Auditing science stories: Two examples from the bottom rungs
The worst kinds of science stories are those that get facts wrong – and then those that report null results wrong.…
science journalism
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The worst poem ever
I'm just a lousy science journalist, writing the worst poem ever.…
Establishing trust across the aisle on issues of climate change
Making people anxious even to ask honest questions, and robbing them of the opportunity to respectfully disagree, isn't good for science.…
The metaphorical transparency of responsible media
We in India often complain about how the media doesn't care enough to cover science stories. But when we're looking back and forward in time, we become blind to the media's efforts.…
The nomenclature of uncertainty
Many science articles in the past year dealt with observations falling short of the evidence threshold but which have been worth writing about simply because of the desperation behind them. Has this prompted science writers to think about the language they use?…
TIFR's superconductor discovery: Where are the reports?
Most news publications in India didn't report on an exciting and significant discovery made by physicists from TIFR, Mumbai. Why not?…
UCal Irvine’s ‘fifth force’ farce
If a journalist buys into a UCI press release about some kind of ‘confirmation’ of a fifth force, and which is subsequently found to be simply false, an editor wouldn’t be faced with a tough choice whatsoever about which section she has to axe.…
'Infinite in All Directions', a science newsletter
The idea for the newsletter is a derivative of a reading challenge a friend proposed: wherein a group of us would recommend books for each other to read, especially titles that we might not come upon by ourselves.…
Curious Bends – outraged warriors, bizarre obsessions, dubious drugs and more
It’s been one year since we launched Curious Bends – a newsletter where we bring you science, technology, data and India stories from around the web, once a week (subscribe). We’ve enjoyed serving yo…
Science journalism as an institutional undertaking
"The paper has been through many financial crises and Science Times has not been affected." These were the words of David Corcoran, Editor, NYT Science Times, who'd dropped by my NYU SHE…
NYUlab: Beat-sculpting, money-making and science journalism
(This blog post belongs to a series, presumptuously titled NYUlab, about interesting thoughts and experiences I have as I pursue an MA in science, health and environmental reporting at New York Univer…
Beat-sculpting, money-making and science journalism
Today, my class had two guests. Malcolm Ritter, whose Twitter profile reads "Associated Press science reporter", is not just any science reporter. He's been covering science for AP for o…