Matthew Nisbet
Professor of Communication at Northeastern University.
nisbetmc
Posts by this author
February 11, 2009
I'm back in the office after a great event last night at the American Museum of Natural History. Close to 100 attendees came out to the magnificent venue for a panel discussion on media coverage of climate change. Not surprisingly, a majority of the attendees were journalists, journalism students,…
February 10, 2009
In an essay today at the NY Times, Carl Safina pinpoints one of the lingering challenges in communicating about evolution: what he calls the "cult of Darwin." If we would only stop focusing so much on the man, and more on evolutionary science, then it might boost public understanding. (I will be…
February 10, 2009
For readers in the New York area, I will be on a panel tonight at the American Museum of Natural History, focusing on climate change and the news media. The panel starts at 630 and features Andrew Revkin of the NY Times, Bud Ward of the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media, Bill Blakemore of…
February 4, 2009
As I wrote last month, in the Year of Darwin, the loudest voice associated with science threatens to be Richard Dawkins and other New Atheist pundits who will argue their personal belief that evolution undermines the validity of religion or even respect for the religious. Certainly, this promises…
January 30, 2009
On Thursday, Feb. 5, I will be at Virginia Commonwealth University giving a talk as part of the university's Science, Technology, and Society lecture series (details). It will be an updated and more polished version of the lecture I gave at the New York Academy of Sciences in December.
Then on…
January 23, 2009
A model for government agencies and science organizations to replicate. From a Politico article on Obama's campaign pledge to use technology to enhance transparency, responsiveness, and citizen engagement:
The transition period between Election Day and Obama's swearing-in was just 76 days long,…
January 22, 2009
Call it a case of extreme optimistic bias: Many climate advocates point to polls that show when the public is asked directly, a majority say they are "concerned" about global warming and favor action. But what's missing from this poll assessment is where global warming sits relative to other…
January 21, 2009
Day two of the expert workshop on science communication at the Venice Institute of Science & Arts focused more narrowly on the question of defining and evaluating forms of science communication including journalism, institutional outreach, advertising and marketing, entertainment programming,…
January 15, 2009
There was a clear consensus focus to presentations and comments at the first day of the Venice workshop on science communication and public engagement: The biggest future challenge will be the increasing privatization of research and the resulting "hyping" of scientific claims.
In the U.S., when it…
January 15, 2009
What's a vision of the future of science journalism? Consider Yale Environment 360. The university and foundation-sponsored online magazine and social media site is updated daily and weekly, publishing feature reporting, analysis, and longer opinion articles by leading journalists, scientists, and…
January 15, 2009
I am in Venice, Italy this week to participate in an expert workshop on research in science communication held at the historic Venice Institute of Science & the Arts (above). Already there have been some terrific presentations and I will have more to report later. But for now, in advance of…
January 13, 2009
Tonight I board a plane for Venice, Italy where I will be presenting as part of an expert workshop on science communication, sponsored by the EU, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, observa Science in Society, and the University of Trent.
Some of the top European researchers in the field will be at the…
January 13, 2009
Yesterday I turned in a short essay to the BA's Science & Public Affairs magazine about science communication in the Obama era. In the essay, among recommendations,I floated a proposal that is directly relevant to the future of science journalism and that has been on my mind as I work with…
January 9, 2009
Economic troubles and what to do about them are not unlike climate change or biomedical research. Both economic policy and science policy can be deeply complex and uncertain and can easily be interpreted through the lens of ideology and partisanship. As a result, communicating about these issues…
January 9, 2009
Sigh. More of the same self-defeating sophomoric rants against religion coming to a theater soon.
It's an embarrassing time to be an atheist in America.
January 7, 2009
Kudos to the Obama administration for approaching one of America's top science communicators for the position of Surgeon General. Not only could CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta be a visible and persuasive media presence on heath care reform, but he will also hopefully use the authority of the Surgeon…
January 7, 2009
A reminder about the outstanding panel to be held tomorrow at NSF headquarters.
December 24, 2008
In announcements and press efforts this past month, the Vatican is promoting Galileo as a symbol of collaboration between science and religion. The initiative is part of a larger campaign by the Vatican to repair the Pope's image on matters of science and to promote dialogue on the relationship…
December 22, 2008
Turns out that GOP message guru Frank Luntz doesn't think much of the Bush administration's communication strategy across the past eight years. In an interview with NPR's On the Media (audio above, transcript), here's part of what he had to say about the Bush lexicon:
FRANK LUNTZ: I don't think…
December 22, 2008
At The Yale Climate Forum, Lisa Palmer contributes a very useful feature reviewing various strategies for how scientists can write effective newspaper op-eds on climate change.
Most of the first half of the feature focuses on examples that target national elite newspapers like the NY Times or…
December 22, 2008
From an email sent out this morning by NSF. If readers can make it, this panel is definitely worth attending.
NSF to Host Panel Discussion on Communicating Climate Change
Journalists Andy Revkin (New York Times), John Carey (Business Week), Tom Rosenstiel (Pew Research Center's Project for…
December 21, 2008
Now that Obama has his science and environmental policy team in place, there's great optimism for important new directions in policy. Yet it will take smart and effective communication to meaningfully engage Americans on these policies, especially in the context of an overwhelming public focus on…
December 21, 2008
The latest issue of the American Journal of Bioethics features an important study on the effects of viewing medical dramas on the ethical reasoning of medical and nursing students. From the abstract for the study by researchers at Johns Hopkins:
Television medical dramas frequently depict the…
December 18, 2008
President-elect Obama's remarks at a press conference today should sound familiar to readers of this blog:
"A couple of years ago I was invited to Rick Warren's church to speak despite his awareness that I held views that were entirely contrary to his when it came to gay and lesbian rights, when…
December 18, 2008
In two new TV advertisements, the We campaign is back on message (after one major stumble), framing appeals around the tagline of "Repower America," connecting a focus on clean energy to economic recovery, and using a rancher (above) and a construction worker (below) as spokespeople.
There's a…
December 17, 2008
Obama gets communication and that's why he was able to make a historic run to the White House. And it's much more than an understanding of how to use technology to deliver a message or to augment traditional grassroots organizing efforts.
More importantly, Obama understands the importance of…
December 17, 2008
Over at the Columbia Journalism Review, Curtis Brainard offers a must-read interview with the NY Times Andrew Revkin, the environment beat's most influential reporter. Revkin has been covering the environment for a quarter century and was recently awarded by Columbia University the prestigious…
December 16, 2008
Many readers were shocked and disappointed last week with the forced resignation of Rev. Richard Cizik from his position heading up the Washington office of the National Association of Evangelicals. As I wrote just a day before his resignation, Cizik's work on climate change and his unique…
December 15, 2008
There's probably no one better qualified than Carol Browner to coordinate the administration's efforts on energy and the environment. The looming question is whether or not Obama's new uber-czar positions can really accomplish anything. The Wall Street Journal has the details, quoting several…
December 12, 2008
On January 8, NSF will be hosting a very important panel discussion on climate change and journalism. Details are below.
NSF to Host Panel Discussion on Communicating Climate Change
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
January 8, 2009
Leading journalists and climate scientists will headline a January 8, 2009,…