.
*Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy,1996 & 1997.
David Brudnoy 1940-2004 -- Boston radio icon
[Off-topic]
I always admired David Brudnoy's unflinching ability to raise controversial topics and keep the discussion original, interesting, civil, smart and productive. From the Globe:
Few others in radio or TV, [former B.U. president John] Silber said, could match Mr. Brudnoy's capacity for self-effacement and intellect.
Brudnoy's former producer, political analyst Jon Keller:
"[David Brudnoy had] intelligence of a special sort, a very American sort: open and robust, not pinched and elitist. It was accessible to both the graduate student and the firefighter in Grove Hall.
How to do radio:
The one concession Mr. Brudnoy made to health concerns was to start broadcasting from his Back Bay home. "I like to make my guests feel as comfortable as possible," he said in a 2000 Globe interview, "so I let them smoke and I make them mixed drinks.
CBF "State of the Bay" report gets failing grade in graphic design
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation released its State of the Bay report today. Every year, as part of this report, the CBF calculates an overall health index for the Bay based on 13 sub-indices.
The indices are great. But each year, instead of publishing historical trends for the indices, CBF puts out poorly designed graphics like this.
If they don't publish the trends, why does the CBF even bother to calculate the indices each year?
