Backgrounders

In the wake of newly declared newspaper bankruptcy declarations in Minneapolis and Philadelphia…and shut-downs of print editions in Seattle and Denver — we have a challenge — the nation's media must do a responsible job in covering the coming climate change debates in Washington.

Survey results published in July 2008 show that scientist-journalist interactions "are more frequent and smooth than previously thought," according to the survey authors. Yet results also indicate that "science journalism is too tame, that is, that it is easily exploited by scientific sources."

Research suggests that the news media block or transform "beyond recognition" the aims of environmental and other activist groups. But a recent study suggests otherwise. It concludes that investigative journalists often are activists, but they stay within professional boundaries.

Journalists by their very nature love change. Change is news. Change is good. And now change is everywhere. Bud Ward reports.